Camerata 360°: The scheme approaching a music career from every angle

Manchester’s Stoller Hall on a rainy Thursday afternoon, and onstage, mid-masterclass, Manchester Camerata music director Gábor Takács-Nagy is exultantly waving his arm towards young double bassist Marcus Vinícius de Oliveira and exclaiming, face aglow, ‘Yes! That’s it! Did you hear?’ – and yes, we all did.

The ‘we’ he is addressing is me (sat observing), and violinists Georgina MacDonell Finlayson and Sean Morrison, who along with Vinícius de Oliveira form half of the first ever intake of Camerata 360°, the Manchester Camerata’s new year-long fellowship programme. Created with the financial support of The Ruth Sutton Trust for Music, this annual programme is offering six young musicians at the starts of their professional careers the opportunity to work, and be up-skilled and developed, across all areas of the Manchester Camerata’s activities – 65 days in total, with the support of £10k in earnings.

Sean Morrison: ‘I applied in the first place because it seemed in a way to represent the modern musician.' (Image courtesy of Manchester Camerata)

As you would expect, there’s a strong traditional playing element: this particular masterclass with Takács-Nagy – which is in fact peppered with exciting breakthrough moments as the three respond to his guidance – is one of several, and the following night all three will perform in one of the Camerata’s Mozart, Made in Manchester concerts with pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. But that’s not all. The six scheme participants are also involved both in the Camerata’s projects using other musical styles and concert formats, and across its community work, notably the Music Cafés of its award-winning Music in Mind programme supporting people living with dementia. Further time is spent engaging with all the behind-the-scenes workings of an orchestra, from concert curation and production, through to marketing, finance, management and leadership. Here things become really bespoke, guided by each individual’s needs and interests, whether that be digital fundraising, or the goal of one day becoming a chief executive. All with the aim that, at the end of the year, they will emerge with a greater understanding not just of how to play, but also of the music world, what it takes to run an orchestra, and the impact music can have to change and enhance lives. This in turn, it is hoped, will result in more of the sorts of musicians that the music world in general needs – with artistic endeavour now increasingly mixed with more socially-focussed endeavour – and whom the Manchester Camerata itself wants to hire, people who, as its chief executive Bob Riley puts it, ‘are skilled in and passionate about our health work, who love playing produced events with the dry ice and lighting, but who are also alive and in the moment with Mozart’.

The selection criteria was thus varied yet defined: they wanted curious thinkers, of any discipline, who are great players, and want to use those skills to contribute in a way that society needs. Previous social outreach experience wasn’t necessary, just fearlessness and creativity. As for the selection process, a traditional audition performance was followed by an improvisation session – the key element of the Music Café work – with the Camerata’s resident music therapist, after which the interview proper aimed to get to the bottom of their personalities and driving forces. ‘We weren’t looking for people who just wanted to play the perfect Tchaikovsky concerto’ explains Riley. ‘We wanted people with a desire to make a human connection with music, and with whom there would be a legacy – they were going to be a friend once they’ve finished. So there were different layers of questions; and it’s nice, with our first six now at their halfway point, to look back and say, “We thought we saw this thing in that half hour, and yes, we were right”.’

Music Café sessions, like the one pictured here involving 360° Fellow Marcus Vinícius de Oliveira, were a central part of Manchester Camerata's scheme  (Image courtesy of Manchester Camerata)

The pleasure is not only clearly mutual, but when I ask the three masterclass participants what they are most appreciating about the experience, their answers are all instantly, naturally, centred around the human aspect, and the dementia work in particular. ‘Because it’s so full of joy’ explains Morrison. ‘In the early stage of your career, you’re making so many first impressions, and these Music Café sessions reminded me why I chose music. It’s not about making impressions all the time, playing the right notes, but about sharing with people and having fun.’ He continues, ‘I applied in the first place because it seemed in a way to represent the modern musician. I already flit between a lot of different genres, and do outreach projects, so to see a fellowship that looked like it recognised me as a musician, and was going to support me in those endeavours, while making me feel part of something bigger, has been wonderful.’

They have also all felt the impact of the more administrative experience. ‘The fellowship’s variety invites us to engage with so many different aspects of ourselves as people and as thinking musicians’ explains MacDonell Finlayson, ‘but also how we engage with management and with people who are not musicians.’

But the teaching has also been two-way. MacDonell Finlayson had previously done a lot of environmental work, so Riley handed her the leadership in renewing and developing its policy in that area. ‘She’s clearly ahead of us in the way we think about it,’ he reasons, ‘so why would we not just say, “You do it”? We’ve learned such a lot from her.’

Manchester Camerata chief executive Bob Riley: 'Great artistic endeavour is social impact' (Image courtesy of Manchester Camerata)

One person who has especially benefitted from the fellowship’s bespoke and behind-the-scenes aspects is the fellowship’s one non-instrumentalist, composer James Weatherley-Buss. His musical experiences have included having a piece commissioned by and performed by the Camerata musicians. Then, beyond administrative experience, teaching him about how commissioning and programming works, he has found his own niche on concert days when the other fellows are playing. ‘I can instead assist the events team in set-up’ he explains, ‘meaning I’ve now been in lots and lots of venues, getting an idea of spatial requirements, how long a rehearsal lasts for, and what considerations you need for equipment. So, I now have a much clearer idea of the more tangible aspects of what has to be done to get a piece performed.’

Indeed, in every way, this fellowship is about something valuable for everyone. As Riley puts it, ‘We shouldn’t limit a new generation to sitting on a stage. Not least because that is also the thing that can wreck musicians, emotionally and intellectually, in the way they interact with human beings. Great artistic endeavour is social impact, and it’s extraordinarily important for this bunch, and others, to fully realise music’s power, and to be able to contribute in that way, on an equal footing with concerts.’ Looking at what’s happening in Manchester, his words are impossible to argue with.