Pit Perfect: The scheme bringing Glyndebourne’s characteristic sustainability to the orchestra pit

Picking your way across Glyndebourne’s serene lawns, vocal warmups drifting from open dressing room windows to the picnicking audiences below, one might be forgiven for thinking this Sussex opera house is just that: an opera house and nothing more. However, shielding your eyes (or tilting your umbrella, if you happen to experience an authentic British summer) and looking up, you can’t miss the 67-metre-tall turbine which towers above the Glyndebourne’s Jacobethan-20^th century complex. Providing almost all the company’s annual electricity needs, this turbine – alongside the opera house’s low-carbon production hub, costume department dye garden and many more eco-conscious initiatives besides – stands as testament to Glyndebourne’s dedication to sustainability. Although it can be seen most clearly against the Sussex skyline, Glyndebourne’s search for a stable, reliable future for the classical music industry extends beyond its reach for net zero and into the orchestra pit.

The Pit Perfect talent development scheme, run in partnership with the Jerwood Foundation, brings young orchestral musicians into the concert hall on equal footing with the regular players of the Glyndebourne Sinfonia. Now in its sixth year, the programme has nurtured the talents of more than 50 graduates, contributing to Glyndebourne’s sustainable ecosystem by providing a pipeline of new orchestral talent for the orchestra. Glyndebourne Sinfonia cellist and orchestra manager Jonathan Tunnell was tasked in 2018 with creating a programme for instrumentalists along the same lines as Glyndebourne’s successful Jerwood Young Artists scheme – from which singers often progress to the festival chorus and then to more substantial roles – and quickly realised he would have to depart from the established format laid out by other orchestras if he wanted to embody the company’s sustainable ideals.

Glyndebourne's turbine stands as stands as testament to the opera house's dedication to sustainability. © James Bellorini

One of the main the ways Pit Perfect sets itself apart from other talent development programmes is by truly immersing young players in the world of the orchestra. ‘Other schemes are more side by side,’ explains Tunnell, ‘Young players tend to come in and sit with a professional musician during rehearsals, maybe have a lesson, have a coaching session on orchestral repertoire and gain advice. But on very few occasions do they actually get to perform on stage with the orchestra. We are different in that our Pit Perfect players are playing in all our performances throughout the autumn season.’ This approach resonates with Yuliya Ostapchuk, a violinist on this year’s scheme, who is grateful for the chance to sit among professional musicians: ‘On other schemes where it's just recent graduates, we are all in the same boat. Of course, professionals come and coach us, but it’s not the same as being placed within that professional group. Here, I get to learn from the musicians around me, from my desk partners, from the principal section leaders.’

Previous scheme participant Haim Choi is in the unique position of being able to compare her experience on a variety of different schemes. ‘As a student I’d done pretty much all the London-based orchestra schemes available for students,’ She recalls, ‘Amongst them all I would pick the Pit Perfect scheme as the most valuable and memorable. There isn’t the sense of separation that I've experienced between the professionals and participants on previous schemes. We are perfectly integrated into the orchestra, and I think the equal footing ethos plays a really big role.’ This ‘equal footing’ concept also extends beyond the pit to the scheme’s administration. Young musicians participating in the programme are paid for their work in the same way they can expect to be paid as freelancers later on in their careers. As well as keeping the next generation of musicians afloat during today’s troubling times, this part of the scheme has an unexpected additional benefit; the participants I spoke to reported feeling valued on the scheme. Cellist Theo Bently Curtin, who is participating in the scheme while studying for his Masters at the Guildhall, sums it up: ‘You feel valued financially because you're paid and then you also feel valued as a growing artist.’

This sense of being welcomed and understood is due in large part to the openness of the Glyndebourne Sinfonia players. The group, which is made up entirely of freelancers, includes around 50 musicians who return each year for Glyndebourne’s autumn season. For Bently Curtin, the group’s sympathetic approach to their charges is palpable: ‘It’s such a joy. They are a very friendly orchestra and they've all been doing it for many seasons, so they know exactly the ins and outs of playing in the pit. People are very open to you asking questions and there are lots of very nice conversations, it's a great team.’ As well as their friendly nature, Glyndebourne’ Sinfonia’s perennial freelancers are an extraordinarily broad source of information and advice for scheme participants. ‘Maintaining that core group consistently from year to year is really important,’ says Tunnell. ‘There's a lot of years of opera experience in this freelance group. My lot have all done loads of different things, so there's a huge spectrum of experience that they can call upon.’

Pit Perfect players 2023. Left to right: Hazalen Tang (bassoon), Guo Yu (violin), Theo Bently Curtin (cello), Yijia Cui (bass), Nick Cowling (timpani), Yuliya Ostapchuk (violin) and Yat Hei Lee (bass) © Glyndebourne Productions Ltd/Sam Stephenson

But it wasn’t always the case. While the Sinfonia’s core group of regulars is undoubtedly one of the pieces that makes the Pit Perfect puzzle so special, it could also have been one of the programme’s early stumbling blocks. Tunnell recalls, ‘We dealt with the slightly contentious issue that a lot of the professional players felt undermined, that their jobs were at risk seeing new graduates coming in, but it hasn't worked like that at all. My feeling has always been that there has to be constant regeneration in the group. We all learn from each other. Over the years I am delighted that the orchestra has become thoroughly accepting of the scheme.’ As well as the professional musicians’ growing understanding that Pit Perfect players weren’t a threat, for Tunnell it was also a numbers game: ‘I thought long and hard about it and, for the bigger repertoire, where we're playing slightly bigger string strength, we could easily bring in string players in particular. We've also had productions where we had an onstage and off-stage band which are a perfect vehicle to bring in some younger players.’

Once the issue of preserving Glyndebourne Sinfonia’s responsibility to its regular players had been resolved, the scheme became a valuable stepping stone for participants. With funding cuts putting the UK’s classical music ecosystem at risk of crumbling, talent development programmes like Pit Perfect provide a way across the broad chasm separating the music college experience and life as a professional in the classical music industry. The scheme also provides a unique opportunity for young musicians looking for experience in the opera sphere and is, rather surprisingly, one of very few programmes out there for musicians looking to work in the field. For Ostapchuk, her musical family provided her with a window into the opera world, but it wasn’t until joining Pit Perfect that she had a chance to gain experience as part of an opera production: ‘Both my parents used to play in the Opera House in Lviv, so I'm very familiar with that environment, but I didn't have that much personal experience of it prior to this scheme. I did my bachelors at the Royal Academy of Music and my Masters at the Royal College of Music and I have to say I didn't get to do a single opera production. Conservatoires train us very, very well orchestrally, but playing in a symphony orchestra is very different to playing within an opera production.’

​"In these difficult times economically for classical music, young musicians hold a lot of power, but we need help to get our message across." Theo Bently Curtin plays alongside Glyndebourne Sinfonia cellists © Glyndebourne Productions Ltd/ Sam Stephenson"

As well as preparing participants for different repertoire, the scheme also seeks to ready participants for the realities of a professional music career. The musicians attend seminars designed to help them with the practicalities of life in the music industry, covering everything from tax returns to what to do if the principal flute doesn’t turn up. The Sinfonia’s freelancers again prove themselves a valuable resource, approaching the participants’ questions with rare candour: ‘They speak with frankness about how a career in music is and about how to navigate it,’ reports Bently Curtin, ‘For someone just starting out in the profession, I think everyone should have the opportunity to experience this honesty. It's not for the faint hearted but having that frank conversation about our profession is very important.’

Alongside rigorous training and education opportunities, Ostapchuk found space on the scheme to grow in a different direction. She described an Instagram takeover she had recently run for Glyndebourne’s 33,000 followers on the platform: ‘It isn't a compulsory element of the scheme, it was just an idea, and I was really up for it. I hadn't done something like this before, but I've seen these things happen, different orchestras doing it, and I really enjoyed the idea. Nowadays the world is really changing, and I seem to get a lot of my work from Instagram. I think we should take advantage of it and it's amazing that Glyndebourne is helping us along the way.’

"When faced with challenges or difficult situations, I found myself rewinding in my mind to my time on the scheme." © Glyndebourne Productions Ltd/Sam Stephenson

From its carefully-thought-out framework to its friendly atmosphere and honest conversations, one might be forgiven for thinking Pit Perfect might be too good to be true, but the proof is in its alumni. Choi, who took part in the scheme in 2021, has been Glyndebourne Sinfonia’s principal first violin for two years now, and recently finished leading a chamber orchestra tour. She still looks back on her time in the scheme as a vital learning experience: ‘Everything that I observed, absorbed and felt inspired by at Glyndebourne helped me. When faced with challenges or difficult situations, I found myself rewinding in my mind to my time on the scheme. That always stays with me wherever I go.’ Musicians like Choi and flautist Sirius Chau, who also joined the orchestra after participating in the scheme, are great examples of how Pit Perfect reflects Glyndebourne’s sustainability ethos. ‘It's become a fabulous recruiting tool,’ says Tunnell. ‘There's real progression from scheme to working professionally on a more full-time basis.’ The Pit perfect scheme also feeds off – and into – Glyndebourne’s other talent development programmes, with new works by the house’s Balancing the Score composers premiered at a chamber concert given by the Pit Perfect players and programmed by Tunnell himself.

It appears Tunnell has completed the brief of a sustainable orchestral talent development plan and, in its sixth year, the scheme has gained considerable momentum. For Bently Curtin, Pit Perfect is not only a valuable opportunity, but a heartening reminder of investment in the next generation: ‘In these difficult times economically for classical music, young musicians hold a lot of power, but we need help to get our message across. These graduate programmes and schemes, they all help. Every little bit is a building block for our careers. So support us and help us share the music that we all love.’

Applications are now open to join the Jerwood Pit Perfect scheme in 2024. You can find more information including how to apply here.