September 5, 2024, by Jackie Thompson
My career in music from UoN to Head of Orchestra and Operations
By Matthew Pax, music graduate
We asked Matt to talk about his career journey from studying music at Nottingham to his current role as Head of Orchestra and Operations at Sinfonia Viva.
He talks about the value of his involvement in student societies and provides advice to current students and recent alumni looking to enter the music industry.
What did you study at UoN and what were your career plans after graduation?
I studied undergraduate music (2000 – 2003) at Nottingham and when I graduated, I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I explored various options before settling on my current career.
I considered going on to do a postgraduate at a music college wondering if I could make it as a performer, but quickly decided against that. I almost joined the Army as a musician – I had a few visits and an audition for the Band of the Welsh Guards and was offered a place subject to passing military training. For various reasons, I never ended up submitting my application to the Army Careers Office.
What is your current role and how did that come about?
My current role is Head of Orchestra and Operations at Sinfonia Viva, a professional orchestra whose administrative base is in Derby. I started there in December 2003 (my first proper job after graduation) as Concert Manager.
I’m actually in the same role as when I started but have been given more responsibilities over the years and am now part of the senior leadership, but I still do many of the same jobs I did when I first started.
I’m responsible for most of the behind-the-scenes logistics for our concerts, from booking all the musicians to hiring music, preparing parts, liaising with various artists, managing rehearsals and performances on the day including co-ordinating any technical support we require for specific performances and then processing payments for all involved at the end of the month/project.
As I’ve been with Viva for a while, I’ve gained added responsibilities, hence the change in job title since I started. I now manage the day-to-day running of our office space, I’m the liaison with our IT support and utility providers, and I’m responsible for managing those budgets as well as the orchestral ones. I’m also now overseeing our orchestral recruitment processes, and I’m involved in admin staff recruitment as a senior member of staff. I also support our Finance Manager in the preparation of our financial reporting.
What extracurricular activities were you involved in at UoN that helped you to build your career?
Without my extracurricular experiences at UoN I would definitely not have ended up in the career I’m in.
As a trumpet player, I was involved in most Mussoc and Blowsoc groups over my three years at Nottingham. I played in both orchestras, Wind Orchestra, Brass Ensemble and Mussoc’s Jazz Ensemble, Blue Shift. I was also involved in Moonlighters Big Band, which when I was there, wasn’t affiliated with a particular society.
In my second year, I was the Librarian for Blowsoc, managing the library for the Wind Orchestra – this involved making sure we had all the music we needed for each performance, buying new sets if required, and making sure parts were handed out and collected in after each performance.
In my third year, I was elected Tour Manager for Blowsoc which involved being the main liaison with the tour company, Raybourn Tours who helped us take the Wind Orchestra, Flute Choir and Brass ensemble on a concert tour to Amsterdam. I worked with the tour company to produce an itinerary with three performances within the week plus various excursions. I had to then sell the tour to the society and help recruit members to sign up for the tour.
I was responsible for scheduling rehearsals, ensuring all participants provided the relevant passport information and so on, and that all the venues we were performing in knew our schedule and requirements in good time as well as dealing with any issues that arose on the ground on the day.
The value of the committee roles at UoN
Whilst not ‘professional’ experience, both roles on the committee gave me extremely valuable experience which I was able to draw on in my interview for my current job. My role at Sinfonia Viva has a lot of different jobs, and I find myself doing many of the tasks I did as a committee member on an almost daily basis in my current job.
It also taught me about working in a team. As a committee member, I wasn’t the only one working towards making things happen – there’d be conductors, treasurers, secretaries, not to mention social secretaries who all needed to be part of the preparation for concerts and tours, and the skills I learnt about working with others to achieve common goals are just as relevant in professional orchestras/ensembles.
What advice can you give on the range of opportunities on offer within the sector and getting started?
It is definitely worth having a look at different arts organisations and their structure. There are a lot of different roles, and certainly, when I left university I was not really aware of the huge breadth of roles I could consider.
In orchestras, there are the obvious performance roles, and admin roles behind the scenes, but these can vary depending on the organisation. In smaller organisations like Sinfonia Viva, a member of the admin team can cover a multitude of different roles. In larger ensembles like the big symphony orchestras, they have whole departments just for one element.
In my role, I am orchestra manager, librarian, artist liaison, and platform team just to name a few. In a larger orchestra, there’d maybe be three orchestra managers, two or more librarians, a couple of concert managers, and a whole platform department to set stage and transport equipment between venues.
Then there are the roles you might not associate with orchestras, but are just as vital, from marketing, to finance and fundraising/development, and learning and development departments (school/community outreach).
Where to look for information
It is worth looking at the Association of British Orchestras and their page on careers advice. They have a few role profiles to show some of the variety. Outside of orchestras, there are very similar roles within choirs, theatre companies, ballet and companies (many have their own orchestras too) and of course, there are artist agents who manage the diaries/logistics for conductors and soloists.
The Arts Council England publishes a job listing for organisations to post vacancies. As this is a free service, most arts organisations will advertise here as well as other paid-for sites, so it is well worth looking here at the variety of jobs on offer around the country.
Looking back, is there anything that you would advise students to do to enhance their career prospects while at UoN?
I would encourage anyone wanting to go into the arts to get as much experience as they can whilst at university. It might seem trivial at the time, but this experience is just as valid for entry-level jobs – experiences you can relate back to in an interview showing how you’ve coped under pressure, or doing something outside your comfort zone – many of the skills used are just as relevant in the real world.
I would encourage anyone considering arts administration to apply to the work placement modules. The university runs one that can form part of your degree module. Viva hosts one student a year in the spring semester but the university also offers an extracurricular placement scheme in the autumn semester. Even though this doesn’t offer any degree credits, the experience is just as relevant for your CV.
Finally, I’d suggest writing down experiences and keeping your CV as up-to-date as possible. It is much easier to adapt a CV for a particular job application than it would be to start writing a CV from scratch when you see a job you want to apply for.
Go to our website for more information on the range of career options with a degree in music and our webpage on the music industry which includes two recent alumni videos.
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