Amy Charlton

Becky Guest left Morgensterns in July 2003 and is now the membership services manager at the Association of British Orchestras under livewire director Russell Jones.

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Becky Guest

'How do you feel when staff tell you it's time to move on?' I asked Julian. 'That's a difficult question to answer without sounding horribly selfish. Because while there is an enormous sense of pride in having been associated with so many outstanding arts administrators, there is also an inevitable sense of loss when yet another talented member of staff says 'goodby' for the last time and heads off into the future.'

'Of course, it's also an exciting time because it gives you the opportunity to interview and select a new member of staff. This year we had another crop of outstanding applications, and I am very pleased to announce that Phil Henderson, Chico Chakravorty and Alice Roser, who Joins Morgensterns in June after graduating from the LSE, are the successful candidates, who join Nigel Bunner and Lisa Gore to make up Morgensterns new 5 member teleteam.

Phil Henderson and Chico Chakravorty

The evidence bears that out. There's James Boyd, another Morgensterns 'graduate', who now works for EMI Marketing, licensing music to third parties wishing to use EMI repertoire in compilation albums.

James Boyd

Since leaving Morgensterns last year, Emily Chelu has been working as the Sales & Marketing Assistant for the Music Department of Oxford University Press.

Emily Chelu

Les Pratt

'As a radio producer you have to have an eye for detail, to be precise and careful. At Morgensterns, if you make a mistake and send someone to the wrong place at the wrong time, you're really in deep trouble. It's the same with radio Ð one mistake at the wrong moment and all hell can break loose!'

Charlotte Templeman

'It's fun at the ECO, becuase there's so much involved in putting on a concert from fixing the players, sorting the music, going in the van to get everything ready at the venue, checking the soloists are OKÉ.the lot. You're always the first to arrive and the last to leave.

'When it comes to foreign tours there's all the business of making travel and hotel arrangements. You learn that anything can happen. On a recent trip quite a number of players went down with food poisoning soon after we arrived Ð and they simply had to struggle through each concert. And then there was the time I had to bribe a policeman who wanted us to move our van from in front of the airport terminalÉ.'

Pauline Savage

'I left University before computers were routinely used,' she says, 'but Morgensterns were always one step ahead of the game and I learned all the basics, and even taught myself to touch type in the quiet hours of the twilight shift!'

'Working in Morgensterns pressured environment of multiple telephone calls and last minute panics, helped me to develop my 'people-management' skills. You know, nurturing an author in the final stages of his or her writing process is not so very different from counselling a player new to freelancing or reassuring a fixer over a booking. At the end of the day, they all need to know that you are there to support them, no matter what.'

Helen Wilson

Emma Simpson has moved on to the BBC, to jobs which also make good use of the ability to juggle any number of balls which were the day-to-day reality of life at Morgensterns, where she worked from 1999 to 2001. 'Initially I was a Contracts and Auditions Assistant with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, producing the contracts for deputy and extra players, and organising the auditions for vacancies.

Emma Simpson

I've worked on some exciting projects with the Singers. Last October we went to Amsterdam for a live concert as part of Radio 3's Dutch week. I produced my first feature last December which was broadcast in the interval of our Christmas concert from King's College Cambridge. I also have the opportunity to work at the BBC Proms as a concert manager which is really good fun - last year I was there for one of the late night Proms, with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra.'

A continuing connection with Morgensterns remains a matter of everyday necessity for some of the Julian's erstwhile colleagues. 'It's been interesting to see things from the other end when I fix players for ViVA', says Helen Wilson. 'Often I'm familiar with the players I'm offered by Morgensterns, but I also know I can ask for a quick run-down of people who are new to meÉ. to get an idea of what they've done and whether they'll fit in.

'The funny thing is that even three years after I left Morgensterns, players still come up to me and say they know my voice, but they're not sure where from. I've only to say 'HelloÉ MorgensternsÉ Helen speaking' and the penny drops!'

Andrew Green

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