first published in Classical Music 5th July 2008

Career advisers tell you it doesn't look good on a CV if you stay in a job for more than five years. Well, I've been running the same business for 25!'

The heart of Julian Morgenstern's business is straightforward enough: a diary service providing an interface for freelance orchestral/session musicians and employers/fixers. So what exactly has prevented this livewire from moving on! Simple. 'I couldn't have found a more stimulating and challenging job'

Morgenstern reflects that he was fortunate to start up just as personal computing emerged. 'I brought my first Apple Mac in 1983. This allowed me to take control of my own future and not have to depend on expensive consultants.' Computers are all about logic, structure, analysis, 'and the challenge was to develop an intuitive system that helped our Teleteam to bring order to the potential chaos of a busy booking agency.'

All new members of the Morgensterns Teleteam have to acquire a wide range of skills, with the computer at the heart of things, to come to grips with the increasingly complex and responsible job of handling bookings and managing client diaries. 'There are times of the year when the work can become relentless', says Morgenstern. 'Call after call tests your nerve and your ability to always get it right'.

Morgenstern was never interested in creating just another basic answering service. 'When I started, existing services had terms and conditions that included clauses such as 'our usual system is that you keep us up-to-date with your diary, so that when we accept a date on your behalf it's at least as firm as if you had accepted the date yourself.' For me this was an unacceptable way to run a service - a booking confirmation should always come from the client - after all, what happens if they're offered work they don't want to accept! That's why we're so active in contacting clients with their bookings, and with booking clashes, as soon as the work is offered.'

Many will recall those humorous Morgensterns cartoon ads from earlier days featuring unusual methods of getting messages to freelance musicians in unlikely circumstances. The mobile phone has rendered that task far less troublesome. 'The emphasis is now totally on efficiency', says Morgenstern.

Horn player Mark Paine is someone who tests that efficiency to the hilt - he is constantly on the move around the world. 'My two vital companions are my PDA phone and Morgensterns. I have instant email contact anywhere there's a mobile phone signal. I can even do live Messenger wherever there's a signal - on London busses, on the underground MTR system in Hong Kong, on the beach at the Great Barrier Reef. I can do everything from getting messages to fixers at the right UK time, to finding out where I need to be for a gig straight off a 20-hour flight.

Sometimes the demands on the Morgensterns Teleteam are more mundane, but just as significant to the individual player. Violinist Jessica O'Leary remembers once arriving at the wrong venue. 'In a panic, I rang Morgensterns and the calm voice told me I should be at a nearby church. 'Turn left out of the door, third turning on the right. You'll be there in lots of time - and there's a canteen in the basement.' Brilliant!

Morgenstern was also always determined to offer a service that actively generated work for musicians. 'In 1983 I mailed potted biographies of our musicians to fixers when sending out clients lists. I moved this information on to the internet in 1990. Today, web profiles, linked to our on-line availability lists, are an important element in the range of services we offer clients and fixers - and they can be enhanced by a photo gallery, mp3s and video clips'

Violinist Orpheus Papafilippou testifies to one positive result of web profiling. 'I was hired as a soloist for a Bach double concerto at a week's notice' this has led to further solo engagements. Clarinettist Ian Herbert says he 'realised the value of my website when I was contacted by a film company, apparently smitten by my photograph!'

Equally, thinking of new ways to make life easier for fixers has always been in the forefront of Morgenstern's mind. 'To complement our diary management services, I introduced our by-instrument availability list service, with links to client web profiles, as a way of helping fixers in an emergency. Over the years it's generated a lot of work for clients.'

Clarinettist and fixer Paul Allen reckons that 'Julian's staff go to extraordinary lengths to contact players for me, and let me know what's happening. They know not to turn down anything unless there have been explicit instructions to the contrary'

Violinist and fixer Andrew Bernardi can recall 'the players who've been introduced to me through the diary service and have become regulars in my music group's ensemble concerts'

If the Morgensterns Teleteam fronts the whole operation, the boss's role is to busy himself backstage. 'It's a case of making sure the Teleteam performs properly, and that our systems provide the support they're supposed to.

'All calls are recorded, so I can flip back and assess things. There are regular de-briefings at which we discuss how things are going. Currently I'm introducing a new phone system, reviewing the database, updating the website - all sorts of projects. And while we have to keep up-to-date with new technology, the job remains that of communicating with people.

'As opportunities open up to work in new media and as musicians explore alternatives to the concert hall, flexibility is going to be a valuable asset for musicians planning careers. They'll need new skills, new mindsets and we'll be developing services to support them.'

Andrew Green (first published in the 5th July 2008 edition of Classical Music)

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