Making music: Q&A with Ian Maclay, Managing Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

How do you bring scores of individual performers into one harmonious team? That’s the demanding task of Ian Maclay, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s Managing Director.

What drew you to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO)?

I believe that every junior can learn an awful lot from their superiors

I came to the Royal Philharmonic by accident. I studied music intending to play professionally, but when I met my peers – who were far better players than I was, and still weren’t earning a living – I decided to work in music, but not as a musician.

I joined as a bookkeeper, working my way up (with extraordinary luck) and learning as I went. I owe the Orchestra everything in terms of my career. I believe every junior can learn an awful lot from their superiors (and their mistakes), and that if you stay around long enough, you might get a chance to put it into practice.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

I enjoy the company of the musicians immensely, and everyone at the RPO is afforded the chance to enjoy the end product of our work. That’s not something every organisation allows.

How do you recruit the players?

Each recruitment is a two-year process of audition tapes, trial periods and performances.

All the players have been playing at a high level since their mid-teens, and been through orchestras, scholarships and elite academies – perhaps even being loaned an instrument worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Those who can manage all of that time and cost might then choose to apply for a job at an orchestra such as ours.

We have 84 players, but there can be 300 applicants for each post. Each recruitment is a two-year process of audition tapes, trial periods and performances. Once we have a position down to perhaps six brilliant applicants, it can come down to how well they settle on a long tour of the US, for example, or how the principal conductor feels their style complements the rest of the orchestra.

Is managing performers difficult?

It’s a relationship that has to rely on mutual respect, but some conductors can be difficult to work with

The orchestra is a workers’ cooperative, with new players buying themselves in as those leaving sell their shares. The players employ people such as me to work for them, and they are really driven by a mutual interest in perfection. Getting the top performance is down to the conductor, and my team and I act as talent scouts to sign rising conductors to the orchestra for several years, before they become too popular and expensive.

Interestingly, as the conductor reports to the company, the players in effect employ their manager and management team. It’s a relationship that has to rely on mutual respect, but some conductors can be difficult to work with, even if they are talented. It’s my job to hire the ones that draw the very best performances from our orchestra.

If you enjoyed the above blog then you might also appreciate these other articles, which too originally appeared in the Hays Journal:

• Training at the top
• Why talented Chinese graduates are aiming high in Dubai
• Establishing an effective middle management tier
• Managing external resources
• Four pillars of people
• Family values

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