British Youth Opera runs several programmes for people who are looking to build a career as a conductor, assistant conductor, music director or repetiteur

The Collaborator Strand
If you have musical experience (particularly working with singers) and excellent repetiteur skills, but you'll still be building basic skills and knowledge, the collaborator strand of our summer programme is for you.

You’ll be paired with an established musician who will inspire and mentor you and give you tailored career support and advice. Much like an assistant conductor or repetiteur, you'll spend time in the rehearsal room, working with and learning from our professional director and playing for rehearsals.

2025's summer programme will tackle a semi-staged version of Peter Grimes. Working with a professional director and conductor, you'll create a professional-standard show to be performed twice – at London's Cadogan Hall and Saffron Hall, just outside Cambridge. The programme will take place during June, with performances on 5 and 6 July. You'll need good availibility throughout June, but we're aware that you may still have conservatoire or university commitments – schedules will be built around the people who are offered a place and as a result might make good use of evenings and weekends.

The Serena Fenwick Programme
The Serena Fenwick programme started out as a course for singers, providing 6 months of bespoke mentoring, group sessions, one-to-one sessions , advice and support. It was specifically targeted at people who needed something extra – whether that was because they'd had a different route into singing or something was holding them back or slowing them down, like financial or personal problems.

It was so successful we rolled out a version for stage managers, and now we're doing the same for directors and conductors. If you get a place on the Serena Fenwick programme, you'll get 6 months of personal mentoring from industry professionals, bespoke career guidance, CV advice and introductions to people in the industry. You'll also be able to take part in BYO's summer production and be put forward for shadowing opportunities with our industry partners over the summer.

The programme is open to all and is fully bespoke, with everything fitted around your existing knowledge and experience. However you'll need some good quality experience and need to be able to demonstrable commitment to pursuing a career in conducting.

Serena Fenwick and Summer Programme deadlines: 12pm, 14 October 2024

Taking part in any BYO programme is free, and there is no application fee beyond your membership to BYO hub.

BYO offers reduced or free BYO hub premium membership to care leavers, people granted asylum in the UK, people seeking asylum in the UK, full or part time careers, people with no immediate family or no connection to them, single parents, people with physical or mental disabilities and people with long term illnesses.