LSO Pathways
Mentoring musicians aged 18 and over who aspire to play in a professional orchestra.
LSO Pathways is a two-year programme of support and activity designed for emerging orchestral musicians, who face barriers which may have hindered their progress and development. We recruit six people to the scheme each year.
Participants are invited to three residential weekends in London each year. All expenses including travel to and from London will be covered by the LSO. Each participant is matched with a mentor from the LSO, with whom they will have a monthly meeting, either online or in person if feasible. The LSO player will carefully nurture their personal and professional development over the two years.
The residential weekends are designed around LSO activity taking place at that time, with opportunities to attend rehearsals and concerts. Training is provided in areas of orchestral life including education work, creative opportunities, audition workshops and career guidance. Scheme participants also have a lesson with their mentor during the weekend. Alongside group activities, the aim is to offer a bespoke experience to each participant focusing on their own musical development.
Who Is It For?
The scheme welcomes applications from players with a range of musical backgrounds and experiences. You may be self-taught or you may have never played in an orchestra. You may be studying at university or conservatoire, or you may have graduated. You may be working as a freelance player or you may have taken a different route. You will be around Grade 8 standard or higher, although you may have never taken any formal music exams.
You will be a keen and committed player but believe that factors outside of your control have hindered your progress or that there may have been opportunities you were unable to take.
We are also keen to receive applications from female-identifying musicians who play instruments which are traditionally male-dominated in orchestras, namely double bass, horn, brass and percussion.
Apply to Take Part
Applications are invited by the closing date of Friday 10 October 2025.
To be considered for the scheme, there are two things you need to do:
First, complete the online application form.
Second, record a video of approximately five minutes of you performing a piece/s of your choice. It can be either a complete piece or an extract of something longer. This will be a piece or pieces that you enjoy playing and you feel demonstrates your musical ability. This can be recorded on a phone, iPad or other device – professional recordings are not required. Your piece can be accompanied or not. It’s completely fine to perform a piece without the accompaniment part if you are unable to access a pianist. Once you have recorded your video, please upload it to YouTube or another video sharing platform and include the link on your application form.
As well as watching and hearing you play, we would like you to tell us about yourself and explain the barriers that you have faced which may have hindered your musical progress. These might relate to disability, ethnicity, socio-economic status, neurodiversity, gender identity or spending time in care. This list is not exhaustive and there may be other barriers that you want to tell us about.
All applications will be considered by a panel of LSO players. We will let you know the result of your application no later than Friday 28 November 2025.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must be aged 18 or over and no longer attend school. Please note there is no upper age limit.
You must play one of the following instruments: violin, viola, cello, double bass, harp, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, contrabassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, bass trombone, tuba or percussion. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept applications from other instrumentalists, including pianists.
All applicants must be available to attend the three residential weekends in 2026, which take place on the following dates:
- Friday 23 January – Sunday 25 January
- Friday 5 June – Sunday 7 June
- Friday 16 October – Sunday 18 October
Applicants must be based in the UK and remain so until at least December 2027. Travel costs will be from your usual address to and from London. If you have any questions about the scheme, please email pathways@lso.co.uk and we will get back to you as quickly as we can.
LSO Pathways is generously supported by The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust and The Thistle Trust.
Header image © Paul Cochrane
