Harry Plant talks to Dr Kate Blackstone at YCAT about shaping a portfolio career in which the skills developed through conservatoire training prove just as vital in the office as on stage.

.

What does your career currently look like?

I very much live and breathe the modern portfolio career model. My 9 to 5 is my role as PA to the Principal and the Chief Operating Officer at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the other part of my career is as a professional freelance trumpet player.

At Guildhall, my work spans diary management, briefings, and travel logistics through to coordinating events, preparing papers, and clerking top-level committees. It’s a fluid, fast-moving role, and that’s exactly why I love it. Guildhall has shaped me as a student, SU President, and now staff member, and I’m lucky to work among such brilliant minds and creatives every day.

Alongside this, I keep an active performing schedule. With my brass quintet, Connaught Brass, I tour in the UK and Europe, and my freelance work includes festivals, studio sessions, and orchestral projects. It’s a varied mix of work that I really enjoy.

How did it all start for you?

I grew up in a brass-playing family and started on cornet at three. My dad taught me until I left for Guildhall - equal parts inspiration and blunt honesty. His “you sound like a bag of nails” verdict before one of my grade exams is still family legend, but it pushed me, which definitely contributed to future successes, and I owe him so much for this. 

My local music service, East Sussex Music Service (now Create Music) was the other big influence in my early years - it gave me my first real ensemble experiences and shaped me as a young musician.

In my fourth year at Guildhall, I planned to join the RAF Central Band, even receiving a job offer, but failing the medical. This, followed immediately by Covid, forced an unexpected rethink. When the Guildhall Students’ Union President role came up, I took a chance, was elected twice, and it ended up giving me direction, skills, and a network I still rely on, all while I was building my freelance playing career.

By 2022 I was ready for a new challenge and wanted to push my playing further, which led me to the Royal Academy of Music for my master’s. I think the pause in my studies meant I went in far more grounded and clear-headed about the kind of musical life I wanted to build.

How did you go from being a trumpet graduate to doing what you do now? 

Halfway through my master’s, I took a serious pause to think about the kind of life I wanted. Freelancing was going well, but I didn’t want to rely on unpredictable gig income forever, and I knew teaching wasn’t for me. Most of my playing naturally fell in evenings and weekends, which made it clear I could take on a stable daytime role without compromising the part of music I loved.

After my final recital, I started applying for full-time jobs that could sit alongside my freelance career. I sent off 50–60 applications over the summer of 2024, had a few near misses, it’s a really tough job market, but then the role at Guildhall appeared.

Even without formal PA experience, I went for it. My time as SU President meant I already knew the School and its people inside out, from the front desk to the Principal, who I now work for. Once I settled in, it clicked: the role suits me perfectly, I’m surrounded by brilliant colleagues, and it allows me to keep my freelance playing career exactly as it is. It’s a balance that works.

So how did your training in music performance help you do what you do now?

Through conservatoires and music training in general, I built so many skills without even realising it. It’s been an incredible environment to grow in. I realised that not everyone will walk out and become principal trumpet of the LSO, just like not everyone studying History becomes the next Stephen Fry, so at some point I decided to look ahead and ask the honest questions: how am I going to make money, will this fulfil me, and is this sustainable?

What conservatoire really taught me went far beyond playing. Time and diary management, people skills, handling pressure, showing up prepared, communicating clearly and above all, resilience. You deal with constant feedback, intense nerves and high expectations. Honestly, sending out 50-plus job applications and attending multiple interviews was nothing compared to the stress of a third year GSMD technical or performing a quintet programme at the Lucerne Festival!

Those skills are exactly what I rely on in my job now. Conservatoire training pushed me harder than almost anything else, and, for me, that resilience is what makes balancing a demanding day job and an active freelance playing career possible.

What is it like to balance your freelance work with a day job?

Balancing a day job with a freelance playing career is genuinely challenging, and I’m still figuring it out. I took a gamble hoping this role would work alongside my freelance work, and thankfully it has. I’m lucky to have supportive colleagues and an environment that understands I’m still an active musician, with enough flexibility to make gigs possible when they come up.

There are still clashes, some very long days, and rarely the occasional gig I have to turn down, and finding space for practice - and an actual life - is an ongoing learning curve. Some weeks I nail it, others not so much. But the mix gives me the stability I need and the freedom to keep playing at a high level, and right now that balance really works for me.

What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

A shoutout here to a good friend, the great singer David Wilson-Johnson, who shared a piece of wisdom with me this summer that has really stayed with me: don’t get so caught up in every small detail that you forget to look at the bigger picture. His version was a little more colourful but the message was clear. Keep perspective, don’t let the little things derail you, and always look further down the line. It’s something I’ve thought about constantly ever since!

What is the worst piece of advice you ever received? 

A teacher once encouraged me to “be careful” about telling people I was doing anything outside of playing, because they thought others might assume I wasn’t serious anymore or that I had given up. But being a freelance musician in 2025 is completely different to the world they grew up in. There are so many brilliant players out there that even getting an audition is an achievement in itself, let alone winning a permanent job. I am proud to have different strands to my career, and people are still booking me for gigs, so happy days!

What advice would you give to someone hoping to build a career like yours?

The first thing I’d say is that you haven’t failed as a musician if you take on another job, and you definitely haven’t wasted your degree if you end up in a different field. Conservatoire training gives you an incredible skill set, and people often forget how strong those skills actually are. Time management, communication, resilience, discipline - musicians should give themselves far more credit for what they’re capable of.

I’ve found that the key is to step back and look at the bigger picture. What kind of life do you actually want, and what genuinely fulfils you? Be honest with yourself about that, and then be just as honest about how it’s going to work financially. It’s not unromantic, it’s how you build something sustainable.

From there, I’d say be proactive. Use your network, use your skills, and don’t be afraid to do something alongside playing. You’re not going to suddenly forget how to play your instrument, but you will need to carve out time to keep things at the level you want them to be - I’ve been lucky to find that manageable. 

And finally, stop comparing yourself to everyone else. People share their highlight reels, whether that’s on social media or in person. You’re on your own path, and if you build a career that suits you and makes you proud, that’s what matters.

---

Harry Plant is a member of the award winning Connaught Brass, who tour across the UK and Europe. His freelance work has ranged from Wireless Festival with Stormzy to recording sessions with the Jonas Brothers. As a freelancer, he has appeared at the BBC Proms and Classic FM Spectaculars, recorded at studios including Abbey Road, Air and Electric Lady in New York, and even featured on screen and on the soundtrack of Spielberg’s Masters of the Air for Apple TV. To find out more about Harry, follow him on Instagram or visit the Connaught Brass website.

.

Read more Career Spotlight stories

Click here to sign up to the 21cMusician Newsletter