You're a young singer, classically-trained, fresh out of music college or university, and you want to make it your career.
So what's your next move?
It's a hellishly tricky prospect and even for the most talented it can all go horribly wrong, says Sir John Eliot Gardiner, founder and conductor of the world-renowned Monteverdi Choir. Which is why he set up an apprenticeship scheme. Eight gifted singers – six women, two men - in their early 20s were picked by open audition in September.
The apprentices will spend a year with the choir, rehearsing and singing in concerts at home and overseas. These include performances of Bach's Christmas Oratorio by the choir over the festive season and into January at Christ Church in London's Spitalfields.
Each apprentice is assigned a mentor, an experienced singer in the choir who will show them the ropes: how to survive six hours of rehearsals in a day, how to give the conductor what he wants, the sort of practical stuff that they might not have learnt in college.
The Monteverdi Choir scheme follows the age-old apprenticeship principle of learning a craft on the job from older hands.
It also coincidentally fits in with the government's current drive to boost the numbers of apprentices massively across all sectors of the economy.
The scheme will help these young musicians decide whether a professional singing career is for them, says Gardiner.
If at the end of the year an apprentice has shown that he or she is what the choir wants and there is a vacancy, they will be offered a place.
There could be no better first step towards a singing career.
