Dominika — “It was kind of a life raft.”
Dominika is a talented pianist who applied for postgraduate support from Help Musicians in February 2024, becoming a Dame Myra Hess Award recipient in May.
Since then, she has continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music, performing in a range of incredible venues including at a Help Musicians event at Steinway Hall.
“It’s been amazing” she says, when asked about her experience of postgraduate study. Having previously studied at the University of Cambridge for her undergraduate degree, she says of being at a conservatoire: “it’s very intense, but you learn a lot. You meet lots of incredible people that you can collaborate and build new musical relationships with.”
While studying, Dominika has realised that it’s not enough to wait until her master’s degree is finished to start building her career. So, alongside her studies, she has already begun networking and developing her identity and presence as a musician.
While studying has brought lots of opportunities, it has also been tough. “I came into my studies quite green, expecting that I would come, study, play the piano, and that would be all. But it didn’t quite work out like that.”
The workload has been very intense, involving long lessons each week, regularly accompanying others in their violin and singing lessons, and collaborating with musicians she never imagined she’d have the chance to work with. On top of this, studying has been extremely demanding.
You’re working projects all the time. There’s never really enough time for anything. Besides that, you have to be your own manager and agent. You’re doing all this networking, and the emotional labour of it all can build up. You have to work multiple jobs.
While studying, Dominika has taken on a busy teaching job to help with the fees. She says that other students who don’t have the ability to be self-employed are often working long hours in service jobs or in hospitality.
“It’s pretty brutal, and there’s an expectation to look completely serene and have everything under control. Not everybody comes from the same background, so some people aren’t going to struggle as much, but if you show struggle, then you can lose work because of it.”
Help Musicians’ support has played a key role in helping alleviate some of that struggle, freeing up time and energy to focus on the aspects of music that will help her build a career.
“When I found out what Help Musicians do, it was kind of a life raft. I was working long hours to finance the shortfall that people inevitably have when they start a performance degree. I applied for an award and was lucky to get the Myra Hess Award for my second year of studies.”
By helping to cover her fees, the Award has relieved some of the pressure. She describes how our support has essentially given her back time, whereas before she had been using a lot of her time just to make ends meet. The Award allowed her to reclaim some of that time for practice and the kinds of activities that make a music career sustainable – like free play, when creative ideas emerge.
[Receiving support] freed up time to do things beyond just ‘keeping up’, because keeping up isn’t really enough, and it’s not how a musician wants to live. That’s not how you become a creative individual and build a sustainable career.
For Dominika and other students, having more time is not just about pursuing new opportunities. Without time, she says, “you wouldn’t even know about those opportunities, because you wouldn’t have the space to find them. There’s huge value in being available and in the right places at the right times. Just being present on site opens space for collaborations to come up naturally in a really beautiful way, rather than forcing things.”
Since receiving her Award, she has had time to think about how the process worked for her, as well as having the chance to get involved with Help Musicians events, like our Steinway Hall concert. She is grateful that awards like the Dame Myra Hess Award can increase a musician’s visibility and give them opportunities they wouldn’t have got otherwise.
“It looks good to be considered good enough to be supported and represented by any funding body. Also, doing the fundraiser at Steinway Hall was a really great opportunity. I really enjoyed talking to Charles Owen and performing in front of a lot of people, and some interesting opportunities have come about since then.”
Reflecting on the audition process, she says that the expectations during the audition process had been clearly communicated in advance, and she felt the process was accessible – particularly for musicians with neurodivergence.
“For musicians who don’t come from backgrounds where things like funding and networking have been ingrained in them from a young age, Help Musicians levels the playing field, just by getting them to the point of applying. That’s no small thing.”