Montgomery's big break

"As a student, I was really a very good accompanist, and I played for singers' auditions. A lot of them were for the Glyndebourne chorus," says Montgomery.

One day, slightly to my embarrassment, I was told to stay behind while the singers went off. And they said to me, 'Would you like to join our music staff? We hear that not only are you good as a pianist, but you're interested in conducting, and we need an assistant conductor.' So, at the age of 20 I started at Glyndebourne. Now, I knew nothing about opera. But in my first week at Glyndebourne, I had to play Strauss's Capriccio, Verdi's Macbeth, Monteverdi's Poppea, Mozart's Zauberflöte, Rossini's Pietra del paragone, and something else, Mozart's Idomeneo, I think. I didn't know you weren't supposed to do that, and I could play Capriccio. I taught myself Italian the Easter before I went to Glyndebourne, so I could get on with the Italian singers in the Rossini -- you know, the first day, I was coaching professional singers. That was a wonderful start."