Jetting around the globe to perform in the world’s most opulent concert halls sounds extremely glamorous. But being a young classical musician entails a lot of graft. Not only do you have to study and practise for many long hours, but you have to promote yourself tirelessly in order to find enough work to make a decent income. Tuition fees and travel make it a shockingly expensive business as well, so it’s always good news when young musicians receive support of some kind – as they do from Talent Unlimited.

Talent Unlimited (TU), which gained official charity status in 2010, is the brainchild of Canan Maxton, an aficionado of Western classical music who was raised in Istanbul. When I caught up with Canan last summer, she explained that one of the main inspirations for TU came when she was working for other charities. “I was raising funds for them, but I realised that I had absolutely no control over how the money was being spent,” she said. She had also become aware that young classical musicians from Turkey were failing to receive financial support. “They get a lot of promises that aren’t fulfilled, and they can find themselves in the middle of their studies without any funding. Turkish students, just like other students from non-EU countries, have to pay very high college fees, which might be in the region of £27,000 in the UK – a lot more than in many other countries.”

Canan (pronounced Jah-nan) revealed that her gift for finding talent goes back to her childhood, when she harboured her own musical ambitions. “I realised at the age of 14 that I didn’t have the talent to become a good pianist, and decided to abandon the piano.” She also abandoned plans to become a choreographer. “I’m delighted that I had the gumption to recognise the level of my ability. This is one of my strong points. I have no difficulty seeing who has real talent, and who is just okay but will do well because he or she is a determined individual. I try to help them according to their ability.”