The Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Artists Programme marks 25 years of unearthing opera’s brightest new stars
By Ruth Haines, Head of Opera Press
Thursday 23 April 2026
The Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Artists Programme celebrates its 25th anniversary in the 2026/27 Season, marking a quarter of a century of discovering, nurturing and training the next generation of talent and helping to ensure the future of opera.
About the Jette Parker Artists Programme
Since the programme’s inception in 2001, Artistic Director David Gowland and Head of Jette Parker Artists Elaine Kidd (from 2018) have supported over 150 artists, many of whom now have internationally high-profile opera and ballet careers.
Former Jette Parker Artists include: Sally Matthews, Edgaras Montvidas, Ekaterina Gubanova, Ailish Tynan, Matthew Rose, David Butt Philip, Jennifer Davis, Aigul Akhmetshina, Francesca Chiejina, Jacquelyn Stucker, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Germán Alcántara and Yaritza Véliz. Over half of alumni have returned to work with the Royal Ballet and Opera in the past five years both on the Main Stage and in the Linbury Theatre.
With positions for conductors, répétiteurs and pianists added in 2002, stage directors joining in 2003, and ballet conductors in 2008, the JPA programme has fortified the opera and ballet ecosystems both on and off-stage. Alumni include conductors Daniele Rustioni and José Salazar and directors Rodula Gaitanou and Thomas Guthrie. JPA-trained music staff are also enjoying successful freelance careers and heading up departments of major companies including Geneva Opera House and Australian Ballet.
The Programme’s global search for talent has taken the team to every corner of the world - from Uruguay and Japan to New Zealand, Armenia and South Africa - cultivating cohorts that are a fusion of British and international artists. This worldwide reach continues to enrich and diversify the operatic sector, ensuring a broader, more dynamic future for the art form.
The 25th Anniversary Cohort
The 25th anniversary cohort of singers are sopranos Hannah Edmunds and Seohyun Go, mezzo-sopranos Lily Mo Browne and Ellen Pearson, tenors Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono, Giorgi Guliashvili and Emyr Lloyd Jones, baritone Sam Hird and bass-baritone Jack Sandison.
Director Talia Stern and ballet conductor Giovanni Fanizza are joined by conductor/repetiteur Avishka Edirisinghe (who is currently working as a freelance répétiteur on the triple bill of chamber operas, Tales of Love and Loss) and conductor/répétiteur Marta Misztal. Misztal took part in the Royal Ballet and Opera's Women and Marginalised Gender Ballet Conductors Course in January 2026.
25th Anniversary Celebrations
Celebrations will span the whole 2026/27 Season, culminating in a special edition of the annual Summer Performance with the whole cohort on the Main Stage. Alongside the highly popular Jukebox event, David Gowland will curate a two-day Retrospective festival in the Linbury Theatre highlighting the dynamic range of repertory performed by Jette Parker Artists in chamber operas and recitals over a quarter of a century. This event will bring together the current cohort and special guests.
The first event, an ensemble Leider recital with multiple singers and two painists, will include excerpts from Brahms’ Liebeslieder and Wolf’s Italienisches und Spanisches Iiederbüchen whilst a second event celebrates recital achievements over the Programme’s history. The final event of the festival will be a retrospective of fully-staged JPAP productions championing lesser-known works. This will be staged by JPA director Talia Stern.
Throughout the year, JPAs will also perform a series of specially curated recitals in the splendour of the Crush Room, offering audiences the chance to hear these future stars in an intimate setting. Each Jette Parker Artist will create and perform a personal 45-minute lunchtime recital in collaboration with expert mentors.
Other celebratory events include an exhibition in the Linbury Foyer, featuring some of the remarkable people and projects who have made the Programme unique.
Jette Parker Artists: Solo Stories
Performed as part of World Opera Day by the Jette Parker Artists, the Solo Stories series celebrates three special pieces for solo female voice and piano.
