The joy of discovery: Royal Ballet and Opera’s Jette Parker Artists

London is an international city, welcoming tens of millions of tourists each year, plus countless people from all over the world who make the capital their home. The city’s population combines thousands of different cultures, and it follows that its arts scene should reflect this multiplicity. One institution embracing London’s position as a global gathering place is Royal Ballet and Opera (RBO), formerly the Royal Opera House. Having long held a prominent place in the city’s cultural landscape, RBO’s Jette Parker Artists (JPA) Programme launched in 2001 with the aim of supporting the artistic development of young singers. Since then, the scheme has grown to include emerging conductors, directors and répétiteurs and has developed an increasingly global outlook. Nowadays, the programme has the additional aim of diversifying the talent pipeline, placing emphasis on recruiting artists from backgrounds underrepresented in the RBO talent pool.

JPA programme artistic director David Gowland: 'Our job is capturing, embracing and developing that "gut thing", helping singers recognise it themselves and build on it, and – hopefully – conquer the world.’

When artistic director David Gowland founded the scheme it ran auditions by invitation, relying on head-hunters to identify talent. However, recruitment for the scheme in its current form has completely transformed. Instead of recruiting based on competition results, conservatoire stats or head-hunter recommendations – all of which assume access to high-quality training and the wealth to back it up – Gowland and programme head Elaine Kidd travel the world to experience emerging talent in its natural habitat. ‘Some people may not have had access to the level or style of training and work that we do here in the UK,’ explains Gowland. ‘I'm interested, when I travel, in discovering people who have been denied the opportunity of access, whether that be through ethnicity, prejudice, socio-economic deprivation, or just a lack of contacts.’ Although circumstances have denied these ‘wildcards’ (as Gowland calls them) access to the training and support they need to develop, this doesn’t mean that the artistic director is any way sacrificing the quality audiences have come to expect from RBO. ‘We have the best coaches in the world here, so we can help them with languages, technique, stagecraft,’ he assures me. ‘But it has to start from that gut thing, the thing that can't be taught – you've either got it or you haven't. Our job is capturing, embracing and developing that, helping singers recognise it themselves and build on it, and – hopefully – conquer the world.’

During their two years on the scheme Jette Parker Artists are salaried employees of RBO on full-time contracts. As well as receiving mentorship and tuition from RBO staff and a range of visiting talent, artists work on company productions, singing small roles and covering larger ones and joining the music or directing staff for productions. However, none of this training and experience is designed to dim the spark for which Gowland and Kidd recruited them. ‘As much as we can we want to respect who they are, where they've come from culturally, their education, everything,’ says Gowland. ‘This is just a job, it doesn't identify you and I feel it is our duty to embrace a singer’s culture and history.’ For Gowland, who also accompanies artists during recitals, this includes selecting repertoire which represents their heritage. ‘I always encourage them to include some of their national songs because I think it’s important for our audience to get to know who they are, and for them to find freedom of expression in doing that.’ And once each artist has had a chance to get comfortable, it’s time to apply their unique voice to the core repertoire they will be expected to perform throughout their career. ‘Everybody's going to have a unique personal response to art, and that's the beauty: there are so many ways of interpreting something. I love the challenge of tuning in to who they are and the story they're trying to tell,’ enthuses Gowland. ‘These wildcards deserve to be heard and nurtured in a way that's appropriate for them as people culturally, where they feel safe and included, rather than abused and exploited.’

Samoan tenor Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono: 'I felt like I had something to offer. I'm a nobody in London, I've never studied anywhere internationally, so no one really had any idea of who I was, and I got to really share what I've been training for.’

This personal approach comes into play even before the scheme begins. The audition process has been carefully crafted to offer prospective participants the best chance of giving a performance that represents them. This means reducing the number of singers invited to auditions and incorporating coaching, masterclasses, and opportunities to watch rehearsals and get used to the house into the week they spend at RBO. This approach pays dividends for the JPA programme team, too: ‘This way we get to know them better as people, rather than trying to cast based on just the voice and stagecraft sessions and interviews,’ says Gowland. ‘It's a two-way thing, because it also means that they have the chance to decide whether it’s not for them.’ This sort of artist-first process is labour-intensive, but for the JPA team it’s worth it: ‘It's hard to work for us,’ Gowland admits, ‘but, come on, this is their life. We should get to know them as artists and as people, rather than just singers. It’s probably one of the only times in their career where they'll have someone willing to put themselves out to make sure that they're comfortable and that they have a learning experience.’

One such artist who has benefitted from this more compassionate audition process – and is about to give back to the scheme as one of its newest members – is New Zealand-born Samoan tenor Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono. ‘Ever since I was born music was in my life,’ he tells me after a full day of interviews on the day the new cohort is announced. ‘But it wasn't until midway through high school, when this new opera youth initiative called Project Prima Volta started that I began to pursue it.’ This led him to study opera, first at the New Zealand Opera School and then with Te Pae Kokako: The Aotearoa New Zealand Opera Studio at the University of Waikato, where he came into contact with the JPA team who had visited the Studio to listen to its singers. ‘We were able to spend a full week with David and Elaine,’ recalls Fonoti-Fuimaono, ‘and throughout that week, they brought the JPA Programme up.’ The tenor trained hard the following year, applied for the scheme in 2024 and was invited to audition in London. ‘I'd never travelled anywhere besides New Zealand and Australia. I had never seen Big Ben, Buckingham Palace or the London Eye before, my jaw was on the floor. But I didn't realise how early the night comes in December.’ Fonoti-Fuimaono overcame jet lag and the shock of travelling from early summer in New Zealand to the depths of a British winter to progress to the final round of auditions, which saw him perform on the main stage of the Royal Opera House. Despite his laid-back approach and the convivial atmosphere among auditionees, Fonoti-Fuimaono was keen to prove himself, not only as a singer, but as a representative of New Zealand: ‘I felt like I had something to offer. I'm a nobody in London, I've never studied anywhere internationally, so no one really had any idea of who I was, and I got to really share what I've been training for.’

Isabela Díaz starred alongside fellow Jette Parker Artist Grisha Martirosyan in the programme's production of Pimpinone earlier this month

Once on the JPA programme artists experience a fine balance between nurture and challenges designed to push them out of their comfort zone. Perhaps it is this duality which sets the JPA scheme apart from other talent development programmes? Gowland thinks so: ‘Some young artist programmes are study programmes; some are basically company principals. With the JPA scheme, we try to keep a balance of development and performance opportunities linked with the opera company.’ The intertwining of these dual development strands certainly characterises soprano Isabela Díaz’s experience on the scheme. Having participated in a JPA opera workshop in her native Uruguay in 2022, she joined the programme the following season and has since performed secondary roles on the Royal Opera House stage as well as covering leading roles. Fresh from her performance as Vespetta in the JPA scheme’s production of Telemann’s rarely-performed Pimpinone Díaz’s reflects on what sets the scheme apart: ‘You can delve deeper into any aspect: vocal, stylistic, linguistic, acting, movement – we even have a psychologist in the programme. And there are no limits: you take the classes you want and can handle. That's unique and doesn't exist in any other young artist programme.’

Díaz also credits the scheme with helping her develop resilience as an artist: ‘I've been able to throw myself into doing things without too much control, just trusting in all the work I've done and in who I am.’ This meant that when Díaz was drafted in to cover the role of Mimi during a dress rehearsal of the company’s 2024 production of La Bohème she was able to impress, and is now working on a future project with the production’s conductor, Evelino Pidó. Relationships and networking are an important factor for the scheme’s management too. Since launching the JPA programme, Gowland has identified a gap in the way leaders of artist development schemes across the world interact and begun working to fix it: ‘Two or three years ago now, I started an informal WhatsApp group for representatives from other young artist programmes around the world, because there was no forum for us. Every programme is different, so we should all be swapping ideas and creating a network so that if I come across somebody, I can make other leaders aware. I'm proud of the fact that we're all working on this network trying to appropriately guide these incredible individuals.’

Former Jette Parker Artist Aigul Akhmetshina was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme (2017–19) before receiving rave reviews for her star performance in RBO's recent production of Carmen

Gowland’s people-first approach, combined with the outward-facing nature of the scheme, has turned the scheme into a self-perpetuating initiative: ‘A lot of our alumni go back to inspire and make a difference in the communities that raised them, to say thank you and be a role model for people like them, and that has continued growing. It's about establishing and maintaining continuity – here and abroad – whether that be training people who then train others, or maintaining links with our various alumni. It's more than just singing on the main stage, and I pride myself on that.’ Fonoti-Fuimaono is himself a product of the JPA programme’s global ‘hubs’: Te Pae Kokako, The Aotearoa New Zealand Opera Studio where he took his Masters is run by JPA alumnus Madeline Pierard. And the tenor is acutely aware of his own responsibility to light the way for future talent from his home country: ‘I want to be a generous performer; I want to be part of that solid group of Polynesian and Pasifika singers who just want to help the next generation. There’s some amazing talent here in New Zealand, but they don't know that they can use their voice. I didn't know that – I didn't know that this small box could take me to London.’

While it may be tempting, given the scheme’s growth in both scale and reach since it was launched, for Gowland, Kidd and their team to rest on their laurels, but they are already looking ahead. ‘The voice is the starting point, it's not the end product,’ explains Gowland. ‘This industry is changing constantly, and we have to keep ahead of that. With so many jobs and companies folding, we're constantly having to prove our relevance to society.’ But for singers hailing from all over the world, the JPA scheme provides a safe haven, where culture, heritage and personality are valued as much as a singer’s contribute to a production. For artists like Isabela Díaz, the scheme has offered a safety net for taking risks and a way to make the connections she needs for her career ahead, while for Fonoti-Fuimaono, the scheme represents a chance to share his voice, not only as a singer in his own right, but as a product of his country and community as he embarks on this new chapter. ‘I carry all of New Zealand with me,’ he tells me proudly. ‘All of Samoa with me, all of my family and friends.’

(All images courtesy of RBO)