Consultancy and Mentoring (Dr Jessica Walker)
I was awarded my doctorate from Leeds University in 2016 with special commendation. My practice-led research looked at alternative creative, collaborative and professional pathways for classically trained singers. My doctoral research and recent articles about talent development were referenced in the 2024 ACE report: Let’s Create: Opera & Music Theatre Analysis. Until January 2026 I was Senior Lecturer and Lead in Artist Development at the Royal Academy of Music, putting what I'd learned into practice. Now I’m a visiting professor there. During my tenure, I created and ran the hugely successful yearly Students Create Festival, and brokered and ran new creative schemes with The Southbank Centre, Courtauld Institute and Glyndebourne. I continue to co-run the postgraduate Opera Maker elective, and am co-supervising a singer's PhD. Using the knowledge and experience I gained during my time at the Academy , I am now applying my work more broadly - I want to help young artists to find meaningful work and have sustainable lives in music. I develop curriculums and talent pipeline initiatives both within HE and with arts organisations. If you’d like to work with me, these are the areas in which I have expertise:
Creating and leading opera development schemes
Lecturing on the creation and production of opera and music theatre
Mentoring singers, librettists and composers on the creation and production of new work
Conservatoire curriculum development
Developing Artist Development initiatives
Brokering and leading creative partnerships between HE and professional arts organisations
Advising HE and arts organisations on talent pipeline strategies
Some organisations I have recently advised, contributed to round table discussions with, and am working with:
Royal Academy of Music
RBO – Jette Parker
ISM - Make Music Work conference
YCAT - industry round-table
ABRSM - industry round-table
ENO – new work department
Guildhall School of Music and Drama – composition department
Royal College of Music – composition department
Southbank Centre – Future Artist creative scheme with the Academy
Courtauld Institute – Sounds Like Art scheme with the Academy
Glyndebourne – Opera Lab scheme with the Academy
Recent professional articles:
2024 Opera Now article about the creation of new opera in conservatoires: www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/opinion/article/despite-the-elitist-slur-levelled-at-opera-it-s-not-the-word-that-springs-to-mind-when-you-work-with-talented-young-composers-dr-jessica-walker-on-new-opera-creation
2024 Arts Professional article, ‘How prepared are young musicians for professional life?’: https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/article/how-prepared-are-young-musicians-professional-life
2022 MAX article ‘What will happen to our young musicians now?’, referenced in the 2024 ACE Opera and Music Theatre analysis: https://www.maxmusicianandartistexchange.com/post/what-will-happen-to-our-young-musicians-now
2021 Arts Professional ‘Organisations are paralysed, but the musicians play on’: https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/article/organisations-are-paralysed-musicians-play
Academic articles, chapters and lecturing:
My teaching/ lecturing has included seminars and master-classes at the University of Melbourne, the Melbourne Conservatorium, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Winchester University, Leeds University, and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. For the last four years I was external examiner for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama's Opera Making and Writing MA.
I gave an interview about my multi-disciplinary creative practice, which forms a chapter of the new Edinburgh Companion to Modernism in Contemporary Theatre (2023), edited by Adrian Curtin, Nicholas Johnson, Naomi Paxton and Claire Warden.
I have given papers at two International Song, Stage and Screen conferences - in Winchester and in Kansas City, a workshop presentation on my thesis at the Reflective Conservatoire Conference at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, papers at the Leeds University conference, The Theory, Practice and Business of Opera Today, and at the Psi Performance and Philosophy working group conference.
My article, 'The creative/ collaborative process in industry: aesthetics, agency and pragmatism', appeared in the specialist issue of Studies in Musical Theatre in 2018, edited by Professor David Roesner. 'The Girl I Left Behind Me: the disjunction between vocal and visual performance in male impersonation', appears in the Intellect journal, Studies in Musical Theatre, Vol 6:1.
Other professional roles:
I am a member of the Industry Advisory Committee for the School of Performance and Cultural Industries, Leeds University. I am on the Artistic Advisory Committee for Deal Festival. I have worked as a mentor for several organisations, including advisory work with Mahogany Opera for their Various Stages Festival and mentoring for the CoLab collaborative practice scheme at Trinity Laban. I have recently given talks on career development for YCAT and Opera Prelude, and was a founder member of MAX - Musician and Artist Exchange - a forum for positive change in classical music.
Creating and leading opera development schemes
Lecturing on the creation and production of opera and music theatre
Mentoring singers, librettists and composers on the creation and production of new work
Conservatoire curriculum development
Developing Artist Development initiatives
Brokering and leading creative partnerships between HE and professional arts organisations
Advising HE and arts organisations on talent pipeline strategies
Some organisations I have recently advised, contributed to round table discussions with, and am working with:
Royal Academy of Music
RBO – Jette Parker
ISM - Make Music Work conference
YCAT - industry round-table
ABRSM - industry round-table
ENO – new work department
Guildhall School of Music and Drama – composition department
Royal College of Music – composition department
Southbank Centre – Future Artist creative scheme with the Academy
Courtauld Institute – Sounds Like Art scheme with the Academy
Glyndebourne – Opera Lab scheme with the Academy
Recent professional articles:
2024 Opera Now article about the creation of new opera in conservatoires: www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/opinion/article/despite-the-elitist-slur-levelled-at-opera-it-s-not-the-word-that-springs-to-mind-when-you-work-with-talented-young-composers-dr-jessica-walker-on-new-opera-creation
2024 Arts Professional article, ‘How prepared are young musicians for professional life?’: https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/article/how-prepared-are-young-musicians-professional-life
2022 MAX article ‘What will happen to our young musicians now?’, referenced in the 2024 ACE Opera and Music Theatre analysis: https://www.maxmusicianandartistexchange.com/post/what-will-happen-to-our-young-musicians-now
2021 Arts Professional ‘Organisations are paralysed, but the musicians play on’: https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/article/organisations-are-paralysed-musicians-play
Academic articles, chapters and lecturing:
My teaching/ lecturing has included seminars and master-classes at the University of Melbourne, the Melbourne Conservatorium, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Winchester University, Leeds University, and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. For the last four years I was external examiner for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama's Opera Making and Writing MA.
I gave an interview about my multi-disciplinary creative practice, which forms a chapter of the new Edinburgh Companion to Modernism in Contemporary Theatre (2023), edited by Adrian Curtin, Nicholas Johnson, Naomi Paxton and Claire Warden.
I have given papers at two International Song, Stage and Screen conferences - in Winchester and in Kansas City, a workshop presentation on my thesis at the Reflective Conservatoire Conference at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, papers at the Leeds University conference, The Theory, Practice and Business of Opera Today, and at the Psi Performance and Philosophy working group conference.
My article, 'The creative/ collaborative process in industry: aesthetics, agency and pragmatism', appeared in the specialist issue of Studies in Musical Theatre in 2018, edited by Professor David Roesner. 'The Girl I Left Behind Me: the disjunction between vocal and visual performance in male impersonation', appears in the Intellect journal, Studies in Musical Theatre, Vol 6:1.
Other professional roles:
I am a member of the Industry Advisory Committee for the School of Performance and Cultural Industries, Leeds University. I am on the Artistic Advisory Committee for Deal Festival. I have worked as a mentor for several organisations, including advisory work with Mahogany Opera for their Various Stages Festival and mentoring for the CoLab collaborative practice scheme at Trinity Laban. I have recently given talks on career development for YCAT and Opera Prelude, and was a founder member of MAX - Musician and Artist Exchange - a forum for positive change in classical music.