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 artists. 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 am now using the knowledge and experience I gained during my time at the Academy and applying it more broadly - I want to help young artists to find meaningful work and have sustainable lives in music. I develop 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 offer advice and consultancy:
Some organisations I have advised, contributed to round table discussions with, and worked with:
Recent professional articles:
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
- Mentoring librettists and composers
- 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 advised, contributed to round table discussions with, and worked with:
- Royal Academy of Music
- RBO – Jette Parker
- YCAT
- ABRSM
- 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.