Helping a new generation of artists take to the international stage

© 2019 ROH Photographed by Clive Barda. Performers onstage at the Jette Parker Artists summer performance in 2019. Oak has been supporting the Jette Parker Artists Programme for more than two decades.

Thomas Payne, a young talented music conductor, leans on a grand piano backstage at London’s Royal Opera House. Some of the best dancers in the world practise here. “Working with The Royal Ballet has to be the greatest opportunity I’ve been given in my musical career,” he says.

Thomas got his first major break thanks to the Jette Parker Artists Programme. He is one of over 140 singers, répétiteurs, conductors, and directors who have graduated from the programme since its launch in 2001. The programme offers exceptional artists from around the world the opportunities of a lifetime: the chance to be mentored and coached, while working alongside accomplished performers, creators, and musicians, and to take their first steps on the international stage.

Thanks to the programme, Thomas was part of the music staff from 2018-2020 at the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet in Covent Garden, London. “When that contract came through and it said, your main place of work will be The Royal Opera House, I thought, wow, now I’ve made it,” he says. Today, he is quickly gaining international recognition and has gone on to conduct orchestras at The Royal Opera House, The Royal Danish Theatre, the Gothenburg Opera, and the Scottish Ballet.

The Jette Parker Artists Programme’s alumni come from 37 countries around the world, and it actively scouts for talent in South America, South Africa, Oceania, Eastern Europe, and Western Asia. In efforts to remove any unconscious bias, the panel assessing the performers can hear but not see artists when they perform online in the first round of singers’ auditions. This helps ensure that all artists are given a fair and equal chance.

Mexican tenor Alan Pingarrón, a 2021 programme graduate, made Royal Opera history as the first blind artist to sing multiple mainstage roles. Meanwhile, Blaise Malaba, a tenor from the Democratic Republic of Congo, earned a place in the Jette Parker Artists Programme in 2020 and has since seen his career go from strength to strength. He has represented his country in international singing competitions and returned to The Royal Opera House for the 2024 and 2025 season to sing Ferrando in Il trovatore.

The support for Jette Parker Artists Programme artists doesn’t stop after graduation either. The programme is the only one of its kind to offer continued coaching post-graduation, helping to ensure the onward success of the artists as much as possible.

Thomas also believes in nurturing the talent of the next generation of artists. He says, “It inspires me, as an artist, to give my all.”

Below, watch a special concert to mark the 20th anniversary of the Jette Parker Young Artists programme, including talented tenor Alan Pingarrón.