Jessica Walker
Council member
Jessica is a singer, writer, artistic director and pedagogue, specialising in the creation and performance of genre-defying music theatre.
Her recent commissions and projects include Coming Up for Air with composer Bernd Franke for Oper Leipzig; Disorderly House (Buxton International Opera Festival) and Fanny and Stella’s Last Day Out (RCM), both with composer Jasper Dommett; Barbara – La Solitude (Jermyn Street Theatre, La Barcarolle St Omer, Nevill Holt, Deal Festival); Jephthah’s Daughter (La Nuova Musica at Wigmore Hall); The People’s Cabaret (Brighton, Norfolk & Norwich, and O. Festival Rotterdam); and Voices of Power (Three Choirs Festival and The Philharmonia), all with composer Luke Styles.
Her solo show Scene Unseen, created with composer Joseph Atkins, was adapted into a film produced by ETO at Home and Royal & Derngate Theatre. Other recent projects include Not Such Quiet Girls (Opera North and Leeds Playhouse) and All I Want is One Night (Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester), performed in London, Manchester and New York, where it was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. Earlier writer-performer credits include The Girl I Left Behind Me with Neil Bartlett (Opera North) and Pat Kirkwood is Angry (Royal Exchange Theatre), both also selected as Critic’s Picks by The New York Times.
In April 2026, she launched the inaugural ACE-funded QueerScore, a festival dedicated to new work in the margins, which she conceived and co-directs with Sholto Biscoe.
An album of songs from La Solitude, featuring the Solem Quartet, will be released by Resonus Classics in summer 2026. She will also tour with the Gavin Bryars Ensemble in After the Rain, a programme of songs by Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen, with performances including Kings Place and Café Oto. She returns to Lichfield Festival with both La Solitude and After the Rain.
Jessica was awarded a doctorate from the University of Leeds in 2016 with special commendation. Her practice-led research explored alternative creative, collaborative and professional pathways for classically trained singers. Until January 2026, she was Senior Lecturer and Lead in Artist Development at the Royal Academy of Music, where she now works as a Visiting Professor. During her tenure, she founded and led the annual Students Create Festival, and developed creative partnerships with Southbank Centre, the Courtauld Institute and Glyndebourne.
She continues to co-direct the postgraduate Opera Maker scheme, co-supervises PhDs, guest lectures on the Opera Writing MA at Guildhall, and mentors writers and composers both privately and in collaboration with organisations including Royal Ballet and Opera.
