Former Artists
The Programme was launched in September 2001. Six singers were put forward by agents and others in the opera world, and then chosen from auditions in late 2000/early 2001. Since then, auditions by application have been held annually in November and December to select new intakes to start the following September. Each singer is contracted for two years and as such, every season half of singers on the Programme are in their first year while the other half is in their second.
The first music staff auditions were held early in 2002, and a conductor and répétiteur selected to start in September 2002. Since then, music staff auditions have been held every other year to replace those leaving at the end of their two-year contract. A stage director position was created in 2002, with auditions taking place every two years. Since 2008, there has been the option of appointing a conductor or pianist to work mainly with The Royal Ballet.
Y O U N G A R T I S T S – 2001/02 – 2021/22
2001–2003
Grant Doyle – Baritone
Darren Jeffery – Bass-Baritone
Gweneth-Ann Rand – Soprano
Sally Matthews – Soprano
Alfie Boe – Tenor
Edgaras Montvidas – Tenor
2002–2004
Ekaterina Gubanova – Mezzo-soprano
Tove Dahlberg – Mezzo-soprano
Adrian Kelly – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Yuval Zorn – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Tomasz Konina – Director
Ailish Tynan – Soprano
Ha Young Lee – Soprano
Hubert Francis – Tenor
2003–2005
Matthew Rose – Bass
André Heller-Lopes – Director
Victoria Nava – Soprano
Alexander James Edwards – Tenor
Andrew Kennedy – Tenor
Jared Holt – Tenor
2004–2006
Liora Grodnikaite – Mezzo-soprano
Oliver Gooch – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Rory Macdonald – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Susanna Stranders – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Katie Van Kooten – Soprano
Robert Murray – Tenor
2005–2007
Robert Gleadow – Bass
Harry Fehr – Director
Ana James – Soprano
Marina Poplavskaya – Soprano
Andrew Sritheran – Tenor
Nikola Matišić – Tenor
2006–2008
Jacques Imbrailo – Baritone
Krzysztof Szumanski – Bass-Baritone
Andrew Griffiths – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Catriona Beveridge – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Timothy Burke – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Kishani Jayasinghe – Soprano
Haoyin Xue – Tenor
2007–2009
Vuyani Mlinde – Bass
Kostas Smoriginas – Bass-Baritone
Thomas Guthrie – Director
Vera Petrova – Director
Monika-Evelin Liiv – Mezzo-soprano
Anita Watson – Soprano
Pumeza Matshikiza – Soprano
Ji-Min Park – Tenor
2008–2010
Dominic Grier – Ballet Conductor/Pianist
Changhan Lim – Baritone
Daniele Rustioni – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Steven Moore – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Eri Nakamura – Soprano
Simona Mihai – Soprano
Robert Anthony Gardiner – Tenor
2009–2011
Dawid Kimberg – Baritone
Lukas Jakobski – Bass
José Dario Innella – Director
Kai Rüütel – Mezzo-soprano
Elisabeth Meister – Soprano
Steven Ebel – Tenor
2010–2012
ZhengZhong Zhou – Baritone
Daniel Grice – Bass-Baritone
Rodula Gaitanou – Director
Geoffrey Paterson – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Jean-Paul Pruna – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Volker Krafft – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Anna Devin – Soprano
Madeleine Pierard – Soprano
Ji Hyun Kim – Tenor
2011–2013
Jihoon Kim – Bass
Pedro Ribeiro – Director
Hanna Hipp – Mezzo-soprano
Justina Gringyte – Mezzo-soprano
Susana Gaspar – Soprano
Pablo Bemsch – Tenor
2012–2014
Helen Nicholas – Ballet Conductor/Pianist
Ashley Riches – Baritone
Michel de Souza – Baritone
Michele Gamba – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Paul Wingfield – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Dušica Bijelić – Soprano
David Butt Philip – Tenor
2013–2015
Greg Eldridge – Director
Nadezhda Karyazina – Mezzo-soprano
Rachel Kelly – Mezzo-soprano
Anush Hovhannisyan – Soprano
Kiandra Howarth – Soprano
Luis Gomes – Tenor
2014–2016
Colin J Scott – Ballet Conductor/Pianist
Samuel Dale Johnson – Baritone
Yuriy Yurchuk – Baritone
James Platt – Bass
Jonathan Santagada – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Lauren Fagan – Soprano
Samuel Sakker – Tenor
2015–2017
David Shipley – Bass
Gerard Jones – Director
Emily Edmonds – Mezzo-soprano
Jennifer Davis – Soprano
Vlada Borovko – Soprano
David Junghoon Kim – Tenor
2016–2018
Matthew Scott Rogers – Ballet Conductor/Pianist
Gyula Nagy – Baritone
Simon Shibambu – Bass
Angela Simkin – Mezzo-soprano
James Hendry – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Nick Fletcher – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Francesca Chiejina – Soprano
Thomas Atkins – Tenor
2017–2019
Dominic Sedgwick – Baritone
Noa Naamat – Director
Aigul Akhmetshina – Mezzo-soprano
Haegee Lee – Soprano
Jacquelyn Stucker – Soprano
Konu Kim – Tenor
2018–2020
Thomas Payne – Ballet Conductor/Pianist
Jonathan Lo – Ballet Conductor/Pianist
Germán E Alcántara – Baritone
Michael Mofidian – Bass
Patrick Terry – Counter-tenor
Hongni Wu – Mezzo-soprano
Edmund Whitehead – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Patrick Milne – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Yaritza Veliz – Soprano
2019–2021
ByeongMin Gil – Bass-baritone
Isabelle Kettle – Director
Stephanie Wake-Edwards – Mezzo-soprano
Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha – Soprano
Andres Presno – Tenor
Filipe Manu – Tenor
2020–2022
Alexandra Lowe – Soprano
Blaise Malaba – Bass
Kseniia Nikolaieva – Mezzo-soprano
Michael Papadopoulos – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Michael Sikich – Opera conductor and répétiteur
Egor Zhuravskii – Tenor
2021–2022
April Koyejo-Audiger* – Soprano
Thando Mjandana* – Tenor
Alan Pingarrón* – Tenor
Chuma Sijeqa*– Baritone
* Anniversary Company Artist
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation, a charitable company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales (Company number 480523) Charity Registered (Number 211775)