Byron Jackson is building something rare in British opera—not just productions, but pathways. From very humble beginnings he was raised in Balsall Heath by his Windrush-generation grandmother, Byron Jackson brings a unique lived experience to an artform too often closed off to voices like his. As a classically trained opera singer (dramatic baritone) and the Founder and Artistic Director of Persona Arts, he is reimagining what opera can be—who it’s for, where it happens, and whose stories it tells. Tirelessly fighting to gain recognition within the UK opera and classical music industry. In 2021, Byron Jackson launched Persona Arts with an ambitious, community-led production of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. This wasn’t opera in the abstract. It was rooted—in local churches, in after-school halls, in the diverse, working-class communities of Handsworth, Small Heath and Smethwick. Over two years, more than 280 people came together: children, faith leaders, community choirs, conservatoire graduates and professionals. The final production in July 2024 at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s Bradshaw Hall drew nearly 1,000 attendees, around half of whom had never seen an opera before.
It was acclaimed not just for its scale, but for its spirit. With the staging by Iqbal Khan, Artistic Director of the Commonwealth Games 2022 Ceremony and musical direction by Jack Ridley, the production received praise from The Guardian, The Wagner Journal, and What’s On Live, as well as personal recognition from His Majesty the King. But perhaps most powerful was what it left behind: a revived interest in choral music, a model of inclusive excellence, and a generation of new artists who now see opera as a space they can enter—and shape.
Byron Jackson trained at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and has performed across the UK and internationally. Yet his focus remains local, generational, and structural. Through Persona Arts, he has created arts education programmes, opened doors for marginalised talent, and challenged institutions to think differently about who belongs in the opera world.
For Byron Jackson, opera is not spectacle for its own sake. It’s a living, breathing form that—when opened up—can carry the weight, beauty, and possibility of modern Britain. His work is generous, ambitious, and grounded in community. Through every note, rehearsal, and invitation, he’s rewriting the script—not just of opera, but of its cultural leadership
