Biography
Byron Jackson is a dramatic baritone born of Jamaican heritage in the West Midlands. He graduated from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire vocal department in 2005 and was awarded the St Clare Barfield Memorial Bowl for Operatic Distinction.
He studied under Gordon Sandison and Christine Cairns, and received additional bel canto coaching from Janet Haney and Carmen Santoro.
He currently studies with Gary Coward.
Byron made his international debut at the Teatro dei Rozzi, Sienna, Italy at a special concert organised by the Concordia Foundation in 2007, and later that year was invited to give a solo recital for the Monmouth Festival. He made his UK operatic debut at Sadler's Wells as Rangwan, in Delius' opera Koanga for Pegasus Opera. He returned to the company in early 2018 as Boaz in Ruth by Philip Hagemann conducted by the composer himself.
He has since sung in many prestigious venues in the UK and Europe including Royal Albert Hall (Carmen), Buxton Festival Opera (Lucrezia Borgia, Veronique), Grange Park Opera (Queen of Spades), Adrian Boult Hall (Stanford Requiem), Opera de Lyon in France and Dutch National Opera (Porgy and Bess), as well as two Royal Opera House world premieres: Bird of Night (Le Gendre), and more recently Anna Nicole (Turnage) conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano.
Since 2008, Byron has enjoyed furthering his craft with Graham Vick's Birmingham Opera Company where he first appeared as Second Trojan in Mozart's Idomeneo. He returned in December 2009 in the role of Montano in the renowned televised production of Verdi's Otello which was broadcast on BBC2.
In 2012, Byron was invited to sing for Birmingham Artsfest where he performed in concert as Escamillo (Carmen) and Segismund (Life is a Dream) having covered the role earlier in the year for the Birmingham Opera Company world premiere composed by Jonathan Dove.
Byron's international operatic debut came in 2011 when he appeared at Wexford Festival Opera as Ben in Menotti's The Telephone, and also Zmora in Statkowski's Maria. Other recent roles include First Priest in The Magic Flute (Mozart) for Garsington Opera 2011, and his critically acclaimed role of Leporello in Don Giovanni for Longborough Festival Opera in June 2010 conducted by Gianluca Marciano.
In 2008, Byron was under the baton of John Lubbock with the Orchestra of St John singing the role of Christus in Bach's St John's Passion at Dorchester Abbey. He has sung regularly for Walsall Choral Society and Warwick & Kenilworth Choral Society as a soloist in Verdi's Requiem, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, and Handel's Messiah.
Byron made his debut with English Touring Opera as Eustachio in L'assedio di Calais (Donizetti) and appeared in their other productions across the UK and Budapest, Hungary.
Byron has also performed musical theatre with Highbury Opera Theatre as the Leader and the speaking role of John in Kurt Weill's Lost in the Stars in Autumn 2016.
Recently, he returned to Longborough Festival Opera to cover the title role in Der fliegende Holländer (Wagner), Opera North in 3 performances of Monterone/Rigoletto (Verdi) and made his Australian debut as Terry in Breaking the Waves at the Adelaide Festival.
Byron is the Artistic Director of Persona Arts (formerly BJ Music Events Ltd), a charitable organisation to bring the opera, classical and choral music arts to the people of the West Midlands and their communities. It strives to provide singers and musicians of diverse backgrounds a chance to perform and develop their craft.
In 2019, Byron was made Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts for his work in the advancement of opera and classical music in local communities.