Opera In Its Traditional Role: Innovator, Leader In Technology

The Royal Ballet and Opera today announces that Netia Jones has been appointed to the newly created position of associate director of The Royal Opera.

Over the past two decades the British-born Jones has carved a career spanning opera, theatre, concerts and immersive installation projects as a director, designer and video artist. Recently she directed the Royal Opera’s first ever virtual reality opera Current, Rising, and her staging – as director and designer – of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Garsington Opera this summer was hailed as “stylish and very funny”.

Jones has also directed for companies across the world, staging and designing productions of opera and music theatre works ranging from Kurtág to Knussen and Handel to Haas, many of which have involved pioneering use of video projections, fusing technology, music and drama to stunning effect.

Her new role will give her primary responsibility for opera programming in the Linbury theatre, the Royal Ballet and Opera’s smaller second theatre that seats up to 400. Working alongside director of opera Oliver Mears she will also play a key role in driving the wider artistic output of The Royal Opera – especially its developments in innovation, global collaborations, and the commissioning of new work.

“I’m very excited by the integration of technology in opera; I think that’s the whole point about opera,” said Jones. “Oliver and I have already had really interesting and exciting conversations simply about opera – what it is, what it means.

“It isn’t just one thing, nor is there just one kind – opera can manifest itself in so many different ways,” she said. “I’m looking forward to exploring very different aspects of opera-making. It can and should be an unlimited and unstoppable art form.”

Technology and innovation play an important part in opening up opera houses to those who wouldn’t necessarily feel these are spaces for them, she added. Always at the forefront of her creative work, it will continue to be something that she thinks about deeply.

“I’m not scared of any technology because it is what we do as human beings: we invent and we create. And we just need to invent and create for the better, not for the worse,” she said.

And AI is of course part of the discussion. “Every technology affects the way that we think, behave and interact. AI is not going away. It will become a part of our humanity, and therefore a part of our art-making. We have to figure out the very best way of making that happen, and not be scared of it. I’m interested in how it can enable us to do things that we couldn’t have done before, how it can corral our expertise.”

Jones begins her role in December; in September 2025, Jakub Hrůša joins as music director and Speranza Scappucci as principal guest conductor.