Jonathan began his musical training as a chorister in the choir of Southwark Cathedral under the direction of Peter Wright. As a treble he performed as a soloist with orchestras at the Barbican, Queen Elizabeth, and Royal Albert Halls, and took the roles of First Boy in Mozart’s The Magic Flute for the ENO and Miles in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw ('Darbourne’s Miles stands in the line of greats'– The Independent).
After reading Music and singing as a choral scholar in the choir of Magdalen College, Oxford, Jonathan went on to further vocal study at the Schola Cantorum, Basel and the Barock Vokal programme in Mainz, as well as an ensemble directing course with William Christie and members of Les Arts Florissants.
In 2020, Jonathan co-founded Vache Baroque ('one of the UK's hottest groups' - Opera Today) for which he has led five fully-staged operas and numerous multi-artform programmes from the harpsichord. Their project celebrating the work of Jewish-Italian composer Salomone Rossi culminated in a concert at Smith Square Hall, which was recorded live by the BBC and broadcast as their Lunchtime Concert. This year, he has directed a sell-out run of Charpentier's Orphée at the Buxton International Festival, a circus-themed production of Campra's Le Carnaval de Venise (✭✭✭✭✭ - Opera Now), and looks forward to repeating an Oscar Wilde-inspired programme ('an exceptional evening' - The Observer) at the Brighton Early Music Festival in October.
Alongside his own projects, Jonathan has recently been music director for HGO's production of Rossini's La Cenerentola, assisted for the Nederlandse Bachvereniging, and been assistant conductor and continuo player for The Grange Festival's production of Handel's Tamerlano. An experienced choral conductor, he is chorus master for the NSO and has led projects ranging from the Voces8 Scholars to choir scenes in a number of Netflix productions, including The Crown and Bridgerton.
As a countertenor, Jonathan has worked with many leading early-music specialist ensembles across Europe, including the Dunedin Consort, Concerto Copenhagen, I Barocchisti, Freiburger Barockorchester, and the Marian Consort. In opera, he sang in the world premiere of Stockhausen’s opera Mittwoch aus Licht with Ex Cathedra (dir. Graham Vick), which was performed again at the BBC Proms, and his performance as The Waiter in Steven Oliver's The Waiter's Revenge was reviewed by The Independent on Sunday as 'outstanding', with Opera Now writing 'Darbourne's lugubrious performance stood out'.
Recent solo highlights include a programme of Stradella and Purcell for the Lerici Music Festival (dir. Andrea Di Marco); Handel, Bach, and Vivaldi arias with I Barocchisti (dir. Diego Fasolis) in Lugano; Haydn's Paukenmesse at the Al Bustan Festival, Beirut (cond. Gianluca Marciano); and Bach's St John Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music (cond. Will Vann) at Cadogan Hall. He studies with Antonio Lemmo in Molise, Italy.
In demand as an arranger, Jonathan’s commissions have been broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, and have been performed at London venues including the Cadogan Hall and Smith Square Hall, as well as internationally.