John Lofthouse - Baritone

John Lofthouse Baritone
John was born and brought up in Cumbria, where his father was a Vicar of three parishes in the south of the Lake District. He attended Rossall School near Blackpool where, at the age of sixteen, he started having singing lessons. After graduating from Durham University, John taught Religious Studies for four years at Alleyn’s School in Dulwich. In 2000 he began studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where, having completed two years as a post-graduate, John is now in the second year of the Opera course studying with David Pollard. He lives in Battersea with his wife and their cat.

John has taken part in Masterclasses with Martin Katz, Emma Kirkby, Graham Johnson, Robert Tear (Endelion Festival), Philip Langridge and Sir Thomas Allen (Ludlow Festival & B.Y.O.). Recent oratorio performances include Fauré, Duruflé & Brahms Requiems, Bach St. Matthew & St. John Passions and B Minor Mass, Handel Messiah, Haydn Nelson Mass & The Seasons, Mozart Solemn Vespers & Requiem and Vaughan-Williams Mystical Songs, Dona Nobis Pacem, Fantasia on Christmas Carols and Sea Symphony. Recitals have taken John from his native Cumbria as far afield as Turkey, Lebanon and the Baltic – on a cruise ship for Swann-Hellenic. Other venues include Leighton House and the National Portrait Gallery. In June 2003, John won the Association of English Singers & Speakers Patricia Routledge English Song Competition and also made his debut at the Wigmore Hall in Songbook 2003.

Operatic roles include ; Figaro Le Nozze di Figaro - Haydn Chamber Orchestra, Stanley Hall Opera and British Youth Opera, Jack Point The Yeomen of the Guard - British Youth Opera, Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream – British Youth Opera, Noye Noye’s Fludde, Hel Helson Paul Bunyan, Scenes From The Savoy – Opera Brava, Mandarino Turandot – Cesena, Italy under Paolo Olmi, The One I Love (World Premiere) – New Kent Opera, Professor Maskerade, Bedron A Comedy on the Bridge, Somarone Béatrice et Bénédict & Il Conte d’Almaviva Le Nozze di Figaro.

John’s future plans include Junius The Rape of Luctretia GSMD, Guglielmo Cosi Fan Tutte for Grange Park Opera (Young Artists) & Masetto Don Giovanni for Grange Park Opera.