Geoffrey Dolton
Geoffrey Dolton was born in Shrewsbury. He studied with Joy Mammen at the Royal Academy of Music, where he won many prizes for Opera and Recital singing, culminating in the Principal’s prize. Outside the Academy, he won the International Young Concert Artists Competition of Royal Tunbridge Wells, the Royal Over-Seas League competition, the inter-collegiate Peter Pears Prize, and was runner-up in the Brighton English Song competition, as well as being a Ferrier finalist.
He then studied at the National Opera Studio with scholarships from the Munster Trust, the Royal Society of Arts and the Boise Foundation. He also studied in Milan with a Peter Moores Foundation scholarship.
He made his debut as Guglielmo in Cosi fan Tutte with Opera North, where he went on to sing a wide variety of roles, including Silvio (I Pagliacci), The Count (The Marriage of Figaro), Lescaut (Manon), Henrik (Nielsen’s Maskerade), Hector (King Priam), Fritelli (The Reluctant King) and Magician, Interlocutor and Leader of the Vaudeville in Weill’s Love Life.
At English National Opera he has sung the roles of Guglielmo, Florian, Princess Ida and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus).
With Opera Factory he sang Guglielmo and the Count in The Marriage of Figaro, which were both televised on Channel 4, Orestes (Iphigenie en Tauride), Otho (The Coronation of Poppea), Alan (Birtwhistle’s Yan Tan Tethera), Nick Shadow (A Rake’s Progress) and Ferryman (Curlew River).
With Opera Northern Ireland he has sung Papageno (The Magic Flute), Dr Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Marullo (Rigoletto), Harlekin (Ariadne Auf Naxos) and Figaro (The Barber of Seville).
Other roles include Papageno for Welsh National Opera, Shaunard (La Boheme) at Scottish Opera, Dandini (La Cenerentola) for Castleward Opera, Masetto (Don Giovanni) for CBSO and Simon Rattle, Creon and the Messenger (Oedipus Rex) for The Halle and Kent Nagano.
His operatic roles have taken him to Glyndebourne, La Fenice Venice, Flanders Opera, New Israeli Opera, Opera New Zealand, the Hong Kong Festival and to many other opera houses around Europe.
He returned to Glyndebourne to sing in the premiere of John Lunn’s opera Zoe, which was also recorded for Channel Four. He also returned to La Fenice, Venice, to sing First Mate in Britten’s Billy Budd, and appeared for the first time for Opera Zuid in Maastricht, singing Dr Malatesta.
He has broadcast many times on the radio and television and has recorded Donizetti’s Emilia di Liverpool and One Hundred Years of Italian Opera for Opera Rara.
He has worked as Staff Director and Assistant Director for Opera North and Glyndebourne and has restaged Eugene Onegin for Pimlico Opera.
Recently he revived Richard Jones’ Glyndebourne production of Jonathan Dove’s Flight for the Reisopera Holland and for Flanders Opera in Belgium. He also directed L’Elisir d’Amore for Clonter Opera, which was seen at the RCM’s Britten Theatre.
He has devised and run Education Workshops for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Welsh National Opera, the National Opera Studio and Clonter Opera.
He has appeared in another Dove piece, Death of a Princess, which was premiered on Channel Four. He created the role of X in Martin Read’s Dance to the End of Time (London venue Aldwych Tube Station!) and sang the title role in Ullman’s The Emperor of Atlantis, set in Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin for Opera Theatre Company.
Most recently he sang the Reverend Gedge in Albert Herring for New Kent Opera, Dr Bartolo, The Barber of Seville, for Savoy Theatre Opera Company and Alcindoro, La Boheme, with English National Opera
Future plans include El Dancairo, Carmen, at the Royal Albert Hall, Njegus, The Merry Widow, for Welsh National Opera and reviving Flight at Glyndebourne.
