John Bolton Wood is Dr Bartolo in Opera Queensland's production of The Barber of Seville.
John studied at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music (now Sydney Conservatorium of Music) and London Opera Centre. He made his UK debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Bosun in Billy Budd. He returned to Australia in 1973 to perform the role of Roderick Usher in Larry Sitsky’s Fall of the House of Usher (the first full-scale production to be staged in the Opera Theatre at the Sydney Opera House). Subsequently, he went on to perform for all of the state opera companies in a wide variety of roles.
John’s performances for Opera Australia include the roles of High Priest of Dagon in Samson et Dalila, Riccardo in I puritani, Agamemnon in La belle Hélène, Jupiter in Orpheus in the Underworld, Fra Melitone in La forza del destino, Benoit and Alcindoro in La bohème, Somarone in Béatrice et Bénédict, Sacristan in Tosca, Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd, Gijsbert Bastiensz in Batavia, The Doctor, The Banker and The Professor in Lulu, Blansac in La scala di seta, Bruschino padre in Il signor Bruschino, Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow, Giorgio Germont in La traviata and Colonel Frank in Die Fledermaus.
Other engagements include the roles of Dr Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia (for Welsh National Opera, Victoria State Opera and Wellington City Opera), Sacristan in Tosca and Fra Melitone in La forza del destino (for Opera Queensland), Colonel Frank in Die Fledermaus (for Opera Queensland and State Opera of South Australia) and the title roles in Rigoletto and Gianni Schicchi (for Opera New Zealand).
John has also enjoyed great success performing the Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire, appearing in productions of HMS Pinafore (Captain Corcoran and Sir Joseph Porter), The Pirates of Penzance (Major-General Stanley), Iolanthe (Earl of Mountararat), The Gondoliers (The Duke of Plaza-Toro and Don Alhambra del Bolero), Trial by Jury (Counsel for the Plaintiff) and The Mikado (Pooh-Bah). He also toured Australia and Asia performing the role of Old Deuteronomy in Cats, which he sang for an astounding 1498 performances.
On the concert platform, John’s performances include the 50th Birthday Benefit Gala Concert at the Sydney Opera House and Music by Moonlight at Sydney Olympic Park (both for Opera Australia), Opera Under the Stars (in Broome), appearing with the Victorian Symphony Orchestra in the concert performances of Die Fledermaus and La traviata (at the Myer Music Bowl) and performing at a gala AIDS benefit concert in Brisbane (which was televised nationally).
Most recently, John performed the roles of Major-General Stanley in a new production of The Pirates of Penzance and Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd (both for Opera Australia) and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly (for Opera Queensland). This month he will sing the role of Don Alhambra del Bolero in Opera Australia’s production of The Gondoliers.
John has been the recipient of five Green Room Awards (for the roles of Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Colonel Frank in Die Fledermaus, Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance, Lord Mountararat in Iolanthe and Giorgio Germont in La traviata).
Opera Queensland's production of The Barber of Seville runs 17 - 31 May 2008.
