Charles Johnston

  • Die Meistersinger – Hermann Ortel
  • The Rake’s Progress – Nick Shadow
  • Götterdämmerung – Gunther

 

Baritone Charles Johnston, is from Kent. He studied singing at the Guildhall School, and joined the Glyndebourne Chorus on leaving. He began his solo career in 1990, and in the years since has worked in the UK and around the world, in repertoire both comic and serious, and all stops in between. Highlights include Verdi’s Macbeth in Singapore, Handel in New York, Strauss on tour in the eastern United States, Britten in Holland, Belgium and Italy, Mozart and Debussy in France, and Maxwell Davies in Switzerland, the UK and the Netherlands. He has toured extensively on both sides of the border in Ireland.

In recent times Charles has specialised in heavier baritone roles; Giorgio Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata, Baron Scarpia in Tosca, and has understudied at English National Opera in Die fliegender Holländer and Otello and many other operas, including Jonathan Miller’s famous production of Rigoletto, as well as playing numerous smaller roles for English National Opera. In the UK he has worked for English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, English Touring Opera and, among other smaller companies, was a soloist at Opera Holland Park for many years.

Also an accomplished recitalist, Charles has recorded discs of Schubert’s Winterreise and a collection of English Songs. He has recently begun a new alternative career as an audiobook narrator, and has a number of books available on Audible, including a book of his own poetry. He is married, with two children and a dog, and lives in South East London.