John Tomlinson as Wotan

Pencil drawings by Ken Howard (obverse and reverse) of the opera singer John Tomlinson as Wotan in Wagner's Ring Cycle, signed by the artist and dedicated to Tony and Susan Gasson.

British operatic bass John Tomlinson (b.1946) first sang Wotan in his debut at Wagner’s Bayreuth Festspielhaus in 1988. He was Bayreuth’s Wotan for five years (1988-1992) in the Ring cycle directed by Harry Kupfer, and again in a new production by Alfred Kirchner (1994-1998) - a record number of performances in the role there. He has also sung it in Berlin, Munich and Vienna, and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in productions by Richard Jones (1994-1996) and Keith Warner (2005 and 2007). It is the role with which he is most closely associated. On-line journal MusicalCriticism.com called Tomlinson ‘the leading Wotan of his generation’ (September 2006).