Thomas Lawlor

Thomas Lawlor (born 17 June 1938) is an Irish opera singer. In the 1960s, he became known for his performances in mostly baritone roles of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. In the 1970s and 1980s, he performed over 60 operatic roles, usually as a bass-baritone, with various British opera companies. He was also a director in the opera department of the Royal Academy of Music and at Trinity College of Music. In later years, he moved to the US, where he continues to perform, direct and teach.

Lawlor was born and raised in Dublin. He studied at University College Dublin, earning a B.A. in Philosophy and English. For a time he taught English, Geography and Gaelic. At the same time, he performed as an amateur in musicals and studied singing part-time at the Dublin College of Music where, in 1960, he won the Sam Heilbut Major Scholarship, which helped him to attend the Guildhall School of Music for three years. He began to perform professionally in musicals and concerts.

In 1963, Lawlor was engaged as a chorister by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, performing in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. He soon was called upon to understudy and occasionally performed the small roles of Guron in Princess Ida and the Second Yeoman in The Yeomen of the Guard. During the company's tour of the US in 1964–65, Lawlor sang at the Carnegie Hall in New York, as a guest artist in a gala concert of Irish music. In 1965, he was given three principal parts of his own: the Counsel in Trial by Jury, Strephon in Iolanthe, and Pish-Tush in The Mikado. He also played the role of Second Yeoman in some seasons and, when Princess Ida was revived in 1967, added Guron. From 1966, he understudied the roles of Giuseppe in The Gondoliers (taking that role as his own the following season) and Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore. He also played the Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance in some seasons. From 1968, he added three more principal roles on a regular basis (giving up his smaller roles): Captain Corcoran, Florian in Princess Ida, and the Lieutenant of the Tower in Yeomen. A new role in 1970 was Sergeant Bouncer in Cox and Box. Lawlor married D'Oyly Carte mezzo-soprano Pauline Wales in 1971.