Meet the king of comic opera 

John Savournin has been busy. That comes with the territory for a classical singer – things often get a little hectic as the music world barrels towards Christmas. But with Savournin, it’s sometimes hard to keep track of which theatre – which city – he’s in on any given night. ‘This week has been Pirates of Penzance rehearsals at English National Opera,’ he says: we’re a fortnight away from opening night, and he’s playing the Pirate King. ‘On Thursday I was bobbing up to the Lowry in Salford for Ruddigore with Opera North.’ He’s been swirling his cape as Sir Despard Murgatroyd since late October. ‘And yeah – whenever I can, I’ve been checking in on panto rehearsals.’

And that’s the difference, right there. True, Savournin is a bass-baritone in demand; the indispensable man whenever (and it’s increasingly often) a major company is looking to cast a Gilbert & Sullivan revival – though roles by Britten, Richard Strauss and Thomas Adès also feature in his repertoire. He’s a comic actor of irrepressible, instinctive charisma; the kind of performer who can get a laugh with the lift of an eyebrow. At Opera Holland Park this summer, he practically stole the show as the butler Sante in Wolf-Ferrari’s Il Segreto di Susanna – no small feat, because Sante is a silent role. Savournin brought the house down without singing a note.

But he’s also a director, artistic director, in fact, of an opera company that doesn’t think twice about creating its own annual pantomime and taking it straight into the West End. Savournin is artistic director of Charles Court Opera, purveyors of deliriously inventive small-scale comic opera from G&S to Rossini. Together with CCO’s musical director David Eaton, Savournin founded the company in 2005 while he was still a student at Trinity Laban.