He joined a choral society in Crawley, West Sussex, and sang regularly with the choir of St Nicholas' Church, Worth, and was encouraged by another member to pursue a professional singing career.

[3][4] Rolfe Johnson studied with Ellis Keeler and Vera Rózsa at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

In 1975, Rolfe Johnson made his Glyndebourne debut, singing the role of Lensky in Eugene Onegin, for which he won the John Christie Award.

Many of these recordings were made under English conductor John Eliot Gardiner, including Berlioz’s l’Enfance du Christ, Monteverdi's Ulysses and Orfeo and Mozart's Idomeneo.

[6] Rolfe Johnson began to tutor singers, taking on the operatic tenor John Mark Ainsley as his first pupil.

[10] He appeared in the 1985 Tony Palmer film about Handel God Rot Tunbridge Wells!, with Valerie Masterson singing 'Oh happy we' from Acis and Galatea.