Sir John Rowland Tomlinson CBE (born 22 September 1946) is an English operatic bass.
[1] He trained as a civil engineer at Manchester University before deciding on a career in opera at age 21.
[2] He studied with Patrick McGuigan at the Royal Northern College of Music and with Otakar Kraus.
Whilst studying at the RNCM, he was a member of the Manchester Universities Gilbert and Sullivan Society (MUGSS).
He sang at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany every year from 1988 to 2006, as Wotan, the Wanderer, King Marke, Titurel, Gurnemanz, Hagen and the Dutchman.