Thomas Lawlor

Thomas F. Lawlor (17 June 1938 – 9 October 2020) 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. 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.

Opera career and later years Lawlor left D'Oyly Carte in 1971 to pursue a more varied career in opera, singing over 60 operatic roles. The next year, the same paper called his Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail "imposing ... a figure of menace as well as of fun, with the voice to go with both sides of the character". In 1982 a review called his Baron Wepps in Der Vogelhändler "a model of style for the other singers to emulate. Impeccable timing allied to subtle underplaying made even the female impersonation of Wepps's first-act duet with his nephew Stanislaus amusing". Glyndebourne Touring Opera (1971–1976): Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Schaunard in La bohème, Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro, the Hermit in Der Freischütz. Phoenix Opera (UK) (1970s): Plunkett in Martha. The Times noted his "rich bass-baritone" in this role. Sadler's Wells Opera/English National Opera (1970s–1980s): roles in Patience, H.M.S. Pinafore, La traviata, The Marriage of Figaro, Julietta, Rigoletto and Cinderella, in which The Times praised his musicianship and called his Don Magnifico "a well-judged impersonation". His Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow was judged amusing, "but with a lean, unfulsome joviality that gives fresh interest to the part". Kent Opera (1973 – 1983): Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S Pinafore, Pasha Selim in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Tempo (Time) in Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Rocco in Fidelio, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Sir Despard in Ruddigore and the title character Telemann's The Patience of Socrates (British premiere). Concerning the last, Stanley Sadie, writing for The Times, commented: "Among the large cast there was some specially accomplished singing from Thomas Lawlor". Royal Opera (1974): Alcindoro in La bohème. Opera North (1979–1988): Jupiter in Orpheus in the Underworld, Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow, the Sacristan in Tosca, Tovey in The Mines of Sulphur, Marti in A Village Romeo and Juliet, Kuno in Der Freischütz, Kecal in The Bartered Bride, Geronte in Manon, the Magistrate in Werther, Somarone in Béatrice et Bénédict, Giles Lacy in Wilfred Josephs's Rebecca (world premiere), the Parson in The Cunning Little Vixen, the Artists' Manager in Jonny spielt auf (British premiere), the Grand Inquisitor in The Gondoliers, General Polkan in The Golden Cockerel, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado, and roles in Les mamelles de Tirésias and La Cenerentola. Dorset Opera (1982): Baron Wepps in Der Vogelhändler. New Sadler's Wells Opera (1980s): Pooh-Bah in The Mikado, Dick Deadeye in H.M.S. Pinafore and Sir Roderic Murgatroyd in Ruddigore.

He also sang with such companies as Dublin Grand Opera Society and Netherlands Opera, at the music festivals of Hintlesham, Camden, Singapore, Valencia (Spain), Colorado and Michigan, Lawlor occasionally returned to Gilbert and Sullivan; he appeared as a guest artist with D'Oyly Carte in August 1971 and again in 1974–75 as Florian, as well as in the other Savoy opera roles noted above for ENO, Kent Opera and Opera North. In the early 1990s, he appeared with the London Savoyards in the roles of Dick Deadeye in Pinafore, the title role in Mikado, and the Pirate King in Pirates. He was a member of the music faculty of Brown University Lawlor and Wales's marriage ended in divorce,

He was an avid hiker and "a keen amateur geologist", recording BBC television programmes about his favorite walks, and the geology and history of West Yorkshire. He also enjoyed cooking, especially Indian cuisine, and was active in his church.

Lawlor died in 2020 at the age of 82 at his home in Rhode Island. He is buried at St. Ann's Cemetery, Cranston, Rhode Island. He recorded Bouncer with Gilbert and Sullivan for All (1972) and appeared in the same role in the 1982 Brent Walker video of Cox and Box. His other recordings include parts in The Rake's Progress by Stravinskly, Marie-Magdeleine by Massenet, La riconoscenza by Rossini, Cendrillon by Pauline Viardot and Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement, a comic opera by Lord Berners. He also appeared in television movies of The Marriage of Figaro as Antonio (1973), an abridged version of Rigoletto (1974) in English, and The Rake's Progress as The Keeper of the Madhouse (1975).