“Rob was a wonderful father, and a very successful opera singer, but he was also so much more than that. If you were ever lucky enough to spend time in his company, you will know exactly what I mean; he had an innate ability to share his love for life, his charm and his integrity with everyone that he met.

Whilst on stage he was able to engage with the emotions of his audience in a way that eludes many classical singers of this generation. He was not only able to reduce the most challenging of audiences to tears with the timbre of his mellifluous baritone, but he could also evoke intense laughter, with merely the lifting of an eyebrow, or the twinkling of an eye. When he sang he made you feel good; it’s as simple as that!”

Born in Brighton, he began his career in the Glyndebourne chorus after studying at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio. He made his debut in Curlew River for BBC and spent much of his early career at Glyndebourne‚ winning the John Christie Award and the Esso/GTO Award.

He was a regular guest with UK companies such as English National Opera, Opera North Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Welsh National Opera, Garsington and Grange Park. His international appearances included roles at De Nederlandse Opera‚ Opera Zuid‚ Gran Teatre del Liceu in Pamplona and Valladolid, De Vlaamse Opera, Adelaide Festival, Salzburger Landestheater, Nantes‚ Bremen‚ Copenhagen and Cologne.

On his death, his agent Athole Still released a statement which read:

“Robert will be greatly missed by his friends, family and the entire opera community. He was an exceptional artist, but more than that, truly a wonderful person and a joy to work with every day; we were honored to represent him. His immense contribution to the opera world will not be forgotten.”

The Robert Poulton Foundation aims to share and ignite a love of singing and embrace its ability to change lives for the better.