D’Oyly Carte years

Ayldon joined the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company as a member of the chorus in 1967. The following season, he began to play the small role of the Associate in Trial by Jury and filled in on occasion as Sergeant Bouncer in Cox and Box, the Learned Judge in Trial, and the Boatswain in H.M.S. Pinafore. In 1968, he began to understudy to Donald Adams in the principal bass-baritone roles, appearing on occasion as Dick Deadeye in Pinafore, the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance. When Adams left the Company in 1969, John Ayldon took over as Deadeye, Pirate King, Colonel Calverley in Patience, Mountararat, Arac in Princess Ida, the Mikado, Sir Roderic Murgatroyd in Ruddigore, and Sergeant Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard. For the 1975 D'Oyly Carte Centenary Celebration, Ayldon played all his principal bass-baritone roles as well as Phantis in Utopia Limited and the Prince of Monte Carlo in The Grand Duke (in concert). He continued to play his regular roles through the remaining days of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, except that in 1977 (at his request) he swapped Florian for Arac in Princess Ida. The Prince of Monte Carlo’s “roulette song” became a favourite concert piece of Ayldon's, and he sang it on the Last Night of the D'Oyly Carte on February 27, 1982.

Later years

Since 1982, Ayldon has remained active in musical theatre and opera. He appeared in principal roles with Canadian Opera, Welsh National Opera, Dublin Grand Opera, and New Sadler’s Wells Opera. He has appeared frequently in concerts, music hall, cabaret, and pantomime. He made his West End, London debut in The Phantom of the Opera as Firmin, and subsequently other roles in that musical, and followed this by playing the Pope in Which Witch. Ayldon was a guest artist with the New D’Oyly Carte Opera Company on its tour to California, playing Pooh-Bah in The Mikado and also with “The Magic of D’Oyly Carte”.

Ayldon toured North America frequently with Kenneth Sandford, Geoffrey Shovelton, Lorraine Daniels, and others in the 1980s and into the 1990s with a concert program of G&S favorites called “The Best of Gilbert & Sullivan”, often conducted by John Owen Edwards. In recent years, he has performed at the annual International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival.

5. Choose the best variant to complete each sentence:

1. John Ayldon’s parents moved the family to _____________.

a) Ukraine c) New York

b) San Francisco d) Greece

2. Ayldon joined the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company as a _________ in 1967.

a) musician c) conductor

b) member of the chorus d) manager

3. In 1968, Ayldon began to _____________to Donald Adams in the principal bass-baritone roles.

a) play c) understudy

b) sing d) shoot

4. No other lands on earth except _____________________ have been so superlatively blessed with such nightingales.

a) Italy and Ukraine c) China and Greece

b) Spain and Hungary d) Spain and Ukraine

5. No one will deny that Ukraine is a _______________ country.

a) well-developed c) industrial

b) dancing d) singing

6. V. Hryshko always turns a theatre into a ____________of Gods.

a) hut c) house

b) temple d) church

7. Opera Lafayette was founded by________________ Ryan Brown in 1995.

a) Artistic Director c) Manager

b) Opera singer d) Actor

8. The Violins of Lafayette gave particular _______________to performances of opera, both semi-staged and in concert.

a) payment c) scenes

b) attention d) desire

9. One of the most remarkable _______ young singers to emerge in recent years, soprano, is Kirsten Blaise.

a) Ukrainian c) French

b) German d) US