The character of fisherman Peter Grimes in Benjamin Britten’s opera of the same name is the ultimate social outcast. As he becomes increasingly spurned by the community around him, the piece explores what it’s like to be misunderstood and ostracised by your neighbours.
In the coming months, John Findon takes on the role for Opera North. We caught up with him in the rehearsal studio to discover more about the opera and his experience of being the lonely outsider.
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John Findon. Photography by Bertie Watson
What or who encouraged you to become an opera singer?
My father was a priest which means I’ve sung in church choirs since the age of 7, so music has always been very important for me. Then, when I went to school, my uncle was my Head of Music. Both he and my Grandad were professional musicians and singers, so I think I was probably always destined to be a singer in some form.
Do you remember when you first saw Peter Grimes?
It was during school I think that I watched the Royal Opera’s production of Peter Grimes with Jon Vickers and hearing that music for the first time with that voice just made me fall in love. Since then, I listen to the music all the time and would do so every day if I could!
Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts as Peter Grimes and William Mercer as Boy in Opera North's 2013 production of Peter Grimes © Bill Cooper
Please could you describe Grimes’ character
Grimes is a fisherman in a Borough. He’s a man of reading and intellect in his area of expertise: fishing and navigation. Grimes is treated as an outsider by the villagers because he’s a hard and rough man who has apprentice boys from the workhouse come and help him with his fishing. They are always put in danger in such a tough industry and mishaps occur which the “Borough Gossips” believe are Grimes’ fault.
His only two friends are Captain Balstrode, the one man he respects because of his sailing career and prowess, and Ellen Orford, the school mistress who he thinks and hopes will be his wife at some point.
The company of Peter Grimes, 2013. Photography by Bill Cooper
How do you find singing such an emotionally powerful role?
Peter Grimes is a fabulous character to perform and sing. It’s a role you can fully engross and immerse yourself in. You have to be careful not to go over the top in the singing when the character wants to overtake you, but it’s so emotionally charged that you’re pulled through by the sheer force and power of the music.
This year, you’re also covering the role at RBO. What’s it like exploring a character with different directors?
It’s challenging but also rewarding to be involved in different productions, as you want to make sure the director’s vision of the character aligns with yours and that the character they want to portray comes out. It also makes you think in a different way about the character and can open up new, exciting and interesting views and characterisations that you hadn’t thought of or explored before.
The 2013 Opera North production of Peter Grimes. Photography by Bill Cooper
What’s your favourite bit in the opera?
Which one to pick?! First there’s the Prologue which is the perfect operatic opening to set up the Borough and all the characters in it and their relationship with Grimes. Then there’s the Hut scene where you see Grimes looking mentally fragile and at his most combative against the Borough.
The final act of the opera begins with Interlude V which is musically so incredibly beautiful and, in this production, completely heart-wrenching and powerful. The opera then takes us to the Borough at its strongest and most Mob-like with everyone screaming for “Peter Grimes”. It finishes with the final scene where we see Grimes at his most vulnerable and frightened, supported by his only friends in the Borough to ensure he’s not taken by the fiery Mob.
What can people look forward to if they buy a ticket?
People can look forward to, in my opinion, the greatest opera written in English with a story of true emotion and power and the most alive story-telling through music one could hope to hear.
Peter Grimes opens at Leeds Grand Theatre on Friday 13 February 2026 before touring to Nottingham, Salford and Newcastle.
