John Cashmore

John Cashmore trained at the Birmingham Conservatoire and later at the National Opera Studio in London, where he studied with the legendary Italian baritone Tito Gobbi.

His career as an opera, operetta, oratorio and musical theatre singer has taken him to many major concert halls and opera houses, including English National Opera, Scottish National Opera, the Royal Albert Hall, Musica Nel Chiostro Batignano, the Berlin Philharmonie and the Cologne Philharmonie.

A defining moment in his career came through his collaboration with Leonard Bernstein during the British premiere of A Quiet Place. Bernstein subsequently recommended John for performances of his own works, including Mass and West Side Story.

Following his appearance as Tony in West Side Story at Stadttheater Aachen, John was cast in the leading role of Don Parker in the world premiere of Eric Woolfson’s musical Gaudí. The role became one of the most significant of his career, and he went on to perform it more than 800 times.

John also became particularly associated with the role of the Celebrant in Bernstein’s Mass. He performed the work with a number of major orchestras and ensembles, including the WDR Radio Orchestra under Helmut Froschauer at the Cologne Philharmonie, the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Hamburg State Opera, the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Kent Nagano at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Romanian Radio Orchestra, and the Basel Sinfonietta.

Further performances took place in Basel, Freiburg, at Theater Lüneburg and with the Junge Philharmonie Salzburg. Several of these performances were also broadcast on German radio, including WDR and Deutschlandfunk.

In 2005, John co-produced a new production of Gaudí together with his wife, Kaybee Cashmore, once again taking on the leading role. The production was subsequently staged in Alsdorf, Düren, Niedernhausen and Cologne until 2008.

During the same period, John appeared in the musical Licence 4 Two as Agent Blond, and took on the title role of Bing Crosby in the WDR production Hey Mr. Crosby at the Cologne Philharmonie.

His work also continued in the classical repertoire, with further opera engagements including productions of L’elisir d’amore and Così fan tutte.

For more than ten years, John was also a regular guest artist aboard international cruise ships, performing as a featured headline entertainer for audiences from around the world. These engagements became an important part of his international career and added another dimension to his work as a versatile live performer.

In 2011, John and Kaybee Cashmore founded Stagevisions, a creative production company through which they developed and produced new shows, concerts and touring concepts. Stagevisions also operated as an event and artist agency, with its own recording studio and independent record label, Stagevisions Underground Records.

Together, they developed more than 20 different production concepts, and John toured extensively with a wide range of shows and concert programmes.

From 2011 onwards, he toured Germany with Spirit of Scotland, followed by Klassik Meets Rock, and later Gaudí Meets Gambler in 2014 and 2015. From 2016, he continued touring with the production Celtic Spirit.

Beyond the stage, John also appeared on German television. In 2016, he was a guest on the ZDF programme Hallo Herr Steinmeier, discussing Brexit, and was also the subject of a television feature by SWR about his life and career.

John remained an active stage performer until 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic brought live performance to an abrupt halt.

He chose that moment to step back from the intensity of touring and performance life. Today, he lives happily in Cornwall, England, with his wife Kaybee and their dogs, enjoying a quieter life after a long and varied international career.

From opera houses and concert halls to musical theatre and large-scale touring productions, John Cashmore’s career has been defined by versatility, musicality and a deep commitment to live performance.