JOHN Tomlinson is quite happy with the knowledge that he's an experienced Bluebeard. In fact, the world renowned operatic bass-baritone jumped at the chance to bring the bloodiest killer in folklore to the North-East as part of Opera North's debut tour of Duke Bluebeard's Castle.

Earlier in the tour, the 58-year-old admits he could be found in a more murderous frame of mind than normal when he found his voice competing with a rock band at Leeds Town Hall.

"I think we were competing with the rock band Embrace, but it didn't interfere too much until the last 20 minutes when there was a sort of throbbing low frequency noise going on in the distance," he says.

Although The Sage has a variety of performance spaces, there's unlikely to be any repeat of this kind of musical clash thanks to the careful acoustic construction of the building.

Duke Bluebeard's Castle is based on the myth of the castle where wives went inside and were never seen again. "This incorporates the legend, but is more of a psycho-drama and when the truth is finally told, it's a very sinister truth, it's not nice at all," he says.

The production is described as "semi-staged" with Tomlinson and mezzo-soprano Sally Burgess, who plays Bluebeard's prospective fourth wife Judith, performing in costume on a performance area using lighting rather than lavish scenery. Giles Havergal directs the English language production which concentrates on the relationship between Bluebeard and his love, who is determined to discover the fate of her predecessors, who are hidden behind seven locked doors.

"There's a very big and spectacular orchestra for Bluebeard's Castle. It's powerful, chilling and thought-provoking," says Tomlinson. "I think a lot of people have discovered the piece because not everyone knows it that well.

"It's difficult musically but I've performed Bluebeard quite a lot and recorded it (with Bernard Haitnik and the Berlin Philharmonic for EMI in 1995). That was in Hungarian and it's the only piece I do in that language and I need coaching every time I do it because Hungarian is a bit out on a limb." The singer has mastered German, Italian and Russian during his long career.

Duke Bluebeard's Castle is a debut for Opera North, and Chandos Records recorded a performance in Leeds at the weekend.

Tomlinson admits he's a big fan of Opera North, having sung the title role of Boris Godunov, Mephistopheles in Faust and directed Oberto for the company.

"Opera North is a fantastic company. I'm from Lancashire and even though I travel around the world singing a lot and have done for quite a few years, I do enjoy coming back here," he says. "My debut as a singer was in 1971 so I've been singing professionally for 34 years and a lot of that time I've spent singing in Germany, particularly in the operas of Wagner and at the Bayreuth Festival in the theatre Richard Wagner himself built and I've been there continuously for 18 years."

Despite the demand for him to perform in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Dresden and the Bayreuth again this year, Tomlinson took time out to arrange the six-date tour with Opera North because he regards the Leeds-based company as high quality and was aware that The Sage was on the list of venues.

"I've never been to The Sage and I'm really looking forward to it," says the singer, who is fascinated to see how the newly-created acoustics enhance Bela Bartok's only opera.

Of the limitations facing Opera North now that its Grand Theatre home is closing for renovation, Tomlinson feels that the idea of putting "semi-staged" performances in concert halls is a sensible move over the short term.

And after Bluebeard? "I've done far more than I'd ever thought I would. I started off as an engineering student in Manchester in the 60s and did civil engineering and qualified in 1967 but I'd always sung as an amateur and went to the college of music in the city with a view to singing professionally, a rather ambitious idea at that time. But it actually slowly took off and has been very successful and I'm still enjoying the life enormously.

"I don't have any specific ambitions any more. I've sung in all the theatres I want to and sung all the roles I ever wanted."

* Duke Bluebeard's Castle is at Gateshead Sage tomorrow, after Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe Suite 1 & 2. Box Office: 0191-443 4661