DAVID Stout admits he had a “very bizarre” route into the world of opera singing.

“I was born in the UK, grew up in Africa, and I became a safari guide in Botswana,” he says, unexpectedly.

“I was fascinated by natural history and read zoology at university before going into teaching biology. While I was teaching I did some amateur opera, and at the age of 29, I asked my head of department if I could go part-time to pursue singing.”

David adds: “He said no, you need to leave and follow this little dream of yours.”

He grins. “Sixteen years later, and I’ve made a pretty decent career of it.”

(Image: Julie Howden/Scottish Opera)

Pretty decent is an understatement – the Southside-based singer is one of the UK’s most in-demand baritones, with a string of high-profile and acclaimed roles under his belt, including his recent turn as Dr Bartolo in Scottish Opera’s The Barber of Seville.

Now, David is back at the Glasgow company (where his wife Susannah Wapshot is Associate Chorus Master and assistant conductor) to play the title role of Don Pasquale in a revival of the much-loved Donizetti comic opera about love, marriage and clashing generations.

“It’s hard work doing comedy – it’s not just having fun on stage,” he says, smiling. “The Barber of Seville was fantastic, and incredibly successful, but the kind of comedy in Don Pasquale is different.

“It is borne out of the daft situation Don Pasquale finds himself in, as opposed to the farce of The Barber of Seville.

“Don Pasquale is very complex, which is a challenge to play - we’re actors, not just singers, and that’s something that has changed in opera over the last 40 or 50 years. It is all about the storytelling.”

READ NEXT: 'I was scared I'd lose my voice': Corrie star on cancer fight and new Glasgow play

The eponymous character runs a crumbling boarding house in Rome, and is determined to keep his fortune to himself, so he decides to marry, spiting his nephew Ernesto.

But, when he finds a bride, he discovers that married life is not as simple as he expected...

(Image: Julie Howden/Scottish Opera)

“He’s not a bad man, he just wants to do what he thinks is right,” explains David, during a break in rehearsals.

“This is a man at the end of his life – he is 70, which was very old for the time. In Rome, the passing on of family legacy would have been very important.”

The cast includes three up-and-coming singers making their Scottish Opera debuts in the main roles. Opera Australia principal soprano Stacey Alleaume is Norina, Filipe Manu is Pasquale’s son Ernesto, and Josef Jeongmeen Ahn is Doctor Malatesta.

READ NEXT: 'This is stupid': Slow Horses star takes to Glasgow stage to protest arts funding cuts

This version, a revival of Scottish Opera’s 2014 production, is set in Rome in the 1960s.

Director-designer duo Renaud Doucet and André Barbe have created typically colourful and quirky sets, says David.

“We are lucky to have them,” he adds. “The sets are wonderfully vivid and colourful, and recreate a beautiful, 1960s Austin Powers world.

“I’m back in a fat suit with the bald pate, but while Don Pasquale is old, he still has a bit about him. It ebbs and flows, the story, and the colour of the music changes significantly later on, becoming much darker.”

He adds, cheerfully: “It all works out happily ever after but still, it is very emotional.”

David is thrilled to be back at Scottish Opera, his “home company”, he says.

“It’s difficult to do that – opera singers usually have to move to get work,” he explains.

“We’ve lived on the Southside for almost a decade now, we have three young children – aged nine, seven and three – so it’s good to be at home with them.”

He adds: “I genuinely didn’t expect to have this career. I was in awe of the likes of Bryn Terfel and Pavarotti when I was young, but I never thought that was going to be me.

“I count my lucky stars I am where I am.”

Don Pasquale is at the Theatre Royal Glasgow on October 12, 17 and 26.