An honours graduate and choral scholar from New College, Oxford, Toby Spence studied at the Opera School of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was the winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society 2011 Singer of the Year award.
In concert Toby has sung with some of the most renowned orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestr, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He has appeared as a guest soloist at the Easter Festival in Salzburg and the Edinburgh International Festival. He has worked with an impressive array of conductors such as Christoph von Dohnanyi, Sir Simon Rattle, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Antonio Pappano, Valery Gergiev, Colin Davis, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gustavo Dudamel, Edward Gardner, Roger Norrington and Charles Mackerras.
Recent opera engagements have included Ghandi Satyagraha, Paris La Belle Hélène, Lensky Eugene Onegin and the title role in Charles Gounoud’s Faust at the English National Opera; Captain Vere Billy Budd for Teatro Real, Opera di Roma and Royal Opera House Covent Garden; Anatol Vanessa for Frankfurt Opera; Don Ottavio at the Liceu Barcelona; Eisenstein Die Fledermaus and Antonio The Tempest for the Metropolitan Opera; Don Ottavio and Tito for the Vienna State Opera; Essex Gloriana and Tamino Die Zauberflöte for the Royal Opera House, where his previous roles have also included Ferdinand The Tempest, David Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Count Almaviva Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Ramiro La Cenerentola and Tom Rakewell The Rake’s Progress; Madwoman Curlew River for the Edinburgh Festival; Tito, Tamino and Henry Morosus Die Schweigsame Frau for the Bavarian State Opera; Tom Rakewell and David Die Meistersinger at Opéra de Paris; Bénédict Beatrice et Bénédict with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Tito in Clemenza di Tito in Berlin; Aschenbach Death in Venice, Herod Salome and Peter Grimes.
Plans for 21/22 include role debuts as Alwa Lulu for La Monnaie and title role Parsifal for Opera North, Male Chorus Rape of Lucretia for Kammerakademie Potsdam, a staged Christmas Oratorio at Teatro Arriaga directed by Calixto Bieito and Monsieur Taupe in a new production of Capriccio for the Bayerische Staatsoper. On the concert platform Toby gives his debut as Hauptmann Wozzeck with the Boston Symphony Orchestra cond. Andris Nelsons in Boston and at Carnegie Hall, Das Lied von der Erde with Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música cond. Stefan Blunier, Jack in Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage with the LPO con. Edward Gardner, Britten Les Illuminations with Teatro Filarmonico at the Arena di Verona, Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the London Chamber Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with Malta Philharmonic Orchestra cond. Lawrence Renes, Bénédict in Béatrice et Bénédict for the Festival de la Côte Saint-André, Elgar’s The Kingdom with the Krakow Philharmonic cond. Paul Goodwin and St Matthew Passion at the Royal Festival Hall. Further ahead Toby makes his debut with Teatro alla Scala Milan as Alonso in Thomas Adès’ The Tempest and returns to the Wiener Staatsoper.
