Toby Spence

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. In concert, Toby has sung with the Cleveland Orchestra under Dohnányi, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic under Rattle, the San Francisco Symphony under Tilson Thomas, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Pappano, the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Gergiev, the London Symphony Orchestra under Davis, the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Nezet-Seguin, the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Dudamel, and at the Salzburg and Edinburgh Festivals under Norrington and Mackerras. Toby sang an acclaimed Madwoman in Britten’s Curlew River for the Edinburgh Festival, where he has also appeared in recital. Other recitals include LSO St Luke’s, Opéra de Lille and the Wigmore Hall, and he has made numerous recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, BMG, Philips, Collins, Linn Records, Hyperion and EMI. For the English National Opera, Toby has sung Fenton, Ferrando, Tamino, Candide, Paris (La Belle Hélène) and Faust, and for the Royal Opera, Kudryash, Simpleton (Boris Godunov), Ferdinand (The Tempest), Count Almaviva, Ramiro and Tom Rakewell. He has also sung with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Paris Opera, the Monnaie, Brussels, the Netherlands Opera, the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, the San Francisco Opera, the Santa Fe Festival, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera. This season, Toby will make his debut with the Vienna State Opera as Ferrando, he sings Lensky (Eugene Onegin) and Vere (Billy Budd) for ENO and David (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) for the Royal Opera. His future opera engagements include Tom Rakewell for the Theater and der Wien, Don Ottavio and Tito for the Vienna State Opera, Tamino and Tito for the Bavarian State Opera and return visits to the Metropolitan Opera. Concerts and recitals this season include the London Symphony Orchestra under Adès, BBC Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Davies, CBSO under Nelsons and the Deutsche Oper under Donald Runnicles. He performs recitals at Opéra de Lille and the Edinburgh Festival.