Allan Clayton

Allan Clayton (tenor) is established as one of the most exciting and sought-after singers of his generation. He studied at St John’s College, Cambridge and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 2007 he became an Associate Artist of Classical Opera and a BBC New Generation Artist, and his numerous awards include ‘The Queen’s Commendation for Excellence’ at the Royal Academy of Music, the John Christie Award for his Glyndebourne Festival début as Albert Herring, and a Borletti- Buitoni Trust Fellowship.

His opera roles have included Ferrando (Così fan tutte) for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Opera North, Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) for Welsh National Opera, English National Opera and the Komische Oper, Berlin, Castor (Castor et Pollux), Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Cassio (Otello) for English National Opera, and Third Angel/ John in George Benjamin’s award-winning opera Written on Skin at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, The Royal Opera, Netherlands Opera and the Bayerische Staatsoper.

He is equally in demand on the concert platform, and recent engagements have included Britten’s Spring Symphony with both the Philharmonia and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the title role in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex at the BBC Proms, and the Salzburg première of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius. A consummate recitalist, Allan has worked with many outstanding pianists, including Paul Lewis, Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles and Julius Drake. His recordings have included Handel’s Messiah with both the Academy of Ancient Music (EMI) and the Britten Sinfonia (Hyperion), Belshazzar with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie, Britten’s St Nicolas with the City of London Sinfonia (Hyperion), Cassio in Verdi’s Otello (LSO Live), and ‘The A-Z of Mozart Opera’ and Der Christ in Mozart’s Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots with Classical Opera and Ian Page (Signum Classics).