Biography

Toby Spence studied at the Opera School of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and New College, Oxford, where he was an honors graduate and choral scholar. He was the winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society 2011 Singer of the Year award.

Mr. Spence has made regular appearances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the English National Opera, and he has also sung with the Paris Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, the Bavarian State Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, and La Monnaie in Brussels. In the US he has appeared with the Santa Fe Festival, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Opera. Highlights of last season include the roles of Antonio in Thomas Adès’s The Tempest for the Metropolitan Opera, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni for the Vienna State Opera, and Essex in Britten’s Gloriana for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Last season, Mr. Spence’s concert appearances included performances with the London Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and at the Tonhalle in Zurich. Previously, he has appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rotterdam Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and at the Salzburg and Edinburgh festivals. Mr. Spence has given recitals at the Edinburgh Festival, the LSO’s St Luke’s center, Opera de Lille, and Wigmore Hall. He has made numerous recordings for the Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, BMG, Philips, Collins, Linn Records, Hyperion, and EMI labels.

Mr. Spence’s recent and upcoming operatic engagements include Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress for the Theater an der Wien, Tamino in The Magic Flute for the Bavarian State Opera, and Tito in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito for both the Vienna State Opera and Bavarian State Opera. In concert he will appear with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 1997.

(June 2014)