Toby Spence (born 22 May 1969, London) is a British tenor active internationally on the concert platform, in the opera house and in recordings across a wide range of classical music.
[5] Spence's professional debut was in 1995 as Idamante in Welsh National Opera's production of Idomeneo, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras; he repeated the role later the same year in Munich after only one day of rehearsal.
[1] Other early engagements included La Calisto with René Jacobs in Brussels, Mitridate in Mitridate Rè di Ponto under Roger Norrington at the Mozart week in Salzburg, and subsequently at the Salzburg Summer Festival, Almaviva in Rossini's The Barber of Seville at the English National Opera, and David in Die Meistersinger under Antonio Pappano at La Monnaie in Brussels.
5 in A flat, following this with Nielsen's Springtime on Funen in 1999, the Bach St John Passion and Parsifal in 2000, Handel's Acis and Galatea in 2001, Les Troyens à Carthage in 2003, Les noces in 2004, the Missa solemnis in 2005, Delius A Song of the High Hills in 2009, Beethoven's Choral Symphony in 2011, Ivor Novello songs and the Berlioz Requiem in 2012, Britten War Requiem in 2014, and Elgar The Dream of Gerontius in 2015.
[8] During 2005 and 2006 his stage roles ranged from Tamino in The Magic Flute at the Teatro Real in Madrid and at ENO, to the Madwoman in Britten's Curlew River at the Edinburgh Festival, Count Almaviva in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at Covent Garden and Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress.
Since its inauguration they have presented recitals by Stéphane Degout, Sarah Connolly, Sir Thomas Allen, Christiane Karg, Felicity Lott, Ian Bostridge and Gyula Orendt.
Other recordings included Parry's Job, Haydn's The Creation, Paroles tissées by Lutosławski, Offenbach's Vert-Vert, Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts, Op.