Editing Toby Spence

{{short description|British tenor (born 1969)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
'''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.<ref name="operamag"/><ref name="Ligne8"/>

==Early life and studies==
Spence was born into a musical family that had once owned the London piano manufacturer Squire Pianos. His father was a doctor, and his mother a pianist who worked as an archivist at the [[Royal College of Music]].<ref>{{cite web | author=Neil Fisher | url=http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/x/assets/1052.pdf | title=Toby Spence on his role in Eugene Onegin | work=The Times | date=2011-11-15 | accessdate=2014-11-01}}</ref> She had also been personal assistant to [[Walter Legge]] and [[Yehudi Menuhin]], and artists and musicians were regular lunch guests at the family home. He was educated at [[Uppingham School]] and gained an honours degree in music at [[New College, Oxford]],<ref name="operamag">Pines R. People 395: Toby Spence. ''[[Opera (British magazine)|Opera]]'', November 2011, 1292–1300.</ref> where he was a choral scholar and his teachers included Edward Higginbottom.  He continued his vocal studies at the [[Guildhall School of Music and Drama]], where he studied with David Pollard with whom he has continued vocal studies.<ref>{{cite web | author=Ashutosh Khandekar | url=http://askonasholt.com/uploads/files/2013/10/17/Opera_Now_November_2013.pdf | title=The Road Ahead | work=Opera Now | date=November 2013 | accessdate=2014-11-01}}</ref> While still a student at Guildhall Spence appeared as Normanno in the [[Dorset Opera Festival|Dorset Opera]] ''[[Lucia di Lammermoor]]'' in [[Sherborne School|Sherborne]] in 1993.<ref>Forbes, Elizabeth. Opera on the Fringe - Lucia di Lammermoor: Dorset Opera at Sherborne School Hall, August 20. ''Opera'', October 1993, Vol.44 No.10, p1247.</ref>

==Career==
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.<ref name="operamag"/>  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 Festival|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. At the same time he was performing on the concert platform in repertoire ranging from Beethoven's ''[[Missa solemnis (Beethoven)|Missa Solemnis]]'' to ''[[Saint François d'Assise]]'' by Messiaen.

Toby Spence has on-going connections with [[English National Opera]] (ENO), and is a strong believer of the policy of singing in English.<ref name="operamag"/> He appeared in successive seasons at the [[Opéra National de Paris]] and also at the [[Bavarian State Opera]] ([[Bayerische Staatsoper]]). He was the first Ferdinand in [[Thomas Adès]]' opera ''[[The Tempest (Adès)|The Tempest]]'' at [[Royal Opera House, Covent Garden|Covent Garden]], and reprised the role in the work's American premiere production at [[Santa Fe Opera]].  He has since performed the role of Antonio in the same opera.<ref>{{cite web | author=Tom Service | author-link=Tom Service | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/nov/08/toby-spence-tempest-cancer-recovery | title=Toby Spence: 'I'll never take my voice for granted again' | work=The Guardian | date=2012-11-08 | accessdate=2014-11-01}}</ref> Following ''The Tempest'' he has been invited back regularly to Covent Garden in operas by Rossini, Janáček and Wagner.<ref>[http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/SearchResults.aspx?person=toby%20spence&searchtype=performance&page=2 Results for Toby Spence in the Royal Opera House Collections Online.] accessed 4 November 2014.</ref>

He made his Proms debut in 1997, in a performance of the [[Mass No. 5 (Schubert)|Schubert Mass No. 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 (Handel)|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, [[Symphony 9 (Beethoven)|Beethoven's Choral Symphony]] in 2011, [[Ivor Novello]] songs and the [[Requiem (Berlioz)|Berlioz Requiem]] in 2012, Britten [[War Requiem]] in 2014, and Elgar ''[[The Dream of Gerontius]]'' in 2015.<ref>https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/performers/4484ff8d-035a-40ef-b9a4-de80c8653f8f/performances BBC Proms database search for Toby Spence], accessed 6 March 2024.</ref>

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]]''. The latter role was one Spence was keen to play from the start of his career, and he has sung it in several productions around the world.<ref name="Ligne8"/>

Although he sang in some recitals at the beginning of his professional career, he was dissatisfied with the result and set song to one side for several years. When he resumed recitals his repertoire included Poulenc, Brahms and Britten, as well as the original version of ''[[Les nuits d'été]]'' with piano.<ref name="operamag"/>

In an interview for the Paris Opera in 2008, Spence named [[Arsène Wenger]] as his non-musical hero.<ref name="Ligne8">Chanter la débauche et la perdition. ''Ligne 8. Le journal de l'Opéra National de Paris.'' Mars-Avril 2008, 21–22. (Interview with Toby Spence, in French).</ref> A man of keen and wide interests, he regularly visits galleries and is a keen concert and cinema goer. He enjoys travelling and in 2003 spent four weeks backpacking around Iran, visiting several cities.<ref name="operamag"/>  His marriage ended in divorce in 2001.<ref>{{cite web | author=Erica Jeal | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/dec/16/classicalmusicandopera | title=I can be a bit of a rake | work=The Guardian | date=2005-12-16 | accessdate=2014-11-01}}</ref> In December 2011, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and underwent surgery in February 2012 to remove his glands and lymph nodes.<ref>{{cite web | author=Imogen Tilden | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/apr/26/tenor-toby-spence-recovering-from-cancer | title=Tenor Toby Spence recovering from thyroid cancer | work=The Guardian | date=2012-11-20 | accessdate=2014-11-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author=Rupert Christiansen | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/9776040/Toby-Spence-interview-The-sounds-that-came-out-were-terrifying.html | title=Toby Spence interview: 'The sounds that came out were terrifying' | work=Telegraph | date=2012-11-20 | accessdate=2014-11-01}}</ref>  In May 2012, he received the award for Singer of the Year from the [[Royal Philharmonic Society]], and that August sang in public at the Edinburgh Festival for the first time since his operation.

He made his debut as Aschenbach in Britten's ''[[Death in Venice (opera)|Death in Venice]]'' in 2021 (filmed) for the [[Opéra national du Rhin]] in Strasbourg, described by one critic as "...powerfully voiced Aschenbach... disintegrate impressively, each utterance of "I, Aschenbach" refrain increasingly more wretched."<ref>Reed, Peter. Strasbourg report. ''Opera'', July 2021, Vol.72 No.7, p884-885.</ref>

In 2012, Toby and his brother, Magnus Spence, founded a festival of song at Wardsbrook, a farm in East Sussex where Magnus lives with his family. Since its inauguration they have presented recitals by [[Stéphane Degout]], Sarah Connolly, Sir Thomas Allen, [[Christiane Karg]], [[Felicity Lott]], [[Ian Bostridge]] and Gyula Orendt. The aim of Wardsbrook is to promote the art of song and raise much needed funds for St Michael's Hospice in St Leonard's, Hastings, which provides palliative care for the community. In the first two years they raised nearly £60,000 for the establishment and running costs of a service that providing home-care for the elderly.

==Recordings==
Toby Spence has participated in many varied recordings, including songs by [[Liza Lehmann]], [[Robert Schumann]] and [[Arthur Bliss]], the [[Duo de l'ouvreuse de l'Opéra-Comique et de l'employé du Bon Marché]] by Chabrier, and in Volumes 32 & 35 of the Hyperion Schubert edition.

Other recordings included Parry's ''Job'', Haydn's ''[[The Creation (Haydn)|The Creation]]'', ''Paroles tissées'' by Lutosławski, Offenbach's ''Vert-Vert'', Berlioz's [[Grande Messe des Morts]], Op. 5 and ''Les Troyens,''Handel's [[La Resurrezione]], HWV47, Finzi's ''[[Dies Natalis (cantata)|Dies natalis]]'', Op. 8, ''[[La Rondine]]'', ''[[Così fan tutte]]'', Britten's [[Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings]], Op. 31, Bantock's ''Omar Khayyám'', the title role in Sullivan's ''[[Ivanhoe (opera)|Ivanhoe]]'' and Philip, Lord of Mirlemont in Sullivan's ''[[The Beauty Stone]]''.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/artists/singers/tenor/toby-spence Askonas Holt agency artist page on Toby Spence]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140728131159/http://www.rpsmusicawards.com/index/2011-singer RPS Music Awards 2011: Singer page]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Toby}}
[[Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People educated at Uppingham School]]
[[Category:1969 births]]
[[Category:English operatic tenors]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama]]
[[Category:Singers from London]]
[[Category:20th-century British  male opera singers]]
[[Category:21st-century British male  opera singers]]
[[Category:Choral Scholars of New College, Oxford]]