Nicky Spence Tenor

Season 23/24 Artist

Born in Scotland, Nicky Spence trained at London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the National Opera Studio and then with English National Opera's Harewood Artists advanced program. Recent engagements include Laca (Jenůfa) at London's Royal Opera House, Siegmund (La Walkyrie) at English National Opera, Albert Gregor (L'Affaire Makropoulos) at Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Tichon (Kátia Kabanová) at the Glyndebourne Festival and Erik (Le Vaisseau fantôme) at Grange Park Opera. In the 2023-2024 season, he appears at La Monnaie de Bruxelles as Loge (L'Or du Rhin).

Concert appearances include Števa (Jenůfa) with the London Symphony Orchestra, Gerontius's Dream with the Bonn Beethoven Orchestra, Tippett's New Year with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Britten Sinfonia and Le Chant de la Terre with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias. Nicky Spence gives recitals internationally and records prolifically.

In 2020, he won the BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award and Gramophone's Solo Vocal Award for his recording of Janáček's Diary of the Disappeared. BBC Music Magazine also named him "Personality of the Year" in 2022. Nicky Spence is President-Elect of the Independent Society of Musicians, and will hold this position in the 2024-2025 season. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) at the King's Birthday Ceremony in 2023.

At the Opéra national de Paris: Moses and Aaron (a young man), 2015; Wozzeck (Andres), 2017; Tristan and Isolde (a shepherd / a young sailor), 2018