Triquet: Eugene Onegin / The Grange Festival 2026
“Toby Spence delivered a priceless turn as Monsieur Triquet.”
Music OMH
“Toby Spence’s natural stage presence charms as the French entertainer Triquet.”
Opera Today
“The smaller parts are winningly imagined by Diana Montague as Tatyana’s mother Larina, Catherine Wyn-Rogers as the nurse Filipyevna, and Toby Spence as the French singer Triquet.”
The Telegraph
“And let’s hail three British veterans: Diana Montague’s wistful Larina, Catherine Wyn-Rogers’s earthy Filipyevna, and Toby Spence as Monsieur Triquet, delivering Tatiana’s silly birthday ditty with admirable and heartfelt feeling.”
The Times
Captain Vere: Billy Budd / Teatro Colón 2025
“Toby Spence, in a role he knows well, gave his Captain Vere all the perfect nuances required.”
L’ape musicale
“Toby Spence is a highly experienced Vere: his voice has an irrevocable nobility, as if singing of eternity.”
La Nacion
“Toby Spence as Captain Vere gave a portrayal of conviction and nuance.”
Opera
Erik: Der fliegende Holländer / Irish National Opera 2025
“Toby Spence’s impassioned singing elevates Erik’s equally romanticised conditioning into something poignant, heartfelt and recognisable.”
The Arts Review
“Toby Spence’s Erik was striking in its raw power and his dramatic portrayal captyred Erik’s desperation with palpable intensity.”
Bachtrack
“…another fine performance from Toby Spence.”
Opera
“Toby Spence’s vocal presentation was exceptionally well crafted to capture the meaning of the text, which he delivered clearly and with emotional force, using his secure, flexible voice that moved easily over the range.”
OperaWire
“Toby Spence conveyed brilliantly Erik’s increasing sense of desperation and sang with great beauty of tone and lyricism.”
Seen and Heard International
Erik: Der fliegende Holländer / Royal Opera, London, 2024
“Toby Spence was credible in his depiction of an abandoned lover, emotional to the point of obsessive, a more earthly counterpart to Senta’s own fixation on a ghostly legend.”
Bachtrack
“Toby Spence makes a convincing character of upright Erik.”
The Guardian
“Toby Spence’s lyrical interpretation of Erik may not have sounded archetypally Wagnerian but it was none the less admirable on its own terms, as was the persona he created.”
Opera
“Toby Spence conveys the forlorn huntsman expertly.”
The Stage
“Toby Spence offers a heartfelt Erik.”
The Times
Idomeneo / Opéra national de Lorraine 2023
“Toby Spence’s vocal projection supports model Italian and this ease enables him to concentrate on portraying his haunted character with varied volume and a skilfully controlled vibrato.”
Olyrix
“Toby Spence portrays Idomeneo with humanity, perfectly conveying the character’s dilemma, his voice blending perfectly with his colleagues in the sublime Act 111 quartet.”
Première Loge
Erik: Der fliegende Holländer / Teatro La Fenice 2023
“Toby Spence is an interesting performer, giving the role of Erik elegance of accents and colour; a good balance between sentimental sweetness and thoughtful introversion.”
Le Salon Musical
“Toby Spence gave an almost Italianate account of Erik.”
Opera
Alonso: The Tempest / Teatro alla Scala 2022
“Toby Spence is a King of Naples with a clear and flexible vocal instrument, extremely musical and rich in harmonics.”
Connessi all’Opera
“Toby Spence was splendid as The King of Naples.”
Le Salon Musical
Parsifal / Opera North 2022
“The principal singers were about as near to a dram line-up for the work as could be imagined: Tony Spence, ideal as he makes his role debut as the pure hero Parsifal.”
The Arts Desk
“Toby Spence sang with a charming sweetness and at times switched on a winning smile. He became credibly regal in Act 3 as the new leader of the Grail Knights.”
Bachtrack
“As Parsifal, Toby Spence has supreme vocal confidence but also negotiates intelligently the demands of being catalyst and foil, destroyer and redeemer.”
The Observer
“Toby Spence can surprise with the force of his passion at the top of his range.”
The Telegraph
“I must mention Toby Spence’s Parsifal, excellent at sounding innocent, ardent and youthful.”
The Times
Alwa: Lulu / La Monnaie 2021
“As Alwa, Toby Spence sounds better than ever, his clear tenor and sympathetic stage presence an ideal fit for this role.”
Bachtrack
“In the role of Alwa, Toby Spence emerges with the sensitivity of a bel canto tenor: young, lively and precise.”
Olyrix
Aschenbach: Death in Venice / Opéra national du Rhin 2021
“Toby Spence was breathtaking both in vocal quality and in his intelligence in sculpting words.”
Díapason
“Equipped with a polished vocal timbre and an outstanding actor, he knows how to filter the harshness of the words into gentle bursts of innocence, spreading a pollen of benevolence.”
Opera Online
“A constant presence on stage, the astonishing Toby Spence skilfully plays the central role of Gustav von Aschenbach with stage preence and vocal stature.”
Res Musica
Florestan: Fidelio / Opera North 2021
“Toby Spence is an affecting Florestan, singing with passion and cutting a noble figure.”
The Arts Desk
“Toby Spence was an ardent and moving Florestan.”
The Guardian
“Toby Spence, lyrical but strong as Florestan.”
The Observer
“Toby Spence’s Florestan opened up with a spine-chilling ‘Gott,’ delivered from a seated position with head bowed, that seemed to come from nowhere.”
Opera
“Toby Spence as Florestan sang the work’s most moving aria with true nobility.”
The Telegraph
“Toby Spence is back to his best as Florestan – the confidence, golden tone and stamina all in place.”
The Times
Florestan: Fidelio / Garsington Opera at Wormsley 2020
“Toby Spence sang a compelling Florestan, strong, earnest and smooth-timbred.”
Bachtrack
“Florestan, sung with imagination and resource by versatile tenor Tob y Spence.”
The Stage
Captain Vere: Billy Budd / Royal Opera, London, 2019
“Toby Spence was in terrific voice, able to float honeyed head notes but his tenor rings out like a bell in Vere’s more declamatory moments.”
Bachtrack
“…his singing has his trademark sweet intensity, and he communicates his agonised remorse as much through his body as through his voice.”
The Independent
“As “Starry Vere,” Toby Spence conveys the frailty of conscience, the dilemma of leadership, which can make the most powerful weak. This Vere is uneasy, indulgent, unknowable: a multi-faceted interpretation.”
The Observer
“Toby Spence’s well sung Vere was an altogether more complicated character: affable, informal and relaxed in his command.”
Opera
“Toby Specne captured Vere’s dreamy self-absorption and lack of self-knowledge, shaping phrases and text with care and insight.”
Opera Today
“In a career-best performance by an incandescent Toby Spence, Captain Vere becomes a boyish and insecure figure. Detached from the harsh realities of life below decks as he sips sherry and contemplates the lessons of Thucydides in his dressing gown, he is thrown far out of his moral depth when confronted with the paradox of Billy’s innate innocence and act of instinctive violence. Like Pontius Pilate, he submits to earthly law in condemning Billy to death, against his better judgment: but the epilogue allows him an old age in which he grasps at an understanding that redeems him.”
The Telegraph
