Classical and Jazz: Preview - Tenor Toby Spence - part of the ENO autumn season
Published: 05 August 2010
by SEBASTIAN TAYLOR
FOR opera singer Toby Spence – one of the world’s leading lyric tenors – it will be but a short trip from his home in Islington to the Coliseum near Trafalgar Square to take on one of the most challenging singing
roles of his career next month.
A new large-company production of Gounod’s Faust is opening the ENO’s autumn season at the Coliseum on
September 18, with Spence making his debut in the title role.
Over the years, he has sung most of the top tenor parts in opera
houses and concert halls all over the world.
His association with the ENO goes back to 1999, when he sang in Handel’s Alcida.
Since then at the ENO, he’s taken on key roles in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Leonard
Bernstein’s Candide and Offenbach’s La Belle Helene.
“Although I’ve taken on some of the leading tenor roles, I regard Faust as the most challenging,” says Spence.
“That’s because Faust usually comes out as a weak character compared with Marguerite and Mephistopheles. The challenge for me is to maintain Faust’s integrity as they become stronger characters with the help of Gounod’s music.”
Spence is very much an Islingtonian, having lived near the Regent’s Canal for nearly 20 years.
His parents lived in the area for many years and his family used to run the Squires piano-making business in Kentish Town.
The new production of Faust promises to be a great opener to the ENO’s autumn season.
It’s a co-production with the New York Met directed by Tony award-winning director of
Jersey Boys and The Who’s Tommy, Des McAnuff.
After Faust, the ENO’s autumn season continues with a revival of Janacek’s The
Makropulos Case, with the superb Anna Roocroft singing Emilia Marty for the first time.
That’s to be followed by a new production of Handel’s Radamisto; a revival of Jonathan Miller’s production of La Boheme; and a new production of Don Giovanni.
Finally, in late November, the ENO will be hosting the UK premiere of Alexander Raskatov’s A Dog’s Heart, an avant-garde Russian opera, in another co-production with the New York Met.
• For details of the ENO autumn season call 0871 911 0200 or visit www.eno.org