
Spencer
Britten
Tenor.Dancer.Actor
"...oozing with mirth and personality." -Opera Canada
Corinna Radakovits Photography


ABOUT
ME!
Jeremy Knowles Photography
Spencer Britten is a Chinese-Canadian artist “oozing with mirth and personality” (Opera Canada) from Vancouver, British Columbia. His accomplishments in Opera & Musical Theatre have led him to performances with companies including Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Royal Opera Versailles, Bregenzer Festspiele, The Glimmerglass Festival, Opéra de Montréal, Vancouver Opera, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Currently, Spencer is covering Don Ottavio in Glyndebourne Festival's new production of Don Giovanni. Other 2022/23 engagements include homecoming performances with Vancouver Opera and City Opera Vancouver, as well as performances with Opera Atelier, Edmonton Opera, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale.
Recently acclaimed performances include Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri (Bregenzer Festspiele)
and Janek in Claus Guth’s new production of The Makropulos Case (Staatsoper Unter den Linden) where he gave “great emotional spectrum” (Vorarlberg Nachrichten) and “[won] the sympathy of the audience” (Die Welt.)
Spencer also appeared in the critically acclaimed Messiah/Complex with Against the Grain Theatre, representing the queer and Asian communities in this all-Canadian take on Handel’s Messiah. The digital production, including Spencer's "joyful Comfort Ye" (New York Times/The Globe & Mail) and "deliciously sly Ev’ry valley" (Opera Going Toronto) was Juno Nominated and won the Noteworthy Category of Opera America's Awards for Digital Excellence. It played online, in theatres, and on radio internationally.
Spencer was recently a finalist in the Edmonton Opera Rumbold Vocal Prize (3rd Prize,) as well as the Opera Crown Tbilisi International Voice Competition. He was also a semi-finalist in the Paris Opera Competition and a final rounds singer at Neue Stimmen. He has been a winner/recipient of The Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation For Young Canadian Opera Singers Grant, The Vancouver Opera Guild Career Development Grant, The Vancouver Opera Chorus Endowment Career Development Grant, The Joseph and Melitta Kandler Scholarship for the Advanced Music Study, and The Barbara Eves-Motomochi Memorial Fund.
OPERA IN A NUTSHELL
OPERA IN A NUTSHELL


Opera in a nutshell | TURANDOT

Opera in a nutshell | CARMEN

Opera in a nutshell | DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN

Rumbold winner sings in Edmonton Opera's Home for the Holidays
A shifting industry is paving the way for audiences and performers to be themselves
Photo: Jacy Eberlein
& Performance
With Michael Lewis at Wear Yellow Proudly
about the experiences Lyndsey Britten and I had growing up as mixed Chinese - Canadian performers in the Performing Arts.

“...a "born Rossini tenor" with flashing coloratura and effortless high notes.”
- (translated from) Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung
"The scene was tasty, and this young man is a born actor. We already know that he will go far"
-(translated from) Ludwig Van Montreal
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Vancouver Opera 2023 - Tim Matheson Photography
[Hermia - Hillary Tufford]

Up Next
Spencer covers the faithful Don Ottavio in Glyndebourne's new production of Don Giovanni. The production opens the festival's 2023 season. Directed by Mariame Clément and conducted by Evan Rogister with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in the pit.

caerus.exe Photography
Performances lost due to COVID-19:
-
Petrarch Sonnets (Liszt) - Concert Cycles
- L'Atelier Lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal -
Snowboy - West Side Story (Bernstein)
- Teatro Lirico di Cagliari (Italian Debut) -
Tamino (Cover) - Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)
- Opéra de Montréal -
Rick - I was looking at the ceiling and then I saw the sky (Adams)
- Cincinnati May Festival (Cincinnati Debut) -
Soloist - Grande Première des Futures Étoiles
- Fondation de la Place des Arts -
Ubaldo - Armida (Haydn)
- Bregenzer Festspiele (Austrian Debut) -
Snowboy (+Baby John Cover) - West Side Story (Bernstein)
- Opera Nacional de Chile (South American Debut) -
Heinrich der Schreiber - Tannhäuser (Wagner)
- Staatsoper Unter den Linden -
First Priest - Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)
- Staatsoper Unter den Linden -
Haushofmeister bei Faninal - Der Rosenkavalier (R.Strauss)
- Staatsoper Unter den Linden -
4th Jude - Salome (R.Strauss)
- Staatsoper Unter den Linden -
Borsa - Rigoletto (Verdi)
- Staatsoper Unter den Linden -
Soloist - Coronation Mass (Mozart)
- Orchestre Symphonique de Québec -
Gastone - La Traviata (Verdi)
- Staatsoper Unter den Linden -
Lindoro - L'Italiana in Algeri (Rossini)
- Bregenzer Festspiele (House and Role Debut) -
Seigen - The Scarlet Princess (Louie)
- The Governor General Performing Arts Award - Canada