B i o g r a p h y

​    At the young age of 6, Britten's passion for the stage began with dance. He began training at Caulfield School of Dance in Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada. Spencer trained in multiple facets of dance, including Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Partnering, and lifts.

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    Soon after he found his passion for dance, he found his passion for singing. Spencer started culminating his skills as a singer with the Coastal Sound Music Academy. Under the direction of Donna Otto and Carrie Tennant he surrounded himself with music which allowed him to develop a natural ear for classical music. 

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    Spencer's love for opera began while training with soprano  Dr. Gina Oh. It was her love for teaching and music which recognized his potential for classical music. During his senior years of high school, she focused Spencer's skills on preparing for post-secondary music programs, most importantly UBC. 

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   At the University of British Columbia (UBC), Spencer studied under the direction of J.Patrick Raftery, Roelof Oostwoud, and director Nancy Hermiston. In 2015 he graduated with a Bachelor of Music (B.Mus) and with a Masters of Music (M.Mus) in 2017.

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  2018 brought Spencer to his first Young Artist Program at The Glimmerglass Festival. There he took part in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Silent Night, The Cunning Little Vixen, Trouble in Tahiti, and West Side Story. In the production of West Side Story, Julio Monge set the original Jerome Robbins choreography. Spencer was thrilled to have the opportunity to brush up his years of dance training and be a featured dancer in the iconic choreography. He was selected as one of several cast members to continue on with the production to Lyric Opera of Kansas City and The Atlanta Opera.

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  In 2018, Spencer was selected as the winner of both the Vancouver Opera Guild Development Grant and the Vancouver Opera Chorus Endowment Career Development Grant. At the end of the year, he debuted in Montreal with the Choeur Metropolitain as a soloist in Benjamin Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb and Dvořák's Mass in D Major, where he worked with conductors François A. Ouimet, Pierre Tourville, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin of the Metropolitan Opera.

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  In 2019, he was selected a winner of the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation Grant. Spencer returned to The Glimmerglass Festival to perform in Show Boat  and in The Ghosts of Versailles. Spencer was able to utilize his extensive dance training as a featured dancer in Show Boat and accompanied his performance as Léon in The Ghosts of Versailles as the production dance captain. 

   Highlights from Spencer's 2019/20 season include Triquet in Eugene Onegin (Opéra de Montréal,) the Tenor Soloist in Carmina Burana (Les Grands Ballets,) the final rounds at the Neue Stimmen International Voice Competition  in Gütersloh, Germany, and a reprise of his role as Léon at Château de Versailles.

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   During the COVID-19 pandemic, Spencer performed in Against the Grain Theatre's internationally acclaimed Messiah/Complex. Praised for his "joyous" Comfort Ye/Every Valley (The New York Times/The Globe & Mail/Ludwig Van) "his performance was oozing with mirth and personality" (Opera Canada.)

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   From 2020 to 2022 Spencer joined the International Opera studio at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Berlin.) He performed roles in Ariadne auf Naxos, Rigoletto, Die Zauberflöte, Der Rosenkavalier, La bohème, Die Arabische Nacht, and a new production of The Makropulos Case. He also made his debut at the Bregenzer Festspiele  in July 2022 as Lindoro in a new production of L'Italiana in Algeri. The Holiday season of 2021 gave Spencer his debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

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   The 2022/23 season brings Spencer a big home coming to North America. He started the season in the world premiere of Chinatown (City Opera Vancouver) and makes his debut with Opera Atelier in their world renowned production of Dido and Aeneas. Spencer portrays Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream with Vancouver Opera, a company he started his operatic experience with in the children's chorus. In Germany, he had the pleasure of jumping in as Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia) with Staatstheater Meiningen.

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   Spencer also makes some notable concert debuts. throughout North America. Messiah (Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières,) Home for the Holidays (Edmonton Opera,) Georg Muffat's Missa in labore requies (Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Choral,) and the Mozart Requiem (Virginia Symphony Orchestra.)

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  Summer 2023 brought Spencer to The Glyndebourne Festival covering the role of Don Ottavio in Mariame Clément's new production of Don Giovanni. 

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    For the 2023/24 season, Spencer begins with a house debut at the Hungarian State Opera in L'Italiana in Algeri, followed by covering Lawrence Brownlee as Tonio in the famous Laurent Pelly production of La fille du régiment at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Spencer also sings The Messiah with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre Metropolitain as well as Rachmaninoff's The Bells with Helena Symphony.

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