Toby Spence is a professional and internationally renowned tenor. He was educated at Uppingham School and gained an honours degree in music at New College, Oxford, where he was a choral scholar. He continued his vocal studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied with David Pollard. His big break came soon after completion of his studies on the opera course and he was cast as Idamante in Welsh National Opera’s production of Idomeneo, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras.

Spence was born into a musical family that had once owned Squire Pianos, a piano manufactory in North London. His father was a doctor, and his mother a pianist, who worked as an archivist at the Royal College of Music. As a young mother, she worked as personal assistant to Walter Legge and Yehudi Menuhin. Artists and musicians were regular lunch guests at the family home.