Spencer Britten

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.

Following a summer covering Don Ottavio at The Glyndebourne Festival,  Spencer will debut at the Hungarian State Opera in L’Italiana in Algeri followed by covering Tonio in La fille du régiment at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and a Messiah with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Orchestre Metropolitain at the Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal.

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.