Hailed by The Daily Telegraph as ‘a voice of real distinction’, Nicky Spence’s unique skills as a singing actor and the rare honesty of his musicianship have earned him a place at the top of the classical music profession. BBC Music Magazine named him ‘Personality of the Year’ in 2022; he was made an OBE in the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours, and in 2024 was the winner of the RPS Singer Award. Nicky took up the position of President of the Independent Society of Musicians for the 2024/25 season.

Recent stage highlights include roles as Siegmund in Wagner’s Die Walküre for the English National Opera, Loge in Das Rheingold at La Monnaie and Erik in Der fliegende Holländer for Grange Park Opera, Albert Gregor in Janáček’s Věc Makropulos for the Deutsche Staatsoper, Edmundo de Nobile in Adès’s The Exterminating Angel for the Opéra national de Paris, and the title role in The Excursions of Mr Brouček to the Moon and to the 15th Century at the Brno Janáček Festival.

Nicky gives recitals internationally, including the recent curation of a residency at Wigmore Hall, and records prolifically. His discography includes Strauss lieder with Roger Vignoles (Hyperion), Brahms’s Liebeslieder-Walzer with Joseph Middleton and Dylan Perez (Resonus Classics), the title role in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito (Alpha), Handel’s Brockes-Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music and Richard Egarr (AAM Records), and works by Britten, Jonathan Dove, Pavel Haas, Alun Hoddinott, Buxton Orr, Schumann, Wagner, Wolf, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Vaughan Williams.

In 2020, he won the BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award and the Gramophone Solo Vocal Award for his critically acclaimed recording of Janáček’s The diary of one who disappeared, and in 2024 he was awarded the Leoš Janáček Memorial Medal at the Janáček Brno Festival for his contribution to the performance and promotion of the composer’s works on the international opera and concert stages.