In operas and concerts, Thomas Michael Allen has
acquired a reputation because of his exceptional voice
and the vivid presentation of a whole series of roles for
lyrical tenor. His repertoire extends from Monteverdi’s
operas and haute-contre roles of the French Baroque
to main roles in Mozart’s operas and more recent
works by composers such as Hans Werner Henze and
Philip Glass.
Thomas Michael Allen was born in Chicago, where he
began his studies of music initially as a pianist. After
completing his studies in English Literature at Davidson
College, he obtained an M.A. in Singing from the
Manhattan School of Music in New York.
Allen has worked with conductors such as William
Christie, René Jacobs, Mark Minkowski, Thomas
Hengelbrock, Simone Young, Julia Jones, Gary Bertini,
Helmuth Rilling and Kurt Masur and has also appeared
with the following orchestras: Chicago Symphony,
New York Philharmonic, Les Musiciens du Louvre, the
Academy of Ancient Music, the Academy of Old Music
in Berlin or the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. His
concert repertoire is wide-ranging, and he is also considered
one of the most popular evangelists for performances
of Bach’s passions.
A regular guest at top-ranking houses like the Théâtre
des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Zurich Opera, the
State Opera in Berlin, La Monnaie in Brussels, the
Grand Théâtre in Geneva, the Lyon Opera, the Opéra de
Monte-Carlo, the De Nederlandse Opera and the
Stuttgart Opera, Thomas Michael Allen has sung in
productions by such renowned producers as Robert
Carsen, David McVicar, Laurent Pelly, Nigel Lowery,
Dieter Dorn, Pierre Audi, Graham Vick and Barrie
Kosky.
The highlights of past seasons have included the roles
of Calisis in Les Boréades (Lyon and Zurich), Athamas in
Semele (Zurich and Beijing), the demon in Hans Werner
Henze’s L’Upupa (Lyon, Tokyo and Dresden), the painter
in Berg’s Lulu (Athens), Arnalta/Mercurio in
Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Paris, Berlin
State Opera, Brussels), Belmonte in Mozart’s Die
Entführung aus dem Serail (Göttingen), Almaviva in the
Barber of Seville (Berlin, Comic Opera), Purcell’s The Fairy
Queen (Rennes), Oronte in Handel’s Alcina (Handel
Festival in Halle), Manto in Les Paladins (Düsseldorf),
Mercure/Thespis in Platée (Düsseldorf), Peter Quint in
The Turn of the Screw (Rouen) as well as le Roi in
Monsigny’s Le Roi et le Fermier (Washington, D.C., New
York and Versailles).
Thomas Michael Allen can be seen on a Decca DVD of
Handel’s opera Semele together with Cecilia Bartoli in a
production of Zurich Opera under the musical direction
of William Christie. His depiction of Dante in the world
premiere of Jacob ter Veldhuis’ Paradiso (DVD) was
described by Grammophon as ‘stunning’. In addition,
Allen can be heard on numerous CD recordings – most
recently in the title role in the very first recording of
Josef Myslivecek’s Medonte (Harmonia Mundi) and as
Bacco in J. S. Mayr’s Arianna in Nasso (Naxos).
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Charles Spencer is one of the most sought-after
piano accompanists worldwide who regularly collaborates
with many of the world’s most renowned singers
such as Bernarda Fink, Elina Garanca, Gundula
Janowitz, Vesselina Kasarova, Marjana Lipovšek,
Jessye Norman, Deborah Polaski, Thomas Quasthoff,
Ildikó Raimondi, Peter Schreier, Andreas Schmidt,
Petra-Maria Schnitzer, Peter Seiffert, Deon van der
Walt and Iris Vermillion. He was the preferred
accompanist with whom Christa Ludwig collaborated
for a period of more than twelve years.
Charles Spencer has appeared on numerous CD recordings
with Thomas Quasthoff (Winterreise on BMG, among
other recordings), Gundula Janowitz, Marjana
Lipovšek, Deborah Polaski, Doris Soffel, Michael
Volle as well as with Maria Venuti. His recordings
with Cecilia Bartoli and Christa Ludwig ("Farewell to
Salzburg" and "Tribute to Vienna", respectively, the
latter from the Vienna Musikverein) were received
enthusiastically by the international press and further
bestowed with numerous international prizes and
honours. Concerts with these and other artists took
place in some of the most important international
venues. In addition to his active international schedule
of masterclasses, Charles Spencer was appointed
Professor of Lied Interpretation at the Universität
für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Wien in 1999, and
in the same year became Fellow of the Royal
Academy of Music, London.
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