Memorial Medal to Nicky Spence
- Awards
- Recording
Nicky Spence is awarded the Leoš Janáček Foundation Memorial for his contribution to the performance of Janáček’s works and for promoting them so creatively on international opera and concert stages.
A brilliant Scottish tenor, Nicky Spence has sung outstandingly in many of Janáček’s timeless roles: Laca Klemeň in Jenůfa at the Royal Opera House in London, directed by Claus Guth and conducted by Henrik Nánási; Tichon Kabanov in Káťa Kabanová at Glyndebourne, where he will debut as Boris in 2025; Albert Gregor in The Makropulos Affair at Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle and Claus Guth’s direction; he also appeared as Albert at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff, with Tomáš Hanus conducting. Directed by Olivia Fuchs, this production was again performed at the 2022 Janáček BrnoFestival. As Joachim of Fiore in The Eternal Gospel, Nicky went on tour with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the conductor Jakub Hrůša. Sir Simon Rattle led the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a concert performance of Jenůfa in which Nicky sung therole of Števa. Nicky’s concert repertoire includes the demanding role of Janíček in the dramatic song cycle The Diary of One Who Disappeared. In 2020 he won two prestigious prizes for the critically-acclaimed recording of the cycle he made with Julius Drake and Václava Krejčí Housková: the BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award and Gramophone’s Solo Vocal Award. Czech audiences had the opportunity to enjoy Nicky’s rendition of his favourite song cycle at the 2022 Janáček Brno festival and also this year at the summer celebration of Janáček’s 170th birthday in his native Hukvaldy.
Nicky opens this year’s Janáček Brno festival with his debut as Mr. Brouček.
Nicky Spence received the award at the Janáček Brno festival before the performance on November 3. Reruns of The excursions of Mr Brouček will be staged in Brno on December 3 and 4, while the second of them will be broadcast through the Opera Vision platform.
Until the end of November it is possible to listen to the online recording of a chamber concert on Czech Radio, where Nicky Spence performs compositions by Janáček’s student Pavel Haas:
The Chosen One HW IV/24, cycle of songs on poems by Jiří Wolker for tenor, flute, violin, french horn and piano
Fata Morgana, HW VI/5, piano quintet with tenor solo
