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The English tenor, Allan Clayton, was a chorister at Worcester Cathedral before going up to St John’s College, Cambridge on a choral scholarship and then postgraduate studies on the opera course at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was awarded “The Queen’s Commendation for Excellence”, the inaugural Sir Elton John Scholarship and the John Lewis Award. Allan Clayton was a member of the BBC New Generation Artists scheme between 2007-2009. He received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship (2008-2011) and the John Christie Award after his highly successful debut in the title role of Albert Herring the same year at Glyndebourne Festival. In 2009 he was also nominated for both the RPS Young Artist award and the South Bank Show Breakthrough Award.
Allan Clayton made his debut at the Komische Oper, Berlin in 2014 with Castor in Castor et Pollux (May-July 2014) and Tamino in W.A. Mozart's Die Zäuberflöte (February-May 2013; September 2014-June 2015), and his debut at the Teatro Real, Madrid in George Frideric Handel's Alcina (October-November 2015). For English National Opera he has sung Cassio in Otello (September-October 2014), Castor in Castor et Pollux and Lysander in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His other roles include Male Chorus in B. Britten's The Rape of Lucretia for Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Glyndebourne on Tour (July-August 2015); and Ferrando in W.A. Mozart's Cosi fan tutte for Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He was an integral part of George Benjamin’s award-winning opera Written on Skin at the Netherlands Opera (October 2012), the Theatre du Capitole Toulouse (November 2012), the Royal Opera House (March 2013), Wiener Festwochen (June 2013), and the Bayerische Staatsoper (July 2013), following on from the world premiere of the work at the 2012 Festival de Aix-en-Provence. At the end of 2016 he took part in the world premiere of Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground in Los Angeles (November 2016) and then the European premiere at the Barbican Centre in London with Britten Sinfonia, conducted by Thomas Ades.
Allan Clayton also has a busy and varied concert career, with appearances that include Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius at the Barbican Centre in London with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder, B. Britten's War Requiem with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Semyon Bychkov, Bruckner's Te Deum with the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln and Markus Stenz, G.F. Handel's Messiah for the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston (November 2014), and B. Britten's Spring Symphony with both the Philharmonia Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Edward Gardner. He appears regularly at the BBC Proms, where he has sung the title role in Igor Stravinsky's Oedpius Rex with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo and also performed in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Pastoral Symphony with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He has sung E. Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius in Salzburg, J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) in London with The Bach Choir, and L.v. Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the Hallé Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra, both with Sir Mark Elder.
Allan Clayton has given lieder recitals at the Cheltenham, Perth and Aldeburgh Festivals, and London's Wigmore Hall. He joined forces with Paul Lewis in 2015 to perform Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin at the Howard Assembly Room in Leeds and the Wigmore Hall in London. Allan returns to the Wigmore Hall in July 2017 for a recital of Shakespeare Songs with Sophie Bevan, accompanied by Chris Glynn.
Allan Clayton takes the lead role in Brett Dean’s Hamlet, which will have its world premiere at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2017 as part of the nationwide celebrations of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death (June-July 2017). Allan recently sang the role of David in Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (March 2017), while further appearances during 2017 will include Opera Comique and Frankfurt Opera. |
