Spencer Hamlin has been praised by Opera News for his “scintillatingly smooth” and “dazzling Italianate voice.” In the 2024 season, he appeared with Salt Marsh Opera in multiple roles in The Child and the Spells; with the York Symphony for Mendelssohn’s symphony-cantata Hymn of Praise; returned to Santa Fe Opera to sing the role of the Innkeeper and cover Valzacchi in Der Rosenkavalier; and sang Spoletta in Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera. He was tenor soloist in the Waterbury Chorale’s Mass in C and Choral Fantasy by Beethoven, and in Carmina Burana with the University of Connecticut.
In 2025, Hamlin reprises his role in Tosca and covers the First Jew in Salome, both at the Metropolitan Opera. He returns to Teatro Grattacielo as Pablo in the world premiere of Tin Angel by composer Daniel Asia and librettist Paul Pines, and joins West Edge Opera as the Captain in Wozzeck. He makes role and company debuts with Detroit Opera as Nick in La fanciulla del West and joins Lyric Opera of Kansas City for his first Goro in Madama Butterfly. He also performs Verdi’s iconic Requiem with the York Symphony.
In 2023, Hamlin made his Metropolitan Opera debut singing the Marschallin’s Major-Domo in Der Rosenkavalier. That same season, he debuted at Santa Fe Opera as Spoletta in Tosca; sang Poulenc’s Messa di Gloria with the York Symphony; and performed in Three Tenors! The Next Generation with the Vallejo Festival Orchestra.
In 2022, he sang Mr. Angel in The Impresario with Syracuse Opera, Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Alfredo Germont in La traviata with Opera Theater of Connecticut. He debuted several roles in the New York City Opera premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Garden of the Finzi-Continis; performed Il Cantatore in the verismo masterpiece Giulietta et Romeo with Teatro Grattacielo; returned to Odyssey Opera as Albert in Rachmaninoff’s The Miserly Knight; joined Tulsa Opera as the Second Nazarene in Salome; debuted with Salt Marsh Opera as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi and the Defendant in Trial by Jury; and returned to NYCO for All Is Calm.
In 2021, Hamlin was heard as Monostatos in The Magic Flute and Ruiz in Il trovatore at the Glimmerglass Festival. He sang Don José in a virtual production of Carmen with the Brooklyn College Conservatory and was a soloist in Playhouse on Park’s filmed production of All Is Calm. He was scheduled to perform the Duke of Norfolk in Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra with Odyssey Opera, as well as Max in The Sound of Music and Gunther in Wagner’s Die Feen with the Glimmerglass Festival in 2020, but the productions were canceled due to the pandemic.
Other roles include Chekalinsky in The Queen of Spades, Bégearss in The Ghosts of Versailles, Il principe di Persia in Turandot, Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Detective Thibodeau in the New York premiere of Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Tonio in La fille du régiment, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Judge Danforth in The Crucible, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, the title role in Albert Herring, Henrik in A Little Night Music, and Laurie in Little Women.
Additional concert appearances include Mozart’s Requiem and Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Waterbury Chorale; Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with the York Symphony; Theofanidis’s The Urgency of Love with the New Haven Chorale; and Handel’s Messiah with Symphoria.
Spencer Hamlin received his Master of Music degree from the University of Connecticut.
