Allan Clayton is a graduate of St John's College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Operatic highlights include George Benjamin's award-winning opera Written on Skin at the Netherlands Opera, Theatre du Capitole Toulouse, Royal Opera House, Wiener Festwochen and Bayerische Staatsoper, following its world premiere at the 2012 Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. He has also performed Ferrando in Così fan tutte for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and New York City Opera; Castor in Castor et Pollux and Tamino in Die Zäuberflöte (Komische Oper, Berlin); Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream (English National Opera); Bénédict in Béatrice et Bénédict (Opéra Comique, Paris); whilst for Glyndebourne Festival he has performed the title role in Britten's Albert Herring and Ferrando and the Male Chorus in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia.

Clayton also has a busy and varied concert career, with appearances that include Britten's War Requiem with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Semyon Bychkov, Bruckner's Te Deum with the Gürzenich Orchestra and Markus Stenz, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the Hallé and Sir Mark Elder, Britten's Spring Symphony with the Philharmonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Ed Gardner, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

As a recitalist, Clayton performs regularly at London’s Wigmore Hall and across Europe, most notably with James Baillieu, Julius Drake, Paul Lewis and Malcolm Martineau. A former BBC New Generation Artist, his awards include the John Christie Award and the Queen's Commendation for Excellence.

His recordings include Handel's Messiah with AAM and Stephen Cleobury on EMI; Otello with the LSO and Sir Colin Davis for LSO Live; Britten's St Nicolas with City of London Sinfonia and Stephen Layton on Hyperion; and Insomnia with Aurora Orchestra and Nicholas Collon on Warner Classics.