Justin Austin

Praised in Opera News for his “vocally impressive, verbally elegant, and duly seductive baritone” and the New York Times for his “deep and earthy tone, with a firmly stitched timbre”, Drama Desk Award nominated baritone Justin Austin has been performing professionally since age 4, having begun his singing career as a boy soprano performing at venues such as Teatro Real, Bregenzer Festspiele, Lincoln Center, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
 
A winner of the prestigious Marian Anderson Award, Mr Austin has appeared with Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Bayerische Staatsoper, Los Angeles Opera, The Metropolitan Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Lincoln Center Theater, Carnegie Hall, and the Elbphilharmonie amongst many others. Justin is a proud graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, having earned his Bachelor & Master of Music Degrees there.
 
Last season, Justin starred as Young Emile in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s premiere of Terence Blanchard’s “Champion” to great critical acclaim. He returned to the Metropolitan Opera, opening their season as the Motorcycle Cop in the company’s premiere of Jake Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking” in a new production directed by Ivo van Hove and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, as well as Washington National Opera making his role debut as Mercutio in “Roméo et Juliette”. He additionally sang the title role in “The Barber of Seville” at Opera Theatre of St. Louis and performed in the New York premiere of Damien Geter’s song cycle “COTTON” alongside Denyce Graves. In concert, he gave the Marian Anderson Vocal Award Recital at the Kennedy Center as the 2024 recipient and gave concerts with Houston Grand Opera, Strathmore and Washington Performing Arts, the Kimmel Center, and Des Moines Metro Opera, recitals with pianist Howard Watkins at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Longy School of Music with the Celebrity Series of Boston, Gore Recital Hall (at the University of Delaware on Delaware’s Master Player’s Concert Series), and Atlanta’s Spivey Hall (Clayton State University).
 
 
Photo Credit: Photograph usage retained by artist