Justin Austin, baritone

Photo Credit: Gillian Riesen

Praised in Opera News as “a gentle actor and elegant musician” and The Wall Street Journal  for his “mellifluous baritone,” Justin has been performing professionally since age 4. Born in Stuttgart, Germany to professional opera singer parents, he began his singing career as a boy soprano. Justin has most recently performed with the Metropolitan Opera, debuting as Marcellus in “Hamlet” by Brett Dean, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Lincoln Center Theater, the New York Festival of Song, and Carnegie Hall. He performs a wide range of repertoire from Jazz, R&B, and Musical Theatre, to Opera and Oratorio and collaborated with artists such as Aretha Franklin, The Boys Choir of Harlem, Mary J. Blige, Elton John, Lauryn Hill, The Roots, 30 Seconds to Mars, John Cale, Ricky Ian Gordon, Damien Sneed, Kanye West, and jazz legends Reggie Workman, Hugh Masekela, and Wynton Marsalis. Inspired by the importance of new music and collaboration, Justin has performed and recorded operatic, song, and oratorio world premiers by Wynton Marsalis, Avner Finberg, M. Roger Holland, Jack Perla, Peter Andreacchi, Damien Sneed, Odeline de la Martinez, and Ricky Ian Gordon. He has won awards from The Recording Academy, NAACP, George London Foundation, Opera Ebony, Gerda Lissner Foundation, Manhattan School of Music, NANM, Choir Academy of Harlem, and Laguardia Arts. Justin is a proud graduate of the Choir Academy of Harlem, Laguardia Arts, Heidelberg Lied Akademie, and Manhattan School of Musicholding the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. He is under the tutelage and mentorship of Catherine Malfitano.