English Biography

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Florian Just small
© Jeroen C. van Zijp

Praised for his text clarity, expressivity and sound culture (Komische Oper Berlin), his warm, versatile and elegant baritone (CD Éternelle Dualité), shining timbre and vocal plasticity (Teatro Colon/Buenos Aires), Amsterdam based baritone Florian Just enjoys a varied international career on the opera and concert stage, as well as in the oratorio and chamber music world.

He began his vocal training as a member of the Dresdner Kreuzchor, where he already sang as boy soprano soloist in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Semperoper Dresden and the Staatsoper Berlin. He studied at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and the Conservatoire de Metz  with Udo Reinemann.

Florian Just is a much sought-after soloist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (Staatskapelle Dresden, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra), the St Matthew and St John Passion (Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Gelders Orkest, Noord Nederlands Orkest), Mahler’s orchestral songs (De Philharmonie, Ebony Ensemble, Orkestvereniging Musica ) and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.

His operatic repertoire includes Pelléas from Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (Nationale Reisopera – RAP/MuziektheaterTransparant), Dulcamara from Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and Enrico from Haydn’s L’isola disabitata (Grachten Festival).

Since almost 2 decades he has been a regular guest at Holland Opera.
Beside the title roles from C. Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, he sang with them in numerous  new opera productions for young audiences with hundreds of performances all over the Netherlands.

He also works with great passion in the field of contemporary music theater. He performed in Lucia Ronchetti’s new opera Der Sonne entgegen (Opernhaus Gelsenkirchen), sang Xenakis’ Oresteïa and Il Servo in Sciarrinos Luci mie traditrici (Teatro San Martin in Buenos Aires and Teatro Argentino in La Plata) and sang the leading role in the world premiere by Morton Subotnik’s Jacobs Room at the Bregenzer Festspiele, Berlin, Vienna and Dresden. He made a great impression with Xenakis’ Aïs at the Teatro Colon / Buenos Aires (Philharmonic Orchestra Buenos Aires) and during the Saturday matinee of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam in Berg’s Wozzeck (Handwerksbursche) and Strauss’ Elektra (Pfleger des Orest).

In 2022 he sang the role of Micha in the Dutch-language version of Smetana’s Prodaná Nevèsta at the Nederlandse Reisopera. In 2023 he was on tour with Holland Opera’s Girl with a matchstick, sang the role of Petja in Tjechovs Cherry Orchard (Holland Opera) and sang the role of Jean Charles in Henze’s Das Floß der Medusa at the Komische Oper Berlin.

He has worked with conductors such as Jos van Veldhoven, Markus Stenz, Ed Spanjaard, Reinbert de Leeuw, Peter Dijkstra, Klaas Stok, Vaclav Lúks, Arturo Tamayo, Alejo Peres, Tito Ceccherini and Titus Engel.

In 2016, his debut CD ‘Monologe‘, which was praised by the international press, was released in collaboration with pianist Jan-Paul Grijpink. In October  2022, his international praised 2nd CD Éternelle Dualité ~ Songs of Love and War with French songs for voice, piano, flute and cello was released at the same lable. Canadian critic site Textura added this CD to the Top-20 of best vocal recordings of 2022.

Florian Just won several prizes at international competitions. Such as the press prize and the Vriendenkrans of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Schubert Prize of the international competition “Schubert und die Musik der Moderne” in Graz, Austria.