Praised as “a gentle actor and elegant musician” (Opera News) and a “mellifluous baritone” (The Wall Street Journal), Justin Austin has been performing professionally since the age of four. Born in Stuttgart, Germany, to professional opera singers, Mr. Austin began his singing career as a boy soprano, performing at venues such as the Teatro Real, Bregenzer Festspiele, Lincoln Center, and Kennedy Center.

As this year’s Marian Anderson Vocal Award winner, Mr. Austin returned to open the Metropolitan Opera season in the company’s premiere of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking directed by Ivo van Hove and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. His season has also included returns to the Washington National Opera in Roméo et Juliette and Lyric Opera of Chicago in the company’s premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Champion. He sings the title role in The Barber of Seville at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis before performing in Damien Geter and Lila Palmer’s American Apollo at Des Moines Metro Opera. Mr. Austin tours with pianist Howard Watkins, giving recitals at the Longy School of Music with Celebrity Series of Boston, University of Delaware with the Master Players Concert Series, and Atlanta’s Spivey Hall. He reprises Mr. Geter’s song cycle Cotton at 92NY, having premiered it alongside Denyce Graves last season at Philadelphia’s Lyric Fest and Washington Performing Arts at the Kennedy Center.

Last season, Mr. Austin returned to the Met in Peter Grimes before singing Carl Nielsen’s Third Symphony with The Cleveland Orchestra and Alan Gilbert. With music director Damien Sneed, he sang in a concert tour of Our Song, Our Story, a tribute recital to African American operatic pioneers Jessye Norman and Marian Anderson with performances in Tucson,
St. Louis, Akron, Aspen, and Washington, DC. He also premiered Mr. Sneed’s new edition of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha to critical acclaim at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

As a multifaceted musician, Mr. Austin performs a wide range of repertoire, from jazz, R&B, and musical theater to opera and oratorio. Along with his many collaborations on the concert and opera stages, he has performed with multiple groups and artists such as Aretha Franklin, the Boys Choir of Harlem, Mary J. Blige, Elton John, Lauryn Hill, The Roots, Thirty Seconds to Mars, John Cale, Ricky Ian Gordon, Ye (Kanye West), Reggie Workman, Hugh Masekela, and Wynton Marsalis.

Mr. Austin strongly believes in using his art to benefit music programs, new music projects, and community services around the world, working with organizations such as MEND (Meeting Emergency Needs with Dignity), QSAC (Quality Services for the Autism Community), Holt International, and St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children, and giving world premieres of works by Mr. Marsalis, Avner Finberg, M. Roger Holland II, Jack Perla, Peter Andreacchi, Odaline de la Martinez, and Mr. Gordon.

American pianist Howard Watkins is a frequent associate of some of the world’s leading musicians on the concert stage and as an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. His appearances throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East have included collaborations with Renée Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, Lawrence Brownlee, Diana Damrau, Thomas Hampson, Kathleen Battle, Grace Bumbry, Mariusz Kwiecień, Anna Netrebko, and Matthew Polenzani at such venues as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Spivey Hall, Kennedy Center, Supreme Court of the United States, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and Bolshoi Theater. He has accompanied master classes of legendary artists Renata Scotto, Frederica von Stade, Régine Crespin, Birgit Nilsson, Sherrill Milnes, and George Shirley.

His current and former faculty affiliations include The Juilliard School, Bard College Conservatory of Music, Merola Opera Program, Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program, Yale School of Music (as a Visiting Presidential Fellow), Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival and School, Mannes School of Music, North Carolina School of the Arts, International Vocal Arts Institute (in Israel, Japan, and China), Brancaleoni International Music Festival, Tokyo International Vocal Arts Academy (as a founding member), and VOICExperience (in Orlando, Tampa, and Savannah). A former guest master coach for the Cafritz Young Artists of Washington Opera and the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Mr. Watkins has worked on the staff of the Palm Beach Opera, Washington National Opera, and Los Angeles Opera.

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Mr. Watkins completed his doctor of musical arts degree at the University of Michigan. Honored as the recipient of both the Paul C. Boylan Award from the University of Michigan for his outstanding contributions to the field of music and a Special Achievement Award from the National Alumni Association of the University of Dayton, he is also the 2019 recipient of the Lift Every Voice Legacy Award from the National Opera Association. He was recently recognized as one the 2022 Top Professionals of the Year by Musical America in part for his work to celebrate the music of Black composers and singers.