In the 2023/2024 season, the Austrian bass Florian Spiess made his debut as Ochs von Lerchenau in “Der Rosenkavalier” at Bremerhaven City Theatre. Recent engagements have taken him to the Leipzig Opera as Harald and Gernot in “Die Feen”, as Selva in “La Muette de Portici” at the Staatstheater Kassel and as Falstaff in “The Merry Wives of Windsor” in Switzerland.
Previously he made his debut at Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2019 as Kaspar in “Wolfsschlucht,” a musical theater piece by Malte Giesen based on motifs from Carl Maria von Weber’s “The Marksman” and sang Figaro in “Le nozze di Figaro” at the Staatsoperette Dresden as well as two new productions (“The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “The Rake’s Progress”) at the Staatstheater Kassel. He also embodied Marco in Giordano’s “Mala vita” at Theater Giessen and the Mother in “The Seven Deadly Sins” by Weill and Brecht at the Stuttgart State Opera.
Between 2015 and 2017 he made guest appearances in the children’s opera of the Hamburg State Opera as Robert, the master chimney sweep in Britten’s “The Little Sweep”, as Basilio (“Il barbiere di Siviglia”) under Markus Bosch in Heidenheim, as Timur (“Turandot”) at the Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck and as Bellona and Don Alvaro in “Les Indes Galantes” by J. Ph. Rameau at the Staatstheater Nuremberg, as Lord Syndham in “Zar und Zimmermann” in Rostock.
From 2013-15 he was part of the ensemble of the Hamburg State Opera, where he sang roles such as Raymondo in Handel’s “Almira,” Zuniga in “Carmen,” Priest/Badger in “The Cunning Little Vixen,” and Speaker/Second Guardsman in “The Magic Flute.” Biterolf in “Tannhäuser” and Colline in “La Bohème”.
With “Almira” Florian Spiess was also heard in summer 2014 under Alessandro De Marchi at the “Festwochen für Alte Musik Innsbruck”. In 2015 he sang the part of Sarastro in “The Magic Flute” in Würzburg and Bad Lauchstädt with the Lautten Compagney, among others, and returned to Heidenheim as Banquo (“Macbeth”).
The 2012/13 season took Florian Spiess to the Volkstheater Rostock with a permanent contract. There the artist was particularly convincing as Sarastro in “The Magic Flute”, as Doctor Bartolo in Rossini’s “Il barbiere di Siviglia”, as Zaccaria in Verdi’s “Nabucco”, as well as in the bass part of the Verdi Requiem.
In 2010-2012 he was a member of the ensemble of the Volksoper Wien, where he performed in operas such as “The Magic Flute”, “Tosca” and “Turandot” or “Rigoletto”. As a member of the Linz Landestheater in 2009/10, Florian Spiess sang Silvano (Cavalli: “La Calisto”), Figaro, Crespel, Hermann and Schlemihl in “The Tales of Hoffmann”, and Jupiter in “Platée”, among others.
Between 2006-2008, the bassist was invited, among others, by KS Brigitte Fassbaender to the Tiroler Landestheater, as Osmin in Mozart’s “The Abduction from the Seraglio” to the Heidenheim Opera Festival, and by Eva Wagner-Pasquier to participate in the Académie des Festivals of Aix-en-Provence.
He completed his studies with Karlheinz Hanser and Robert Holl at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In 2005 he was also a scholarship holder of the German-Austrian Richard Wagner Foundation.
Florian Spiess gained his first musical experience in the choir of the Wilten Boys’ Choir before becoming a soprano soloist with the Vienna Boys’ Choir from 1990-1994.
09/2024
