The young Austrian bass Florian Spiess gained his first musical experience in the boys choir of Wilten, before he became a soprano soloist with the Vienna Boys' Choir from 1990-1994. He had his first engagements a the Tirolean Landestheater in Innsbruck while he went still to school (Friedrich in "Sound of Music").

 

When he first started studying, he continued to participate in various productions (among others as Sky Masterson in F. Loessers' "Guys and Dolls", as Leporello in "Don Giovanni" and as Cinderella's Prince and Wolf in Steven Sondheims "Into the Woods") Also during that time he had various engagements at the Tiroler Landestheater (for example as Flemish deputy in Verdi's "Don Carlo").

After a mastercourse with Robert Holl, Florian Spiess continued his studies at the Vienna Music Unviersity with Karlheinz Hanser in 2005. During that year, he also had a scholarship from the German-Austrian Richard Wagner Foundation.

 

In 2006 and 2007 Florian Spiess was engaged by Brigitte Fassbaender in Innsbruck as 1st Soldier in Richard Strauss' "Salome", as Martino in Rossini's "L'occasione fa il ladro" in the summer festival of Schärding (Austria), as Osmin in Mozarts "Abduction from the Seraglio" in the opera festival of Heidenheim (Germany). Also in 2007, Eva Wagner-Pasquier chose Florian for the Académie des Festivals von Aix-en-Provence, and he sang as a soloist in the framework of the Innsbruck Festival for Early Music" in the project "Dresden Surround" under the baton of Konrad Junghänel. In the Brockes-Passion under René Jacobs he sang Kaiphas and the Kriegsknecht and also participated in the ensemble of Telemann's "Patient Socrates" which was also performed in the State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin.

 

In 2008 he sang the role of Bonzo in the Indian First performance of "Madama Butterfly" under Johannes Wildner's baton in Mumbai, as well as the role of Osmin ("Abduction from the Seraglio") in the "Chamber Opera Schloss Rheinsberg" under Ingo Ingensand.

After a guest engagement at the Landestheater Linz as Silvano in Cavallis "La Calisto" and Figaro in "Le Nozze di Figaro", he has been a member of the Ensembles of the Landestheater Linz since September 2009 where he sings roles like Figaro, Crespel, Hermann in "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" and Jupiter in "Platée". 

 

Since September 2010, he is a member of the Volksoper Wien where you get to see him in operas like "The magic flute", "Tosca", "Turandot" and „Rigoletto“.