Jan K ristof SchliepFoto: Hanneke van Harrevelt

Charakter- & jugendlicher Heldentenor

Jan Kristof Schliep grew up in Bremerhaven and Hanover, Germany. He studied Opera at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media under Prof. G. Faulstich. While still a student, he had contracts as a guest soloist at the Theater Lübeck in "Nos" and "La Belle Hélène" as well as at the Stadttheater Hildesheim in "Gräfin Mariza" and Henze's "Der junge Lord" as Prof. v. Mucker.

After his opera studies, Jan Kristof Schliep has been employed at the TfN · Theater für Niedersachsen in Hildesheim for ten years . Initially he primarily played roles as a Tenor buffo or Spieltenor, but he quickly proved himself as a character tenor. His range of roles – played in over 40 productions in total in Hildesheim – includes Monostatos, Knusperhexe, Bob Boles (Britten: "Peter Grimes") and David (Wagner: "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg").

Roles in lesser known and seldomly played works such as Ullman's "Der zerbrochene Krug" (Court Clerc Licht), Busoni's "Doktor Faust" (Beeltzebuth/1^st Wittenberg student) or Orff's "Der Mond" (Storyteller) and the role of Traumfresserchen in W. Hiller's opera of the same name can be found in his repertoire as well. Jan Kristof Schliep is the recipient of the ‘Friends of the Theater for Lower Saxony’ artist award for »outstanding artistic achievements«. He has been repeatedly praised for his clear text articulation and his »continuous stage presence«.

Currently, as a freelance singer, he increasingly focuses on roles as a character and lyric heroic tenor (Charakter- and Jugendlicher Heldentenor). In his pursuit of further specialization, he is being coached by opera coach Axel Heil for several years.

In 2024/25 he will sing the role of Altoum in Puccini's “Turandot” at the Stadttheater Bremerhaven – the very theater where he visited his first concerts and operas as a child.

From 2021 to 2023, he sang Monostatos/1^st Armoured Man as well as Circusdirektor and Wenzel in Smetana's “The Bartered Bride" at the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landestheater, Germany. In 2022/23 he performed the role of Walter in Weinberg's "The Passenger", Lothar in Kreislers “Du sollst nicht lieben” und 2023/24 Eisenstein in “Die wahre Fledermaus” (after “The Bat” by J. Strauss) at Theater Altenburg Gera.

In 2019 Jan Kristof Schliep sang Tamino in the world premiere of the Dutch translation of "Die Zauberflöte" by Jan Rot at Steengroeve Theater Winterswijk and several roles in the contemporary Dutch opera “St. Louis Blues” by Chiel Meijering with the 'Orkest de Ereprijs', one of the most renowned ensembles for contemporary music in the Netherlands.

Jan Kristof Schliep has worked with directors such as Wolfgang Gropper, Urs Häberli, Roman Hofenbitzer, Sigrid T’Hooft, Frank v. Laecke, Prof. Hans-Peter Lehmann, Hendrik Müller, Jakob Peters-Messer, Anthony Pilavachi, Johannes Reitmeier, Uwe Schwarz and Volker Vogel.

He participated in master classes with the tenor Prof. Arnold Bezuyen (Graz) and Jendrik Springer (Vienna State Opera) and regularly works together with répétiteur Maxim Böckelmann (Hannover State Opera). He is member of the artists' association “ensemble artists e. V” and lives in Nieuwegein (Utrecht/The Netherlands).

You can find a formulated curriculum vitae (DE / EN / NL) for programs or websites here: CV Jan Kristof Schliep
A curriculum vitae with repertoire list as pdf-file for download can be found here: CV and Repertoire Opera