Julian Close began his career reading for PhD in Applied Physics at the University of Leeds, before studying at the Royal Northern College of Music.
He has since appeared with major companies throughout the UK including The Royal Opera, London, English National Opera, Garsington Opera at Wormsley, Longborough Festival Opera (in roles including Don Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia and Fafner Der Ring des Nibelungen), Opera North, Saffron Opera Group (as Fasolt Das Rheingold, Hunding Die Walküre and Hagen Götterdämmerung) and Scottish Opera; as well as at the Buxton Festival; and at major concert venues such as the Barbican Centre, The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, and the Royal Albert Hall. With the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, he sang Lodovico Otello.
He has enjoyed a long association with Welsh National Opera, where his engagements have included The Athlete Lulu, Osmin Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Dosifei Khovanschina, The Bonze Madama Butterfly, Angelotti Tosca and Truffaldino Ariadne auf Naxos.
In North America, he has established a long relationship with the Metropolitan Opera, New York, joining them for their productions of Fidelio, Prince Igor, Lulu (as Theatre Manager / Banker), Pelléas et Mélisande, Der Rosenkavalier, Otello, Rigoletto, Das Rheingold, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung and Tristan und Isolde. At the Dutch National Opera, he sang Theatre Manager / Banker Lulu, and he made his debut at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires as Baron Ochs Der Rosenkavalier.
His North American engagements have further included Ramfis Aïda for Pacific Symphony, Fafner Das Rheingold for Minnesota Opera and Fasolt Das Rheingold for both Opéra de Montréal and Washington National Opera.
Concert engagements have included The Sky Engine, a new community oratorio by Richard Peat and Timothy Knapman at JAM on the Marsh, Stravinsky’s Les Noces with Michael Clark Dance Company at London’s Barbican Centre and New York City’s Lincoln Center and Verdi’s Requiem at Marlborough College.
Recent and current engagements include Indra Le Roi de Lahore for Dorset Opera Festival, Commendatore Don Giovanni for Saffron Opera Group, Talpa Il tabarro and Simone Gianni Schicchi for Scottish Opera, Don Basilio The Barber of Seville for Bradford Opera Festival, First Soldier Salome for Irish National Opera and a return to The Metropolitan Opera, New York, as Sparafucile Rigoletto.
Current engagements include Sparafucile Rigoletto for both Dorset Opera Festival and Irish National Opera. In concert, he sings Dvorak’s Stabat Mater at the St Endellion Festival.
Looking ahead, he will return to Irish National Opera as Mika The Bartered Bride and make his debut at Grange Park Opera in 2026 singing Don Basilio Il barbiere di Sivilgia and Grand Inquisitor Don Carlo.
For Longborough Festival Opera, Julian Close has most recently sung Hunding Die Walküre and Hagen Götterdämmerung in last Summer’s complete cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen.