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Russell Braun reprises his winning Mercutio at Milan's famed La Scala
"The best of them was Russell Braun, vocally and dramatically, an excellent Mercutio." (Der Neue Merker, June 2011)
"Also excellent, Russell Braun's Mercutio." (Corriere della Sera, June 2011)
Catch Russell's "stand-out" performance of Chou En-lai
in Nixon in China Wednesday, June 1 at 9:00 p.m. ET on PBS
(check
local listings)
Watch the full episode. See more Great Performances.
Russell on CBC's Wachtel On The Arts
Russell spoke with Eleanor Wachtel about his role
debut as Olivier in Capriccio at the Met. The production
also stars Renee Fleming with whom Eleanor also speaks.
Click here for the interview
Back at the Met, Russell made his role debut as Olivier in Strauss's Capriccio
"The baritone Russell Braun was appealing as Olivier, the poet who is outraged when, in a rush of inspiration, Flamand sets Olivier's sonnet to music and sings it for the Countess at the harpsichord." (New York Times, 29 March 2011)
"...baritone Russell Braun sings handsomely as Flamand's more urbane rival Olivier." (Classical Review, 29 March 2011)
Don't
miss Russell's acclaimed performance of Chou En-lai Live
in HD from the Met when John Adams’s Nixon in China
is broadcast in movie theatres across the globe this Saturday, February
12, 2011 at 1:00 pm ET
A triumphant debut as Chou En-lai in the Met's Nixon in China
"The most outstanding performance was that of Russell Braun's Chou En-lai, his luminous baritone inflecting the figure of the Chinese premier with humanity and flashes of moral self-awareness. Braun has a way of digging for the emotional core of every phrase he sings, as well as the flexibility to move fluidly between different expressive registers." (Classical Review, 4 February 2011)
"Russell Braun as Chou turned in the best vocal performance of the evening. He sang with a rich, resonant baritone, beautiful phrasing and exemplary diction.... Just after (his) brilliant and poignant soliloquy... the audience broke into prolonged and enthusiastic applause." (ConcertoNet, 2 February 2011)
"Russell Braun's Chou En-lai was a tortured, pensive man, dying of pancreatic cancer yet honored to be a part of such a historical moment; Braun's is a deliciously rich and burnished baritone that I'd love to hear much more of." (Kansas City Independent, 14 February 2011)
"Another stand-out was Russell Braun's performance as Chou En Lai, to which he brought nuanced and expressive singing....his final rumination ("How much of what we did was good?) was extremely effective and the capacity Met audience held its breath momentarily before delivering a thundering ovation." (GBOpera, 10 February 2011)
"Russell Braun exuded mysterious dignity as Chou En-lai." (Financial Times, 4 February 2011)
"Russell Braun showed a deepening, firm sound as Chou En-Lai." (Washington Post, 4 February 2011)
"When [Adams] gives us lyrical flights, he does it beautifully, as in pensive thoughts of Chou En-lai - here the fine, sonorous, dignified baritone Russell Braun - during the opera's deeply affecting final moments." (New York Times, 3 February 2011)
Full Review "Best of all the men was baritone Russell Braun as a soulful Premier Chou En-lai. He gets the opera's final words in a solo that asks, "How much of what we did was good?" (Associated Press, 3 February 2011)
"As Chou En-lai, who sings the final line about where in the balance their decisions will hang, among other cool-headed proclamations, Russell Braun was a strong grounding presence with a smooth baritone." (New Jersey Star-Ledger, 6 February 2011)
"Of equal stature was Russell Braun, his baritone revealing warmth in the reserved Chou En-lai." (New York Post, 4 February 2011)
"Russell Braun fully conveys the dark secrets and unspoken yearnings of the grave Chou." (Backstage, 4 February 2011)
"Braun's ailing Chou En-lai is especially stentorian and sweet by turns." (Theater Mania, 5 February 2011)
"Russell Braun also did nicely (despite having his arm in a sling), giving a plaintive tone to the gentle finale "I Am Old And Cannot Sleep." (Huffington Post, 3 February 2011)
Russell returns to the COC in two extraordinary roles.
He opens the 2011-2012 season as Oreste in
Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride. Russell first performed this
role, also with Susan Graham in the title role, at the Paris Opera
in June 2006. Critics acclaimed him as 'profound and spectacular'
(Libération), with the 'courage and vocal assurance of an Oreste'
(Les Echoes). Performance September 22 to October 15. Later in the
season Russell returns to the COC in his debut role as Jaufré
Rudel in Saariaho's L'amour de loin. Performances run
from February 2 - 22, 2012. For more information: www.coc.ca.
Catch a Sneak-Peak into Russell's Upcoming Role Debut as the Chinese premier Chou En-lai in the Metropolitan Opera's Nixon in China
On January 19 at 7pm, Classical 105.9 WQXR will host a special preview of the Met’s Nixon in China, live from The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space. In addition to a discussion with with John Adams and director Peter Sellars about the iconic opera, Russell will be joined by James Maddalena (Nixon) and Kathleen Kim (Madame Mao) for performances of some of their key arias.
Those not in NY can listen live on the WQXR website!
Russell takes the Big Apple by Storm!
The first few months of 2011 see Russell make two major role debuts at the Metropolitan Opera! On February 2nd, 2011, Russell makes his role debut as Chou En-lai in John Adams's Nixon in China and on March 28th, Russell opens as Olivier in Strauss's Capriccio, the April 23rd performance of which will be broadcast internationally as part of the Met's Live on HD series.
BBC radio 3 will be broadcasting Manon on Saturday July 10th
Catch the final preformance of Russell's role debut as Lescaut in Massenet's Manon when it will be braodcast live from The Royal Opera House Covent Garden by BBC Radio 3.
"Alone of the principals, Russell Braun (Lescaut) has Massenet's idiom at his fingertips in a very likeable performance" (Opera, August 2010)
"As Lescaut, Russell Braun (son of the great baritone, Victor Braun) made a realistic figure out of Manon's spineless cousin and was heart breaking in the final scene." (ConcertoNet, 25 June 2010)
"Russell Braun made his mark as Lescaut." (Financial Times, 24 June 2010)
"Russell Braun is superb as a creepily attractive Lescaut..." (The Guardian, 23 June 2010)
"All the smaller parts are finely sketched in, especially Russell Braun as Manon's venal cousin Lescaut..." (The Stage, 23 June 2010)
"Russell Braun is sympathetic to Lescaut's character, capturing well his military bearing but also his caring-for-Manon side." (Opera Critic, 22 June 2010)
"Russell Braun was a suave-voiced Lescaut, subtly depicting the weakness of the character and his self-centred ambivalence to the plight of his cousin." (Classical Source, 22 June 2010)
"…the wonderful Lescaut of Canadian baritone Russell Braun." (Opera Britannia, 22 June 2010)
Read Russell's interview with ClassicalSource.com about the role.
CBC Radio 2's 'In Concert' rebroadcasts Bouchard: Songs of an Acrobat on Sunday June 27
Listen to CBC Radio 2's In Concert on Sunday, June 27 (11:00am - 3:00pm) for a repeat broadcast of Russell's performance of Bouchard: Songs of an Acrobat for the National Arts Centre Orchestra's 40th Anniversary celebration. Listen here
Calling all London Fans!
On June 24th Russell and Carolyn Maule will give a recital featuring Schumann's Dichterliebe, songs by Mendelssohn, and Fauré. A fundraiser for the Rudi Martinus Van Dijk Foundation, the proceeds from the recitals will go towards the creation of a scholarship fund for musically gifted students from developing countries.
Details:
7:30 pm
22 Mansfield Street, London
Drinks following!
Russell's 2010-2011 season calendar is now up!
Highlights include a tour of Japan with the Royal Opera House and two major role debuts at the Met: as Chou En-lai in John Adams's Nixon in China and Olivier in Strauss's Capriccio. For those not able to make it to New York, you catch catch Russell Live on HD on April 23rd as his Capriccio will be broadcast to theatres around the world!
Highlights from Russell's west coast tour:
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A post-concert photo of Russell and Carolyn with the on-stage assemblage designed to set the mood for Die Winterreise in Burns Lake. |
2010.01.26
"We wanted to take a minute out of a busy day and busy week to let you know about Russell Braun's performance of Die Winterreise in Burns Lake, BC on Sunday afternoon, January 24th, 2010. In a word, 'Magnificent!'. We expected, of course, a performance of world-class calibre. We say 'of course', because we know of Mr. Braun's artistry by reputation, from CD's, and from CBC Radio Two. What these sources could not really have prepared us for was the power and the magic of Russell's live performance, and the wonderfully moving and sensitive piano accompaniment of Carolyn Maule. Russell promised, in his brief introduction to the recital, that the 80 minutes of the Schubert song cycle would pass surprisingly quickly. Most audience members seemed to agree. After a brief silence at the conclusion of the recital the audience was on its feet applauding, and cries of 'Bravo' were heard in the church. One of our audience members told us today that Russell's is "the greatest voice I have ever heard". A senior member of the audience, who has played piano for over 70 years, described Carolyn's playing as "exquisite". For many in Burns Lake the afternoon was a highlight not just of this season, but of our concert-going lives. Many audience members thanked the Arts Council for bringing artists of Russell and Carolyn's calibre to our small community. Which brings us to the second point. We are touched by and grateful for the considerable efforts both Russell and Carolyn made to come to this small, isolated, rural BC community. We know in a general way of the sacrifices all artists must make to pursue their craft. Spending 36 hours with these warm and generous people reminded us again of the commitment of touring artists. Making the time to come to our town, taking time from other professional and family commitments, spending long hours on crowded airplanes and in cramped cars, braving a flawed and daunting airline baggage system, winter roads, recalcitrant hotel heating systems, very late nights and early mornings, roadside cafes, -20 degree temperatures and an overly-bright piano with a sticky E-flat key, and still being able to present a recital of such a very high standard with grace and good humour - we can only say, with our audience: "Bravo".
Thank you all for the parts you played to make this event happen. We and our Arts Council and our audience are very grateful that you all helped provide us with this memorable event and once-in-a-lifetime experience. We are especially appreciative of the support of MusicFest Vancouver and of Windsor Plywood's Spectacular Music BC program. A concert like this one, in a town like ours, is what Spectacular Music BC is all about. "
- John and Sandra Barth for the Lakes District Arts Council, Burns Lake, BC
-----
"Among the highlights was an aria from the opera Faust, in which the singer's voice projected gloriously into the dull acoustics of Shorncliffe's main hall." (Coast Reporter, 27 November 2009)
Russell Braun gives a "heart-felt delivery that will be etched in memory" for the Canadian Opera Company's Diamond Anniversay Gala
COC Diamond Anniversary Gala Concert
(l. to r.) Tenor Ramon Vargas, baritone Russell Braun, tenor John Treleaven, conductor Johannes Debus"Baritone Russell Braun had the best innings of all, in a first-class performance of O du mein holder Abendstern, from Tannhauser. His feeling for the dramatic moment, and his variety of tone and phrasing, made for the most thorough acting job anyone could do while standing stock-still." (Globe and Mail, 9 November 2009)
"In a vivid testament to the quality of singers this country is producing, the finest of the trio was GTA-based Russell Braun. Braun is at the peak of his art, mixing a rich, flexible and powerful baritone with keen dramatic instincts. He was galvanizing in an aria from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and brought a powerful intensity to his Ode to the Evening Star from Wagner's Tannhaüser. Braun was sincere in one of the evening's three encores, when he and Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas blew the full house off its posteriors in the famous duet by Georges Bizet, "Au fond du temple saint," from The Pearl Fishers." (Toronto Star, 9 November 2009)
"Russell Braun is of course a COC favourite. He sang Mercutio's aria with brio and elan. His warm and mellifluous baritone blended beautifully with Vargas' in the Bizet. Braun reserved his best for Wolfram's Ode to the Evening Star. Taken at a very slow tempo, his was a most poetic and heart-felt delivery that will be etched in memory." (La Scena Musicale, 8 November, 2009)
Russell Braun embodies the many guises of The Traveller in Death in Venice at the Theater an der Wien
"As the Traveller, Russell Braun, his curly dark locks tipped in devilish red, stole every scene in which he appeared, filling the house with his lustrous voice and over-the-top characterizations, which ranged from a ghastly over-rouged elderly fop to an ingratiating chatterbox barber." (Musical America, 15 October 2009)
"Russell Braun flowed as the perfidious death messenger between the most diverse roles, devious and provoking as a traveler, gondolier, hotel manager and so on. With his versatile baritone he acts as fate messenger for Aschenbach, luring and humiliating the writer, who finally succumbs to Cholera." (Oper in Wien, 19 September 2009)
"Superlative singing from Russell Braun in the six roles (from travelers to the God Dionysos)." (Kronen Zeitung, 19 September 2009)
"Russell Braun supplies concise character studies in the small roles of the hotel director, bartender, road musician and gondolier and sings these precisely articulated with his colorful baritone." (Klassik, 19 September 2009)
"Also excellent is Russell Braun as Aschenbach's Dionysian-diabolical travel companion." (Salzburger Nachrichten, 19 September 2009)
"Russell Braun...proves a great capacity to transform among the baritone episode rolls." (Die Presse, 18 September 2009)
"Russell Braun is convincing in the work's many small roles." (Financial Times, 28 September 2009)
World premiere of Peter Lieberson's "The World in Flower" with the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert"Braun sang with a flexible, ruddy-colored baritone and showed a natural affinity for Lieberson's shapely melodic settings. His clarity went a long way toward making sense out of some of the denser texts." (Opera News, August 2009)
"Ms. DiDonato's luminous singing and Mr. Braun's earthy authority made them effective...excellent...soloists." (New York Times, 8 May 2009)
"Braun was at his best in the penultimate song, an excerpt from "Leaves of Grass", where he conveyed the profound sensuality of Whitman's lines with warmth and authority." (Classical Source, 9 May 2009)
A human Elijah with the Calgary Philharmonic"In the central role of Elijah, Russell Braun vocally fit the composer's own conception of a holy man who was "strong, zealous and, yes, even bad-tempered, angry and brooding . . . yet borne aloft as if on angels' wings"--and did so with consummate ease, imbuing the part with warmth and humanity." (Calgary Herald, 18 April 2009)
Russell Braun "beyond wonderful" as Eugene Onegin with Opera Lyra Ottawa"Baritone Russell Braun sang the role of the ne'er-do-well Onegin...he was convincing and effective and his singing was beyond wonderful. He used every part of his vocal range without any audible difficulty and this enabled him to convey effectively the character's several states of mind (all of them grim)." (Ottawa Citizen, 5 April 2009)
Russell Braun "Superb" "Golden" in his role debut in the Canadian Opera Company's production of War and Peace
"Baritone Russell Braun's Prince Andrei Bolkonsky is golden when he forgives his faithless fiancée Natasha. His singing has an exquisite dramatic soulfulness, even amid the ongoing destruction wreaked by Napoleon's armies." (National Post, 14 October 2008)
"...a breathtaking performance that is at once mighty and touchingly human. He is one of the few opera stars who can act as well as he sings." (Toronto Star, 13 October 2008)
"Braun, his voice conveying both strength and vulnerability, is an ideal Andrei, drawing us into his character's gradual love for Natasha and his resignation at losing her." (Eye Weekly, 13 October 2008)
"The role of Prince Andrei seems tailor-made for Russell Braun." (ConcertNet, 10 October 2008)
"Baritone Russell Braun, in his role debut, was an ideal Andrei. Braun's sensitive voice conveyed both strength and vulnerability from Andrei's first glimmerings of love to his heartbreaking death scene." (Opera News, 10 October 2008)
"Braun's rakish, quicksilver Mercutio" stands out in the Salzburg Festival's production of Romeo et Juliette"..an arresting and nimble voiced Mercutio." (Musical America, 22 August 2008)
"Dramatically, Braun took a supporting character with little depth, and brought out a multi-sided person--jovial, then hot-headed." (Jamilton, 2 August 2008)
"The raucous, swashbuckling fight scene staged by B.H. Barry offers edge-of-the-seat excitement and spills into the audience. Mercutio (Russell Braun), costumed as a refugee from "Pirates of the Caribbean," is an expert swordsman but falls to Tybalt (Juan Francisco Gatell) after being distracted when a huge white canopy is cut down." (Variety, August 2008)
Watch Russell perform "Mab, la reine des mensonges" on Youtube
Last Updated: December 15, 2011
© 2000 Moira Johnson Consulting, All Rights Reserved
