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"The evening's one consistently bright spot was the Figaro of Russell Braun, who entered as if shot from a cannon and remained a spry, winning presence throughout. Braun's elegant, soft-grained timbre and meticulous handling of verbal and musical detail were a joy to hear." (Opera News) "Russell Braun's eagerly awaited account is superb in every way, notable for its smooth legato, a consistent and ravishingly beautiful tone throughout the vocal range, clear enunciation and impeccable pitch." (Opera Canada review of Winterreise recording) "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) Thrilling, manic, glorious, superbly sung and malevolently acted, rich, powerful, elegant, soft-grained, and spine-tingling are but a few of the epithets the media have used to describe Canadian opera sensation Russell Braun. In concert, opera and recital, the international stages of the world are his - whether it be the Metropolitan Opera in New York, l'Opéra de Paris, the State Opera in Vienna, the Lyric Opera in Chicago, the Los Angeles Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Salzburg or the Glyndebourne Festival. His powerful voice and commanding presence have given vigour to such roles as Billy Budd, Prince Andrei, Figaro, Papageno, Count Almaviva, Don Giovanni, Pelléas, and Eugene Onegin. Performances Following a summer at the Salzburg Festival as Mercutio in Romeo et Juliette, Russell's 2010-2011 season begins with a tour to Japan for which he reprises his acclaimed role as Lescaut in the ROH Covent Garden production of Manon. He also makes two major role debuts, both at the Metropolitan Opera - as Chou En-lai in John Adams's Nixon in China and Olivier in Strauss's Capriccio which will be broadcast internationally Live on HD. The season also takes him to Rio de Janeiro for his debut performance with the Rio de Janeiro Orchestra and Roberto Minczuk in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and back to La Scala as Mercutio in Romeo et Juliette. Future highlights include returns to the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Vancouver Opera and the Canadian Opera Company. Highlights Last season featured a challenging balance of concerts, recitals and opera. He made highly successful role debuts as The Traveller in Benjamin Britten's Death in Venice at the Theatre an der Wien in Vienna and as Lescaut in the ROH Covent Garden production of Manon. He appeared with the Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto, and Ottawa symphony orchestras, in duo recital with Michael Schade in Kansas City and travelled Western Canada on an extensive recital tour featuring two programs: Schubert's Die Winterreise and opera arias. He also appeared in a special 2010 Olympics performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Bramwell Tovey. Other recent appearances include Valentin in Faust at ROH Covent Garden, the title role of Pelléas et Mélisande at La Scala in, Orestes in the Opéra national de Paris's Iphegénie en Tauride, Eugene Onegin with the San Francisco Opera, the title role in Billy Budd, as Prince Andrei in War and Peace, and as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with the Canadian Opera Company. He has performed in New York at the Metropolitan Opera (I Pagliacci and Il Barbiere di Siviglia), at the Salzburg Festival (Ariadne auf Naxos, Roméo et Juliette), the Vienna Staatsoper (Roméo et Juliette, Die Zauberflöte, Ariadne auf Naxos, Die Fledermaus, Billy Budd), in Paris at the Opéra national de Paris (Die Zauberflöte, Cosi fan tutte, Faust, Pelléas et Mélisande) and at the Théâtre du Châtelet (Dido & Aeneas), in San Diego (Les Pecheurs de Perles, Cosi fan tutte), the Glyndebourne Festival (Pelléas et Mélisande), l'Opéra de Montreal (Die Zauberflöte), and l'Opéra de Québec (Don Giovanni). A favourite of Toronto's Canadian Opera Company, he has appeared in many productions with them including Cosi fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Billy Budd, Lucia di Lammermoor, Pelléas et Mélisande. Concerts and recitals always have a major place on Russell's calendar. He has performed in duo recital with Michael Schade in London, Edinburgh, Toronto, San Diego, Graz, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Strasbourg and Ludwigsburg and in solo recital in Montréal, Toronto, New York, Paris (La Chapelle Royale at Versailles) Winnipeg and Ottawa. His interpretations of German Leider have won him international acclaim - "A searching musician, Braun also has one of the world's most beautiful baritone voices. He brings a poet's soul and a young man's bewildered grief to Schubert's shattering cycle of solitude and loss." (New York Newsday). In much demand as a concert artist, the past few seasons have seen Mr. Braun appear with the New York Philharmonic in the World Premiere of The World in Flower a new work by Peter Lieberson, at the BBC Proms in Fauré's Requiem, the Salzburg Festival in Schubert's Mass in G, the Tanglewood Festival in Brahm's German Requiem, with the St. Louis Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony conducted by Bernard Labadie, in L'Enfance du Christ with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, in Elijah with the Minnesota Orchestra and in the Durufle Requiem with Les Violons du Roy in Québec City. He has performed with many of the world's leading conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, David Robertson, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Claudio Abbado, Sylvain Cambreling, James Conlon, Bruno Campanella, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Richard Bradshaw and Bernard Labadie, appearing with major orchestras in Europe, Canada and the United States including the San Francisco Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Dallas Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Edmonton Symphony and the Calgary Philharmonic. His performance in Britten's War Requiem in Toronto continues to be a stand-out in Toronto's musical memory. Recordings Russell's extensive discography includes his highly acclaimed recording of Schubert's Die Winterreise with pianist Carolyn Maule and the 2007 JUNO-award-winning recording of Mozart arias with tenor Michael Schade and soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, both on the CBC Records label. Winterreise quickly made its mark among a revered set of recordings of the famous song-cyle - "[it] goes up against this formidable competition [Fischer-Dieskau and Goerne], as well an estimable Winterreise by Braun's late father, Victor. Braun fils's effort emerges with considerable credit...a mellifluous, musical and strongly felt interpretation." (Opera News) - and was nominated for a JUNO award and by three North American newspapers in their Best of 2005. Winner of the 2001 JUNO for Apollo e Daphne with Les Violons du Roy (Dorian), Russell has twice recorded Dido & Aeneas (Telarc with the Boston Baroque; CBC Records with Taflemusik), the award-winning Soirée Française with tenor Michael Schade, Le Souvenir, a collection of Canadian songs, Shattered Night, Shivering Stars featuring the music of Canadian composer Alexina Louie and Liebeslieder - Folksongs with the Aldeburgh Connection. Other releases include Meditation, featuring the works of Gerald Finzi (CBC Records) and Serata Italiana, a recording of Italian opera arias and duets with tenor Michael Schade (CBC Records), and Beethoven Lives Upstairs, Mozart and Magic Fantasy, and Daydreams and Lullabies on the Classical Kids Label. His highly acclaimed Salzburg Festival appearance as Mercutio in Romeo et Juliette was released on DVD. He was also featured in Burnt Toast, a series of eight 6-minute comic operas composed by Alexina Louie and written by Dan Redican for television featuring many of Canada's brightest actors and the voices of some of its most famed opera stars. Russell Braun makes his home near Toronto with his wife, pianist Carolyn Maule and their sons, Benjamin and Gabriel.
Last Updated: July 8, 2010 © 2000 Moira Johnson Consulting, All Rights Reserved
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