Russell Braun

Braun, Russell

 Russell Braun, baritone (b at Frankfurt, Germany 19 July 1965). Son of Canadian baritone Victor BRAUN and German mezzo-soprano Eraine Schwing-Braun, Russell Braun lived in Frankfurt until the age of 17, when his family moved to Canada. He studied piano with John Coveart at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and later voice with Patricia Kern at the University of Toronto. His early successes include Papageno in Die Zauberflöte for Opera Atelier and the CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY in 1993. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1995-96 in Die Fledermaus, a season that included his European debut as the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro in Monte Carlo and Berlin. He sang the title role in Pelleas et Melisande in Paris the following year, and reprised it at the Salzburg Festival in 1997, a production that also starred his father, Victor Braun, as Golaud.

Possessing a lyric baritone of beauty, flexibility and communicative power, Braun's large repertoire encompasses the operas of Rameau, Gluck, Purcell, Handel, Monteverdi, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Berlioz, Thomas, Gounod, Massenet, Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Strauss and Britten. In demand as a soloist in recital and oratorio, his orchestral and recital repertoires include 2 dozen major works and hundreds of songs in German, French, Italian, Russian, and English.

Braun has performed with many of the world's leading conductors, including Rattle, Tilson-Thomas, Abbado, Cambreling, Conlon, Saraste, Bradshaw, and Labadie, and with major orchestras in Europe and North America. In recent years his duo recitals with tenor Michael have SCHADE received great critical and popular acclaim. Braun has made a number of recordings, including 2 of Dido and Aeneas, and an award-winning CD with Schade featuring rare French repertoire.