Russell Braun

Highlights of the 2025/26 season include Braun’s return to Teatro alla Scala, where he makes his role debut as Gunther in David McVicar’s new production of Wagner's Götterdämmerung, and Frere Leon in Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise at the Salzburg Festival. On the concert stage, Braun will return to the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and Orchestra for Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem and returns to the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra for Vaughan Williams's A Sea Symphony.

Last season, Braun performed the role of Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte for Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg conducted by Fabio Biondi and Bluebeard in Bartók's Bluebeard’s Castle with Edmonton Opera. Other highlights included Britten's War Requiem with Dresden Philharmonic conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana at Festival de Lanaudière with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal conducted by Rafael Payare and Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Victoria Philharmonic. In May 2025, Braun returned to Edmonton Opera to make his professional conducting debut in Wagner's Die Walküre.

Recent highlights include Agamemnon in Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide at Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Mandryka in a new production of Strauss's Arabella for Deutsche Oper Berlin, directed by Tobias Kratzer, and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte in a new production for Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov. Elsewhere, Braun performed Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Further operatic highlights include Sam in Bernstein's A Quiet Place for Opéra national de Paris, Speaker in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Peter in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte at the Canadian Opera Company, Peter in Hänsel und Gretel with Michigan Opera Theatre, a new collaboration with director Tim Albery on Hanns Eisler's Hell’s Fury, The Hollywood Songbook at Luminato Festival, Pentheus in Henze's The Bassarids at the Salzburg Festival, Alfred III in Gottfried von Einem's Der Besuch der alten Dame at Theater an der Wien, Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at Calgary Opera and the title role in Somers's Louis Riel with Canadian Opera Company in Toronto at the Four Seasons Centre and in Ottawa with the National Arts Centre Orchestra presented as part of the celebrations surrounding Canada’s 150th Anniversary. Previous seasons have included Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Ford in Falstaff, Duke of Nottingham in Roberto Devereux and Conte di Luna in Il trovatore with the Canadian Opera Company, and Chou En-lai in Adams's Nixon in China, Lescaut in Manon Lescaut and as Olivier alongside Renée Fleming in Capriccio, all at the Metropolitan Opera.

On the concert platform, Braun sings regularly with the world’s major conductors and orchestras, including the Atlanta Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Danish National Symphony, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and Houston Symphony. With a great affinity for contemporary repertoire, he has performed Peter Eötvös's Senza Sangue in Rome, London, Norway and Sweden, Brett Dean's Knocking at the Hell Gate with the BBC Symphony in London, and Saariaho's Cinque reflets de l’amour de loin with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester in both Stuttgart and Freiburg. Recent highlights include Brahms's Vier ernste Gesänge arranged by Detlev Glanert and Fauré's Requiem with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Vaughan Williams's A Sea Symphony with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

His discography features the GRAMMY-nominated Das Lied von der Erde (Dorian), JUNO winners Mozart: Arie e duetti (CBC Records) and Apollo e Daphne (Dorian), and JUNO nominee Winterreise (CBC Records). His most recent release is Dietch Le vaisseau fantôme with Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble (Naïve). DVDs include the Salzburg Festival’s Roméo et Juliette and the Mark Morris dance adaptation of Dido and Aeneas, his much-lauded portrayal of Chou En-lai in Nixon in China (Nonesuch) and Capriccio (Decca) at the Metropolitan Opera (released on DVD as part of the company’s Live-in-HD series) and Alexina Louie’s comic opera Burnt Toast.

2025/26 / 688 words. Not to be altered without permission.