Russell Braun

During the 26/27season, Braun appears with Canadian Opera Company, making his debut as Giorgio Germont in La traviata and the Music Master in Ariadne auf Naxos. Last season Braun debuted the role of Gunther in David McVicar’s new production of Götterdämmerung at Teatro alla Scala and returned to the Salzburg Festival as Frere Leon in a new production of Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise.

Braun’s many previous roles for the Canadian Opera Company have included Peter in Hänsel und Gretel, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Ford in Falstaff, Duke of Nottingham in Roberto Devereux, Conte di Luna in Il trovatore, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and the title role of Somers's Louis Riel in Toronto and Ottawa as part of Canada’s 150th Anniversary celebrations. For the Metropolitan Opera, he appeared as Olivier in Capriccio alongside Renée Fleming, Chou En-lai in Adams's Nixon in China and Lescaut in Manon Lescaut.

Highlights elsewhere have included Guglielmo in Così fan tutte for Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence & Théâtre du Châtelet (Fabio Biondi); Bluebeard in Bluebeard’s Castle with Edmonton Opera; a new collaboration with director Tim Albery on Hanns Eisler's Hell’s Fury, The Hollywood Songbook at Luminato Festival; Peter in Hänsel und Gretel with Michigan Opera Theatre, Agamemnon in Gluck's in Aix-en-Provence; Mandryka in a new production of Arabella for the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Alfred III in Gottfried von Einem's Der Besuch der alten Dame at Theater an der Wien, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Calgary Opera, Sam in Bernstein's A Quiet Place for Opéra national de Paris and Pentheus in Henze's The Bassarids at the Salzburg Festival. He made his professional conducting debut at Edmonton Opera with Die Walküre in May 2025.

On the concert platform, Braun sings regularly with the world’s major conductors and orchestras. Recent highlights include Carl Orff's Carmina Burana at Festival de Lanaudière with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (Rafael Payare), Brahms's Vier ernste Gesänge arranged by Detlev Glanert and Fauré's Requiem with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Victoria Philharmonic, Vaughan Williams's A Sea Symphony with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and Britten's War Requiem with the Dresden Philharmonic (Sir Donald Runnicles). 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 Orchestra in London, and Saariaho's Cinque reflets de l’amour de loin with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester in both Stuttgart and Freiburg. He has also appeared with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, and the Montreal, Danish National and Houston symphony orchestras.

Braun’s discography features the GRAMMY-nominated Das Lied von der Erde (Dorian), JUNO winner 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.

2026/27 / 601 words. Not to be altered without permission.