Source: Intermusica
Renowned for his exquisite and precise tone and the expressiveness of his characterisations, baritone Russell Braun rightfully claims his place on the leading concert, opera and recital stages around the world. His intelligent and thoughtful portrayals of Chou En-lai, Billy Budd, Prince Andrei, Figaro, Papageno, Count Almaviva, Don Giovanni, Pelléas, Eugene Onegin, and The Traveller have captivated audiences and critics alike.
Russell Braun’s highlights of the 2025/26 season include his return to Teatro alla Scala, where he makes his debut as Gunther in David McVicar’s new production of Götterdämmerung, and to the Salzburg Festival as Frere Leon in Saint François d’Assise. Last season, he sang Guglielmo in Così fan tutte for the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg (Fabio Biondi) and Bluebeard in Bluebeard’s Castle with Edmonton Opera, alongside concert appearances including Britten’s War Requiem with the Dresden Philharmonic (Sir Donald Runnicles), Elijah with the Victoria Philharmonic and Carmina Burana with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (Rafael Payare). In May 2025, Braun returned to Edmonton Opera to make his professional conducting debut with Die Walküre.
Braun’s many 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 Agamemnon in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Aulide and Guglielmo for the Festival d’Aix- en-Provence, Mandryka in a new production of Arabella for the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Sam in Bernstein’s A Quiet Place for Opéra national de Paris and Pentheus in Henze’s The Bassarids at the Salzburg Festival.
On the concert platform, Braun sings regularly with the world’s major orchestras, including the Atlanta, Houston, Toronto, Montreal, Danish National and BBC symphony orchestras, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Braun has a great affinity for contemporary repertoire, having performed music by Peter Eötvös, Brett Dean, Kaija Saariaho and others, and has recorded extensively for major labels.
