Canadian baritone Russell Braun has excelled on the international stages in concert, opera and recital. He has made appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Opéra National de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper, the Lyric Opera in Chicago, the Los Angeles Opera, La Scala, Salzburg and Glyndebourne Festivals with his powerful voice and commanding presence in roles such as Billy Budd, Prince Andrei, Figaro, Papageno, Count Almaviva, Don Giovanni, Pelléas, and Eugene Onegin. Equally in demand on the concert platform, Russell has performed Britten’s War Requiem with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the City of London Festival at St Paul’s Cathedral, a concert performance of Jaufré Rudel in Saariaho’s l’Amour de loin with Norwegian National Opera, in Carmina Burana with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Washington National Symphony, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Smithsonian Chamber Players in Toronto’s Koerner Hall, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Calgary Philharmonic, A Sea Symphony with the Colorado Symphony, and in recital with pianist Carolyn Maule in High River, Alberta. His extensive discography includes the GRAMMY-nominated Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Dorian, his highly acclaimed and JUNO-nominated recording of Schubert’s 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. His highly acclaimed Salzburg Festival appearance as Mercutio in Romeo et Juliette was released on DVD. Fantasio is Russell’s first recording with Opera Rara.