MARTIN BRUNS
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2009
7:30 PM IN BROOKES CHAPEL

Swiss baritone Martin Bruns has won much acclaim for his concert, oratorio, and opera appearances at major concert halls and festivals in, among others, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Geneva, Aldeburgh, Salzburg, New York, Seattle, San Diego, Ottawa. Garnering praise for his "warm, open voice" (Süddeutsche Zeitung) and "magnificent interpre tation" (Le Temp), he has been a soloist with major European orchestras; with Scharoun-Ensemble (Berlin Phil); Academy for Early Music, Berlin; Israel's Kibbutz Orchestra; and the NY Chamber Symphony, under conductors such as Viotti, Schwarz, Bolton, Ericson, Holliger and Ostrowsky.   A "superior lieder singer" (Wiesbadener Tagblatt), Bruns regularly appears with pianists Ulrich Eisenlohr, Brian Zeger and Kolja Lessing, fortepianist Christoph Hammer, and guitarist Matts Bergström. Of his 92nd St Y debut, The New York Times wrote: "the work of a fresh young baritone and an inquiring mind."

Besides his Baroque and Romantic repertoire, Bruns performs lesser-known 20th century works by Busoni, Jarnach, Strasfogel, Diamond and others. World premieres of contemporary works at the Luzern and Salzburg Easter Festivals were great successes: the press praised his "fabulous security" and his "beautiful voice." For the Petrarca 700-year anniversary, he offered recitals with works by composers such as Lalo,  Cornelius, Pfitzner, Schubert, Liszt to Petrarca texts in major halls of e.g. Berlin, Dresden, Bonn, Augsburg, Basel and Stuttgart.

Recent recitals were e.g. 3 different  Schumann recitals at the Rheinische Musikfest Bonn, a David Diamond program at the Ottawa Chamber Music Fest, performances at the Bayrische Akademie der Schoenen Kuenste Muenchen,  Musikhalle Hamburg, Mahler's "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" with Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse and a “Winterreise” program in Munich.. Of his recent collaboration with the Vienna Piano Trio in Beethoven's "Scottish Songs" and the world premiere of a work by Paul Engel at the Munich Gasteig, the Munich Merkur writes..."equipped with a powerful voice, Bruns still succeeds in offering a masterful play with shadings and colors... It's fantastic how he moves toward dramatic highlights...there is nothing that this voice cannot do..."

His career began at Wiesbaden's Opera in leading roles as Papageno, Guglielmo, Figaro (Barbiere), Donner (Rheingold) and Silvio. His Figaro was "simply fabulous coloraturic agility, lyrical, melting warmth and power." Guest appearances include the opera houses of Düsseldorf (Dandini) and Munich (Elviro, Xerxes). His recording of Schubert/Schiller songs with U. Eisenlohr for Naxos prompted Opera News to write: "Bruns and Eisenlohr are hardly household names, but maybe they should be."   His Busoni recording for Naxos was released in the fall of 2006.