SALZBURG REUNION

On Aug. 18, I had the pleasure of meeting with Canadian baritone Russell Braun in the old-fashioned Niemetz Café on Herbert-von-Karajan-Platz in Salzburg. It was just two days after he’d sung the gruelling role of Pentheus in Krzysztof Warlikowski’s hairraising production of Hans Werner Henze’s The Bassarids. The premiere was a huge success, especially for Braun as the ill-fated king, a victim of humiliation and destruction at the hands of his own family and subjects who have turned into fanatic followers of Dionysus. In a free-flowing conversation he spoke about growing up in Germany and Canada, conducting, golf, being the father of two champion baseball players and over 25 years of singing in centre field.

RB: I first sang at Salzburg in 1997. It was Pelléas, with my father singing Golaud, we often sat in this café.

Your father, Victor Braun, was a famous Canadian baritone who had a major international career as a and opera singer over a 40 year period. He was an accomplished performer of the great, traditional operatic baritone roles but also of 20-century composers like Berg, Bartók and Henze—very much like you