Michael Schade, Russell Braun and Carolyn Maule
7:30 pm Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Internationally acclaimed German-Canadian singer Michael Schade is one of the leading Mozart tenors on the stage today.

A hugely successful recital tour throughout Europe and Canada last spring was followed by an equally acclaimed return to the Salzburg Festival to star in a new production of La Clemenza di Tito, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Mr. Schade’s 2003-2004 season features performances at the Vienna Staatsoper, the San Diego Opera, concerts with the Vienna and New York Philharmonics, the Cleveland, Tonhalle and Concertgebouw Orchestras and Concentus Musicus, a special performance for the Governor General of Canada in Ottawa, solo recitals in New York, Lisbon, Toronto and Vienna and duo recitals with Russell Braun in San Diego and Graz. As well, he will be one of four stars of the Canadian opera world who perform the Liebeslieder Walzer at Weill Hall (Carnegie Hall) in March 2004.

A consummate recitalist, he has performed in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Prague, Brussels, New York, Hannover, Frankfurt, Bonn and Graz and in duo recital with Barbara Bonney in London and with baritone Russell Braun in Berlin, Hamburg, Tronto, Geneva, Strasbourg, and Edinburgh. In recent seasons, major operatic roles in La Clemenza di Tito, Viaggio a Reims, Idomeneo, l'Elisir d'amore, Oedipus Rex, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Die Zauberflöte, Cosi fan tutte, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Don Giovanni have taken him to Toronto, San Francisco, Vienna, Los Angeles, New York, Dresden, and the Salzburg Festival. He has also appeared in concert with the New York, Los Angeles and Vienna Philharmonics, the San Francisco Symphony, and Concentus Musicus.

Mr. Schade's impressive discography includes his solo recording Of ladies and love… (Hyperion), the 2002 GRAMMY-award winning St. Matthew Passion (Teldec) with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, recordings with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Helmut Rilling, Sir Colin Davis, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Trevor Pinnock, and Pierre Boulez, and duo recordings Soirée Française and Serata Italiana (CBC Records) with Russell Braun.

Website for Michael Schade

One of the most sought-after lyric baritones on the international stage today, Russell Braun performs regularly at the Metropolitan Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, l’Opéra de Paris and the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto.

Braun’s upcoming 2003-2004 season promises to be exciting with performances at the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, at the San Diego Opera as Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de Perles and in duo recital with Michael Schade, at the Vienna Staatsoper in one of his signature roles, Billy Budd, and a performance and recordings for both CBC Television and CBC records of works by Noel Coward and Ivor Novello. Braun returns to l’Opera de Montreal as Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro and performs the Liebeslieder Waltzer at Carnegie Hall with tenor Michael Schade, soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, and mezzo-soprano Norine Burgess. He looks forward to his debut at Glyndebourne in the summer 2004 as well as his debut in the title role of Eugene Onegin in fall 2004.

Major roles in Billy Budd, The Great Gatsby, Pelléas and Mélisande, Faust, Il barbiere di Siviglia among others have taken Mr. Braun to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna Staatsoper, Hamburg, Paris, and Toronto. He has performed with major orchestras in Europe, Canada and the United States and with many of the world's leading conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Claudio Abbado, Sylvain Cambreling, James Conlon, Bruno Campanella, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Richard Bradshaw and Bernard Labadie.

Winner of the 2001 JUNO for Apollo e Daphne with Les Violons du Roy (Dorian), Mr. Braun has made a number of recordings including two of Dido and Aeneas, one on the Telarc label with the Boston Baroque Orchestra and another for CBC Records with Tafelmusik. Also for CBC Records, he has recorded Soirée Française, an award-winning CD with tenor Michael Schade featuring rare French repertoire, Le Souvenir, a collection of Canadian songs for parlour and stage, Shattered Night, Shivering Stars featuring the music of Canadian composer Alexina Louie, and Liebeslieder - Folksongs with the Aldeburgh Connection. Recent releases include Meditation, featuring the works of Gerald Finzi (CBC Records) and Serata Italiana, a recording of Italian opera arias and duets with tenor Michael Schade (CBC Records).

Website for Russell Braun

Canadian pianist, Carolyn Maule, is much in demand as a vocal accompanist. She has accompanied such renowned artists as Michael Schade, Monica Whicher, Patricia Racette, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Norine Burgess, Elizabeth Turnbull and is often heard in recital with her husband, baritone Russell Braun.

Ms. Maule has performed as accompanist in London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and Roy Thomson Hall, the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts and the St. Lawrence Centre, in Toronto. She has accompanied recitals in Salzburg, Barcelona, Hamburg, Chicago, Cleveland and New York, as well as at music festivals across Canada including the Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound, the Festival international de Lanaudière in Quebec and the Women’s Musical Club in Winnipeg. Ms. Maule has also done concert tours for Les Jeunesses Musicales and the Elmer Iseler Singers.

Maule’s 2003-2004 season promises to be an exciting one – she returns to Carnegie Hall to accompany Braun, Schade, Norine Burgess, Isabel Bayrakdarian in the Liebeslieder Waltzer and will accompany the Braun and Schade duo in Graz, Austria and in recital for the San Diego Opera.

This past season saw success after success for Carolyn Maule with critically acclaimed performances accompanying tenor Michael Schade in Die Schöne Mullerin in Barcelona and a duo recital programme with Russell Braun and Michael Schade in Strasbourg. She also returned to the Festival of the Sound to accompany Braun and soprano Monica Whicher in Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch and Braun in Die Schöne Müllerin, which the two will also performed for Festival Vancouver. In 2001-2002 she accompanied Russell Braun in solo recital in New York and the duo in recital in Geneva and at the Edinburgh Festival.

Ms. Maule’s performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio, CBC Radio, Radio-Canada and WQXR-FM in New York. She is featured on several recordings including Le Souvenir (CBC Records), that features Canadian songs for parlour and stage, and two CD’s of Bach excerpts with the Toronto Bach Consort.

Ms. Maule makes her home near Toronto, which she shares with her husband, baritone Russell Braun, and their sons, Benjamin and Gabriel.