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BIOGRAPHY |
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The young, American artist already belongs to one of the most internationally sought-after helden tenors.
Recently, he made his debuts as LOHENGRIN at the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, as COUNT OF KENT in Lear and HÜON in the new production Oberon at the Bavarian State Opera Munich, as ERIK in Der fliegende Holländer at the Komische Oper Berlin, PETER GRIMES at the Cologne Opera, the PRINCE in Rusalka at the Glyndebourne Festival and the Bergen National Opera, as JIM MAHONEY in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Teatro dell’Opera die Roma, ERIK in Der Fliegende Holländer am Teatro Petruzzelli Bari, HANS in The Bartered Bride at the Garsington Opera , SIEGMUND at the GotenburgsOperan, as LOGE im Rheingold an the Birmingham Opera Company and in Gothenburg and as IDOMENEO an der Opéra National Lorraine and at the Teatro La Fenice, LACA in Jenufa at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna under Juraj Valcuha.
After successfully graduating at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 2006, Brenden Gunnell was a member of the ensemble at the Innsbruck Theatre under the artistic direction of KS Brigitte Fassbaender from 2007 to 2011. From 2011 to 2013 he was a member of the Norske Opera ensemble.
Since the season 2022/23 Brenden Gunnel’s artistic base is the Leipzig Opera House, where he has acquired a vast repertoire, including PETER GRIMES, SERGEJ in Lady Macbeth of Mzensk, HERODES in Salome or the HERMANN in Pique Dame.
Moreover Brenden Gunnell can be seen on international concert stages. In the season 2023/2024 he sings in concerts »Das Paradies und die Peri« with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra under Sylvain Cambreling and »Das Lied von der Erde« with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Alpesh Chauhan.
With the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig he performed Mahler’s »Das Lied von der Erde« under Matthias Foremny and Mahler’s Symphony Nr. 8 under Andris Nelsons.
He also performed Elgar’s »The Dream of Gerontius« with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra under Sir Jeffrey Tate in the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Ryan Wigglesworth and at the Rheingau Music Festival, Mahler’s Symphony Nr. 8 with the Filarmonica della Scala under Riccardo Chailly and at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under Fabio Luisi, Verdi's Requiem with the Staatskapelle Halle under Hartmut Haenchen and a concertante performance of »Walküre« with the Southern Philharmonic Orchestra of the Netherlands and Hartmut Haenchen.
Im January 2024 he made his debut as SERGEJ in Lady Macbeth of Mzensk with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the musical direction of Andris Nelsons.
Further concert appearances brought him to the BBC Proms with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, with the 2nd act of TRISTAN UND ISOLDE to the Neuschwanstein Castle. He sings Schönberg’s DIE JAKOBSLEITER with the NDR Hamburg under Ingo Metzmacher, THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Mahler’s DAS LIED VON DER ERDE with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and ENEÉ in Les Troyens with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. He sangPARADIES UND DIE PERI with the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia under Daniele Gatti and Beethoven’s 9th SYMPHONY under Antonio Pappano, with RAI Torino DAS KLAGENDE LIED (James Conlon) and WALKÜRE in concert with Jeffrey Tate and OEDIPUS REX at the Teatro San Carlo under Juraj Valcuha.
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| REVIEWS |
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| Opernhaus Köln – Peter Grimes - PETER GRIMES |
| New to the cast is tenor Brenden Gunnell, who is so strongly cast that he is chiefly the one who remains in the memory, causing the production of Wake-Walker to somewhat fade . After seeing Gunnell as the title character, it's hard to imagine another tenor as Grimes. It's as if Gunnell has captured a monopoly in our mind. Gunnell is vocally very fine, but he prioritises the theater... The frustration that his character has to deal with from the beginning of the opera, which often expresses itself in aggression, is supremely believable and lived out by Gunnell. [...] The unpolished character of the brutish fisherman and the almost insane desperation at the end: it's all there. The interpreter has to mix the lyricism that could invite sympathy with the dangerous side of Grimes, and Gunnell does a great job of this. He is extremely flexible vocally, occasionally even less strictly attentive, but rather: not cautious but direct and then again lyrical. [...] Very beautiful too, the opening scene of the third act (interlude Moonlight), which is without singing, and where we see Gunnell from his back perspective for several minutes in this staging, and the emotional charge still reaches us. |
Opera Magazin
operamagazine.nl |
| Oper Leipzig – Die Walküre - SIEGMUND |
| Brenden Gunnell is growing into a notable Heldentenor as a member of the Leipzig company. He sings rather than recites the longer passages about his past, renders ‘Winterstürme wichen den Wonnemond’ very movingly, and his ‘Wälse!’ compares very well to that of his peers. |
Opera Magazin
operamagazine.nl |
| District Boston Symphony Orchestra - Lady Macbeth of Mzensk - SERGEJ |
| Brenden Gunnell molded a delightfully comic portray of Sergei, the callow, self-centered, skirt-chasing servant who leads the tragic heroine astray. His hefty heldentenor was most effective in his early scenes with Katerina and in his later duets with Maria Barakova as Sonyetka. |
bachtrack
bachtrack.com |
| One hopes that [Opolais] can ultimately realize her strong instincts one day. And when she does, I hope she’ll bring Brenden Gunnell, who brought a virile tone to Sergei’s taxing music. |
PARTERRE BOX
parterre.com |
| As my colleague noted in his Boston review, Gunnell stripped any masculine quality from Sergey and instead, one was left with a weak man who couldn’t quite figure out what he wanted. By the end of the opera, when he abandons Katerina, there was not much surprise and that was what made Opolais’ Katerina all the more of a tragic figure. Vocally, the tenor was fantastic as he performed with ample high notes and a lyrical and flexible voice. Sometimes he would be overpowered by the orchestra but it was still an impressive performance. |
Opera Wire
operawire.com |
| Oper Leipzig – Peter Grimes - PETER GRIMES |
| Brenden Gunnell’s interpretation of the title role is tremendously impressive. He sings and plays a broken, hounded character. In his stocky stature, he is a head smaller than his apprentice John. Vocally, he also performs the part with suppressed power. He doesn’t sing brilliantly or „beautifully“ but with great intensity. |
Kunst und Technik
ktmagazin.de |
| The part of Peter Grimes requires a singer, who should be able to withstand extreme strains. With impressive physical presence Brenden Gunnell succeeded into drawing the psycho dramatical portrayal of Peter Grimes in his tragical brokenness as a lone wolf and protector in search of love. He met the challenges in the role with heldentenoral power and revealed a full sound, which gave an eruptive power to the misery of the marginalized figure. He disposed of both lyrical intimacy and subtle color, that emerged from the words. |
Der Opernfreund
deropernfreund.de |
| A performance of Peter Grimes naturally rises and falls with the performer of the title character. Leipzig is fortunate to have a member of the ensemble who is the perfect cast: the American tenor Brenden Gunnell. On the one hand, his Grimes is in some passages a deeply feeling poet with ravishingly tender tones: “Now the Great Bear and Pleiades”. On the other hand, however, he is not only impetuous and rough in his demeanor, but also in his voice. Just think of the harsh words with which he rejects Ellen: “Take away your hand! “Gunnell’s final monologue, when Grimes realizes that there is no place for him in society, is somewhere between turmoil and resignation – it is shattering and has stayed with me long after the opera was over.” |
Opernglas
opernglas.de |
| Brenden Gunnell is a first class Grimes |
Freie Presse
freiepresse.de |
| First and foremost in the title role is the American Brenden Gunnell, a grumpy, gnarly, red-haired tenor who comes across as a picture book Brit and fisherman. Not only in his acting, but also in his singing, he spans a wide arc from the lyrical to the heroic. |
NMZ
nmz.de |
| …With him, his scenic presence as well as with his wonderfully bright, powerful, clear and phonetically flawless tenor, the musical threads of this impressive production come together. |
LVZ
lvz.de |
| Birmingham Opera Company – Rheinhold - LOGE |
| Supreme in that respect was Brendan Gunnell’s Loge. As good a devious demi-god as I’ve seen anywhere, a heroic edge to the tenor voice bringing beauty to passages like the one in which he sings of women’s beauty on earth as a thing not to be traded for gold. Fire implicit in the red string vest and glasses, leathers setting him apart, a brilliant thinker. |
the arts desk
theartsdesk.com |
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