Biography

Andrey Breus was born in Russia and graduated from Rostov Musical College as a choral conductor in 1991. He went on to study singing at the Russian University of Theatre Arts from 1992 to 1997, and is now a principal with Moscow Novaya Opera and a guest soloist with the Bolshoi Opera and Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Opera. He tours extensively in Russia and abroad, performing at leading opera houses including Opéra de Bastille, Covent Garden, Teatro Comunale in Florence, and the Washington and Los Angeles operas. Mr. Breus has participated in international festivals such as the Savonlinna Festival, Budapest Music and Opera Festival, and Glyndebourne. His recent performances include appearances as Miller in Verdi’s Luisa Miller, and a tour of Europe with the Tatar State Opera (as Enrico in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Count di Luna in Verdi’s Il Trovatore). Earlier this year, Mr. Breus took part in the world premiere of Levon Atovmyan’s oratorio arrangement of Prokofiev’s music for Sergei Eisenstein’s film Ivan the Terrible in London, and he appeared as Athanaël in concert performance of Massenet’s Thaïs with Moscow Novaya Opera. Mr. Breus’s DVD releases include Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel and Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery; CD releases include Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and a collection titled Masterpieces of Italian Opera. He is a winner of the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition; Operalia, Plácido Domingo’s World Opera Contest; and the Evgeny Kolobov Foundation’s prize “For Devoted Service to Opera Art.” These are Mr. Breus’s first performances with the San Francisco Symphony.

(October 2012)