Biography
Grammy-nominated Heldentenor Brenden Gunnell is one of today’s most sought-after heroic tenors, renowned for his commanding stage presence and clarion diction. Equally at home in Wagnerian heroics, Strauss’s towering roles, as well as the international concert stage and recital, he captivates his audiences with a blend of powerhouse vocal technique, expressive subtlety, and insightful interpretation.
His upcoming role debuts include Tristan in Tristan und Isolde at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile (2027) and at La Monnaie, Brussels (2028), Florestan in Fidelio for Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos Lissabon, as well as the Kaiser in a new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten at La Monnaie directed by Barry Kosky (2027). He will return to the BBC Scottish Orchestra for a concert version of Die Walküre, singing the role of Siegmund, conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth.
In the 2025/26 season, Brenden made his Royal Opera Stockholm debut as the Prince in Rusalka and performed the title role of Lohengrin at the Weiwuying Centre in Taiwan. He was heard with the Bratislava Philharmonia as Johannes in Schmidt’s Das Buch mit Sieben Siegeln (upcoming release on Naxos label) and performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Krakow Filharmonia and the Nord Nederlands Orkest.
For the 2024/25 season, he debuted as Sergey in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, making his Carnegie Hall debut (recording released on Deutsche Grammophon). He also debuted the role of Hermann in Pique Dame for the Leipzig Opera, as well as reviving the role of Peter Grimes for Gothenburg Opera.
Since the 2022/23 season, Brenden Gunnell’s artistic home has been the Leipzig Opera, where his work included the title role in Peter Grimes, Sergey in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Herodes in Salome, Siegmund in Die Walküre, and Hermann in Pique Dame, and Erik in Die Fliegende Holländer.
Recent stage appearances include Lohengrin at the Bolshoi Theatre, Peter Grimes at Cologne Opera, Opera Leipzig and Gothenburg Operaen, the Prince in Rusalka at the Glyndebourne Festival, Bergen National Opera and the Royal Opera Stockholm, Jeník in The Bartered Bride for Garsington Opera, Loge and Siegmund in a new Ring Cycle at Göteborg Opera, and Loge in Das Rheingold at Birmingham Opera Company.
On the international concert stage, Brenden Gunnell has recently appeared in high-profile performances across Europe and beyond, including the BBC Proms with the Aurora Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Act II of Tristan und Isolde at the Festival Neuschwanstein, and Schönberg’s Die Jakobsleiter at the Elbphilharmonie with the NDR Orchestra under Ingo Metzmacher.
His core concert repertoire comprises of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra (Sir Jeffrey Tate), the CBSO (Ryan Wigglesworth), BBC King’s College Cambridge (Stephen Cleobury), for the Rheingau Music Festival (Paul McCreesh); Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Orchestra Sinfonica la Verdi Milano (Riccardo Chailly), Teatro del Maggio Musicale Florence (Fabio Luisi) the Dortmund Philharmonic (Gabriel Feltz) the Gewandhaus Leipzig (Andris Nelsons), the Philharmonia Orchestra in St. Pauls London (David Hill), the Filharmonia Krakow, and the Nord Nederlands Orkest (Antony Hermus); Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Symphoniker Hamburg, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the CBSO (Alpesh Chauhan); and Verdi’s Requiem with the Staatskapelle Halle (Hartmut Haenchen), with the Bournemouth Symphony (David Hill), at King’s College, Cambridge with the BBCCO (Stephen Cleobury), and the BBCCO in Nottingham (Anna-Maria Helsing).
After graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2006, Brenden Gunnell was a member of the ensemble at the Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck (2007–2011), from 2011 to 2013, an ensemble member of the Norwegian National Opera, and from 2022 to 2027 the resident Heldentenor for Opera Leipzig.
Repertoire
Opera
Concert
| Composer | Work | Charactor |
|---|---|---|
| Beethoven | Fidelio | Florestan |
| Britten | Peter Grimes | Peter Grimes |
| Tschaikowsky | Pique Dame | Herman |
| Wagner | Tristan und Isolde | Tristan |
| Parsifal | Parsifal | |
| Die Walküre | Siegmund |
| Composer | Work | Charactor |
|---|---|---|
| Beethoven | Fidelio | Florestan |
| Britten | Peter Grimes | Peter Grimes |
| Billy Budd | Captain Vere* | |
| Dvorak | Rusalka | Der Prinz (Cz) |
| Janacek | Jenufa | Laça |
| Katja Kabanova | Boris | |
| Korngold | Die Tote Stadt | Paul* |
| Shostakovich | Lady Macbeth of the Mzensk District | Sergej |
| Smetana | The Bartered Bride | Jenik (Cz,D,E) |
| Strauss | Arabella | Matteo |
| Die Frau ohne Schatten | Der Kaiser | |
| Salome | Herodes | |
| Stravinsky | Oedipus Rex | Oedipus |
| Tschaikowsky | Pique Dame | Herman |
| Wagner | Tristan und Isolde | Tristan |
| Lohengrin | Lohengrin | |
| Parsifal | Parsifal | |
| Die Walküre | Siegmund | |
| Zemlinsky | Der Zwerg | Der Zwerg |
| Composer | Composition(s) |
|---|---|
| L. v. Beethoven | Missa Solemnis |
| 9th Symphony | |
| E. Elgar | The Dream of Gerontius |
| G. Mahler | 8th Symphony |
| Lied von der Erde | |
| F. Schmidt | Das Buch mit 7 Siegeln (Johannes) |
| G. Verdi | Requiem |
| Composer | Composition(s) |
|---|---|
| L. v. Beethoven | Missa Solemnis |
| 9th Symphony | |
| Christus am Ölberge | |
| B. Britten | War Requiem |
| Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings | |
| Les Illuminations | |
| Nocturne | |
| A. Dvorak | Stabat Mater |
| Requiem | |
| E. Elgar | The Dream of Gerontius |
| The Kingdom | |
| G.F. Handel | Samson (title role) |
| Messiah (eng) | |
| L. Janacek | The Diary of one who vanished |
| Glagolitic Mass | |
| Otçenas | |
| F. Listz | Faust Symphony |
| G. Mahler | Orchestral songs: Rückert Lieder, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen |
| 8th Symphony | |
| Das Lied von der Erde | |
| Das klagende Lied | |
| F. Martin | Golgotha |
| F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy | Elias (d, eng) |
| Paulus (d) | |
| S. Rachmaninow | All-Night Vigil (tenor soloist, rus.) |
| F. Schmidt | Das Buch mit 7 Siegeln (Johannes) |
| A. Schönberg | Gurre-lieder (Waldemar) |
| R. Strauss | Orchestral Songs |
| I. Strawinsky | Oedipus Rex (Oedipus) |
| Persephone | |
| Les Noces | |
| G. Verdi | Messa di Requiem |