San Diego Opera's COSI FAN TUTTE Announces Cast Change

Baritone John Brancy will replace Gihoon Kim for San Diego Opera's performances of Cosí fan tutte which opens on Saturday, February 12, 2021 for four performances. Mr. Kim was excited to make his North American debut at San Diego Opera and was impressed with the Company's safety protocols enacted to ensure the safety of the artists, staff, and audience, but needs to withdraw for personal reasons. The Company hopes to welcome him in the future. Mr. Brancy recently performed the role of Guglielmo in San Francisco Opera's production of Cosí fan tutte

During the 2021-22 season, Mr. Brancy returns to the San Francisco Opera as Guglielmo in Michael Cavanagh's production of Così fan tutte conducted by Henrik Nánási; sings the role of Franz Wolff-Metternich in the world premiere of La Beauté du monde, by playwright Michel Marc Bouchard and composer Julien Bilodeau, at Opéra de Montréal under the baton of Jean-Marie Zeitouni; performs the world premiere of the Boston Symphony Orchestra-commissioned work Cantata, by Michael Gandolfi, with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, soprano Sophia Burgos, and pianist Alessio Bax; joins the Rundfunkchor Berlin for performances of human requiem, a scenic realization of Johannes Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem staged by Jochen Sandig and members of Sasha Waltz & Guests, at the Ludwigsburg Festival; takes on the role of Marcello in a concert version of La bohème with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra with a team that includes video artist S Katy Tucker, director James Marvel, and conductor Rossen Milanov; and is soloist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in the Duruflé Requiem as well as excerpts from Cantelouble's Chants d'Auvergne led by music director Ken-David Masur.

June 2021 marked the release of a collaboration between Vocal Arts DC and Avie Records, The Journey Home: Live from the Kennedy Center, which presents Mr. Brancy and pianist Peter Dugan in a recital program inspired by the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I and features musical selections from Schubert's Der Wanderer, Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel, as well as popular tunes and art songs by composers and poets who died in the war. The recital was also filmed and aired on the new PBS app AllArts TV over Memorial Day. Additional highlights of the 2020-21 season included recording selections from Hanns Eisler's Hollywooder Liederbuch with pianist Victoria Kirsch under the auspices Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra in Los Angeles for online streaming and joining forces with Tony Award-winning composer Adam Guettel to create a short film titled "Medusa" as part of his song cycle Myths and Hymns, produced by MasterVoices, which also featured artists Dove Cameron, Renée Fleming, and Cheyenne Jackson. Due to the pandemic, performances of Puccini's Messa di Gloria with the Rundfunkchor Berlin in Milan and Stuttgart under conductor Simon Halsey had to be cancelled.

In the 2019-20 season, Mr. Brancy made his San Francisco Opera debut as Donald and covered the title role in the Ian Rutherford production of Britten's Billy Budd conducted by Lawrence Renes; appeared as the baritone soloist in Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem (version for two pianos) with Opéra National de Bordeaux; returned to the role of Steward in Jonathan Dove's Flight for a production with Pacific Opera Victoria; sang a recital with the New York Festival of Song; performed Handel's Messiah for the United States Naval Academy and The Florida Orchestra; and was in Residency at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity.

In recent seasons, Mr. Brancy debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a new production of Meredith Monk's ATLAS conducted by Paolo Bortolameolli and directed by Yuval Sharon; made a role debut as Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with the Gulbenkian Orchestra Choir directed by Vincent Huguet and conducted by Lorenzo Viotti in Lisbon; returned to Oper Frankfurt for a new production of Olga Neuwirth's Lost Highway conducted by Karsten Januschke; sang orchestrated selections from Schubert's Winterreise with the Edmonton Symphony; toured nationally with his critically acclaimed programs A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song and Armistice: The Journey Home with internationally renowned pianist and collaborator Peter Dugan at Alice Tully Hall, Stanford University, West Point Academy, the Smithsonian Institute, the United States Naval Academy, Arizona Opera, and the Kennedy Center; performed Handel's Messiah with the Victoria Symphony in Canada, the Johnstown Symphony and a return to Carnegie Hall under the baton of Kent Tritle with Musica Sacra.

Mr. Brancy has performed with Semperoper Dresden, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Oper Frankfurt, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Edmonton Opera, Opéra national de Lorraine, Florida Grand Opera, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Pacific Opera Victoria, Opera Omaha, Vorarlberger Landestheater, OPERA San Antonio, and Clarion Music Society in such wide-ranging repertoire as the title role in Eugene Onegin, Malatesta in Don Pasquale; Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos; Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Albert in Werther, Steward in Dove's Flight; and Dancaire/Morales in Carmen.

Mr. Brancy has sung with the San Francisco Symphony, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Boston Symphony, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Kansas City Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, and Tucson Symphony Orchestra, among others. He is a regularly featured soloist in the St. Matthew Passion (Bach), Carmina Burana (Orff), Ein deutsches Requiem (Brahms), Requiem (Fauré); Messiah (Handel); Elijah (Mendelssohn), Mass in B minor (Bach), Krönungsmesse (Mozart) and has collaborated with conductors Helmut Rilling, James Gaffigan, Lawrence Renes, Alexander Prior, Klaas Stok, and Alexander Briger. His concert and recital appearances have taken him to the Royal Concertgebouw, Weill Recital Hall, Hugo Wolf Akademie, Société d'art vocal de Montréal, Carmel Bach Festival, and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The 2019 release of Tobias Picker's Fantastic Mr. Fox, performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project with an all-star cast of singers led by Mr. Brancy and conducted by Gil Rose, won the 2020 GRAMMY Award for Best Opera Recording. Mr. Brancy won First Prizes in the Art Song Division of the 2018 Concours Musical International de Montreal; the 2018 Lotte Lenya Competition in New York; the 2015 Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition; and the 2014 Marilyn Horne Song Competition. He has also won Sullivan Foundation Grand Prize; Second Prize at the 2017 Wigmore Hall Competition in London; and the Media Prize in the 2017 Belvedere International Singing Competition in Moscow.

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