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Soprano

Christine Buras

Claremont

United States

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Soprano Christine Buras has been praised for her rich lyrical timbre, dynamic stage presence, and fearless approach to 20th and 21st century repertoire. Equally at home on operatic and concert stages, Christine’s repertoire spans from Baroque chamber music, to the operas of Verdi and Strauss, to contemporary performance art. Having grown up in Washington, DC, she has been based in London, UK since 2013, where she enjoys a busy career as an emerging artist.

This season Christine makes her debut with Merry Opera in their innovative and immersive fully-staged production of Handel’s Messiah, directed by John Ramster. She revisits one of her favourite Handel roles, the title role in Theodora, in concert with the Hampstead Collective. She looks forward to returning to Regent’s Opera this summer in a touring production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, in her role debut as Fiordiligi.

Christine made her debut last season with Regent’s Opera as Dienerin in Richard Strauss’ Die Ägyptische Helena and was subsequently invited to sing Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel and Helmwige in Wagner’s Die Walküre. She returned to her hometown of Washington DC for a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Washington National Cathedral. Further concert highlights include Tatyana’s Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin with the Hayes Symphony Orchestra, and Couperin’s Leçons de ténèbres and the Bach St. John Passion at Hampstead Parish Church. In the summer of 2022 she joined Grange Park Opera for their productions of Verdi’s Otello, Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, Janáček’s The Adventures of Mr Broucek, Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer, and the new football opera Gods of the Game.

Christine’s previous operatic roles include Contessa Almaviva (Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro), Suor Dolcina (Puccini’s Suor Angelica), Hélène (Chabrier’s Une Éducation Manquée), Lucy (Menotti’s The Telephone), Theodora (Handel’s Theodora). In concert she has been a frequent soloist at St. Martin-in-the-Fields and St. John Smith Square in works including the Bach St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, and B minor mass; Handel Messiah, Dixit Dominus, Judas Maccabaeus, and Samson; Mozart Exsultate jubilate, Requiem, and C minor mass; Haydn Creation; Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem; Mendelssohn Elijah; and the Verdi Requiem.

Christine and her duo partner Thomas Ang were finalists in the Oxford Lieder Young Artist Platform competition in 2020, performing a programme of songs by Duparc, Debussy, Strauss, Sibelius, and a work by contemporary American composer Jesse Jones. Christine also enjoys performing oratorio, and her repertoire includes major works by J.S. Bach, Haydn, Handel, Rossini, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Orff, and Mozart. She has performed as a soloist at venues including St. John Smith Square, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and Washington National Cathedral. While studying at the Royal Academy of Music, she was a regular performer on the Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata Series as both a soloist and chorus member, culminating in a joint RAM/Juilliard Bach cantatas tour to New York, Boston, and Leipzig, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki. Christine is also a passionate advocate of contemporary music. She is a founding member of Ensemble x.y, a chamber ensemble dedicated to commissioning and performing new music. In July 2017, Christine performed with Ensemble x.y at the inaugural HASS-fest of contemporary art and music in Yerevan, Armenia. 

Christine received her early musical education as a chorister at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and later obtained her BA (with honours) in Music History and Theory from the University of Chicago and her Masters of Music at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music Historical Performance Institute. Christine recently completed her MA in Vocal Studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was generously supported by the Josephine Baker Trust, the Adah Rogalsky Scholarship, and the William Gibbs Educational and Religious Trust. While studying at RAM, she won third prize in the 2015 Joan Chissell Schumann Lieder Competition and was commended in the Major Van Someren-Godfrey Prize for English Song and the Marjorie Thomas Art of Song prize. Upon graduation, she was awarded the DipRAM in recognition of an exemplary final recital. She is a student of American soprano Pamela Kuhn.

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