Following a distinguished international singing career, during which she was acclaimed for her radiant, crystalline voice and superb musicianship across a broad repertoire, Christine Brandes now brings her passionate and insightful energies to the podium, garnering praise for performances in the opera house and on the symphonic stage.
During the 2025-26 season Christine Brandes makes her conducting debut at Chicago Opera Theater leading a production of Salieri’s Falstaff directed by Robin Guarino. Highlights of the season also include a program of Bach Cantatas at The Holy Trinity in New York City, a gala program leading the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s, and an original program, Pearls of Sorrow, with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in which she and countertenor Reginald Mobley explore musical common spaces between the Thirty Years’ War in Europe and the institution of chattel slavery.
Last season Christine Brandes debuted both at the Florida Grand Opera in a new production of Die Zauberflöte and at The Atlanta Opera in a new production of Semele. Following the success of a Seattle Opera debut leading a critically acclaimed production of Handel’s Alcina directed by Tim Albery in 2023, Brandes returned to the company to conduct Barrie Kosky’s audience-favorite production of Die Zauberflöte.
Highlights of the recent past include debuts at Wolf Trap Opera leading a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Vivaldi’s Ottone in villa with Carnegie Mellon University Opera, Handel’s Giulio Cesare for West Edge Opera, and two productions of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice – for both West Edge Opera and an innovative adaption for Victory Hall Opera that interwove a new play that was performed by deaf actors.
On the concert stage past successes include the Duruflé and Fauré Requiems with Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec, programs of Bach Cantatas with Choir of Trinity Wall Street and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the world premiere of Loud by Jimmy López Bellido during the debut performance of the International Pride Orchestra in San Francisco, and a program of Handel Concerti Grossi and the East Coast premiere of Mason Bates’ Appalachian Ayre with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra at the Newport Classical Music Festival.
As a singer, she has performed principal roles for the following opera companies: San Francisco, Seattle, Washington National, Houston Grand, Minnesota, New York City Opera, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Glimmerglass among others. She has sung with the following orchestras: Cleveland, Chicago, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, Seattle, Minnesota, the National Symphony, and with such distinguished conductors as Sir Simon Rattle, Pierre Boulez, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Dame Jane Glover, Bernard Labadie and Nicholas McGegan, among many others.
