Known for her consistently dynamic performances, Ms. Brus’ rising career has included many operatic roles and concerts, both in the United States and abroad. She started her 2012 season by creating the role of Ophelia in the World Premiere performance of Carson Kievman’s opera Hamlet, with the original Shakespearean text. Her interpretation of this work caused Lawrence Budman of the South Florida Classical Review to write, “Meagan Brus nearly stole the show as Ophelia with her flawless coloratura and compelling portrait of emotional disintegration.” Immediately following her performance of Ophelia, Ms. Brus recorded and performed the premiere of Jeremy Beck’s song cycle Songs of Love and Remembrance, which was specifically written for her. Continuing her year of 20th-century music, Ms. Brus will be performing Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire celebrating the centennial of its premiere with both MusicIC in Iowa City, Iowa, and again in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, N.Mex.
Highlights from Ms. Brus’ 2010/2011 season included a 30-city tour of the United States as the vocal soloist with the group Ten O’Clock Classics, Oberto in Handel’s Alcina and soprano soloist performing Handel’s Neun Deutsche Arien with Bourbon Baroque, as well as singing the role of Pamina in Opera Theatre of Weston’s die Zauberflöte where she garnered praise for being “the opera’s most dimensional character… (Jim Lowe, The Rutland Herald).” Other recent performances include Gianetta and Barbarina in the Green Mountain Opera Festival’s productions of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (Jacques Lacombe, cond.), Frou-Frou in Lehar’s The Merry Widow with Opera Santa Barbara, and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro with Coópera: Project Opera of Manhattan.
Comfortable both on the operatic stage and in concert, Ms. Brus has been the soprano soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse, Bach’s Magnificat and Jesu, Meine Freude, Handel’s Laudate Pueri Dominum and Dixit Dominus, and Alessandro Scarlatti’s opera, Venere, Amore e Ragione in Montreal. Immediately following her debut as Ophelia with the SoBe Institute, Ms. Brus will return to sing Boccherini’s Stabat Mater with Bourbon Baroque in Louisville, Ky. Ms. Brus has given recitals in numerous places including Fukushima and Nihonmatsu, Japan, Düsseldorf, and New York City. Ms. Brus resides in New York City and holds degrees from both the Manhattan School of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
