brian vu, baritone

Brian Vu, baritone

A 2016-17 Resident Artist with the Pittsburgh Opera, Vu is slated to perform as Baron Douphol/La traviata, Second Nazarene/Salome, Berardo/Richard the Lionheart (Riccardo Primo), Hannah before/As One, and Calvin Griffith in the world premiere of The Summer King.  Previously, he has performed John Brooke/Little Women, Leo Stein/27,  Fiorello and Figaro (Student Matinee)/The Barber of Seville, all with Pittsburgh Opera.

Brian has performed Schaunard/La bohème, The Happy Prince/Wilde Tales, and Jazz Trio Baritone/Trouble in Tahiti at the Glimmerglass Festival, Moralès/Carmen at the Music Academy of the West, and Marquis d’Obigny/La traviata with the Wolf Trap Opera in collaboration with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington Chorus. Future engagements include a role and house debut at the Houston Grand Opera.

A graduate of Yale Opera Studio, his roles at Yale included Count Almaviva/Le nozze di Figaro, Bartley/Riders to the Sea, Dapertutto/Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Dandini/La cenerentola, Marcello/La bohème and Duke Robert/Iolanta. Previously with Opera UCLA, Brian performed Ottone/L’incoronazione di Poppea, Mercury/Orpheus in the Underworld, Narciso/Agrippina, Minskman/Flight, and Jigger/Carousel.

Equally at home on the concert stage, Brian made his Carnegie Hall debut singing Mitch Leigh’s "Impossible Dream" with the composer in attendance. Brian returned to Carnegie Hall in December 2014, performing songs from the Frederick R. Koch Collection of Yale's Beinecke Library. He has sung selections from The Merry Widow with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and as the baritone soloist with the Yale Glee Club and Yale Symphony Orchestra's performance of Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem.

He has participated as a Young Artist at the Glimmerglass Festival, Vocal Fellow in Marilyn Horne’s Music Academy of the West and is a former member of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio.

A First Place Winner of the Lotte Lenya Competition, Brian is also a recipient of the Sullivan Foundation Award and is a Grand Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Additional prizes include the George London Foundation, Gerda Lissner Competition, Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition, and the Opera Buffs of Los Angeles, along others.

A native of Los Angeles, Vu is a graduate of the Yale School of Music and University of California, Los Angeles.

Mr. Vu's residency is generously co-sponsored by John and Virginia DiPucci and Hale and Judy Oliver.

Visit Mr. Vu's personal website.