Opera Scotland

Arthur Bruce Suggest updates

Scottish baritone.

Arthur Bruce trained in Manchester at the Royal Northern College of Music. While at the RNCM, he won the John Cameron Prize for Lieder and the Kate Snape Scholarship, as well as being a finalist in the Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Award for Singers, the RNCM Gold Medal Competition and the College's Concerto competition.

He worked with ENO's Opera Works programme and Scottish Opera's Connect Ensemble, before returning to study at the RCS's Alexander Gibson Opera School, appearing in a number of productions, including Street Scene, Trouble in Tahiti and Gianni Schicchi.  He was also a Britten-Pears Young Artist.

In Scotland he worked with Edinburgh Grand (Zurga,  Alfio), Edinburgh Players Opera Group (Wolfram,  One-eyed Brother,  Jew & Soldier Salome,  Donner) and is scheduled to join Opera Bohemia (Count Almaviva).

Recent engagements elsewhere include work with Berlin Opera Academy (Papageno);   Opera Holland Park (Chorus); Saffron Opera Group (Fourth Esquire Parsifal);  Piccalilli Opera;  Grange Park Festival;  London Young Sinfonia; Bowdon Festival Opera; Grand Teton Festival and Aberdeen International Youth Festival;  In 2019 he worked at Bampton Classical Opera (Artidoro in Storace's Gli sposi malcontenti, Englished as Bride and Gloom).

In Autumn 2019 he joined Scottish Opera under their Emerging Artists programme, with appearances beginning with Amadeus and the Bard.  In 2020 he worked with the Opera Highlights tour. However planned solo roles in The Gondoliers (Antonio) and Utopia Limited (Phantis) temporarily fell victim to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) cancellations, but were successfully activated in Autumn 2021.  Several on-line musical projects arose from Covid, notably creating Angus in a short chamber opera The Narcissistic Fish (Music by Samuel Bordoli; Libretto by Jenni Fagan).  He continued on the Emerging Artist programme for the 2020/21 season.  As the company began to emerge from the strictures of Coronavirus, he sang in an adapted open-air Bohème (Schaunard).  Returning to a form of stage performance one of the on-line productions (Così fan tutte) was also given life on stage.