Bruns was born in
Weil am Rhein on 25 November 1960. During his school years, Martin Bruns was a member of the
Knabenkantorei Basel and was influenced by this musical environment. He first studied
violin at the
City of Basel Music Academy and then became a member of the
Bern Symphony Orchestra. After a few years he decided to study singing in addition and attended the
Fribourg and
Zürich universities and Daniel Ferro's singing class at the
Juilliard School in New York City. In addition, he took
masterclass with renowned artists such as
Irwin Gage,
Ernst Haefliger,
Arleen Augér and
Phyllis Curtin. After his studies, Bruns began his singing career as a member of the ensemble at the Hessian State Theatre in Wiesbaden. In addition, he has accepted numerous invitations to guest appearances at renowned German and European theatres and has performed with many major orchestras in Europe and North America. Bruns' repertoire includes vocal parts from early
baroque music to
Mozart and
Mahler up to
contemporary music. A main focus of his vocal performances is the song repertoire, especially the lesser known works of the 20th century such as those by
Ferruccio Busoni,
Ignace Strasfogel or
David Diamond. Bruns' regular piano accompanists include
Kolja Lessing, Brian Zeger, Jan Philipp Schulze, Ulrich Eisenlohr and
Christoph Hammer. Through numerous premieres and first performances, including the performance of a work by
Paul Engel written especially for the Vienna Piano Trio and Martin Bruns based on poems by
Ursula Haas entitled:
Getäuscht hat sich der Albatros, Bruns has repeatedly championed contemporary music at the International Music Festival in Lucerne, the
Salzburg Easter Festival or the Chamber Music Festival in Ottawa, among others. Furthermore, in 2004, on the occasion of
Francesco Petrarca's 700th birthday, he arranged 25 of his songs for medium voice and piano and performed them for the first time at the Festival Petrarca Musicale, which he himself initiated, at
Schloss Kirchheim in
Kirchheim unter Teck. Further highlights of his career were the Europe-wide live broadcast of his song recital
Flies, you of my youth dreams from the
Beethoven-Haus in
Bonn, the first performance of
Antonín Dvořák's song cycle
Zypressen in the original version for voice and piano in
Ludwigshafen am Rhein and
Ljubljana, a US tour with Jan Philipp Schulze and the double production of Gian Carlo Menotti's
The Telephone and Carl Orff's
Die Kluge in Basel. In February 2009 Bruns took over a singing class as substitute at the
Zürcher Hochschule der Künste and one year later he was appointed visiting professor and from 2012 professor of singing at the
Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" and was elected vice-rector from 2014 to 2016. In addition, he taught singing at the
Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, location
Aachen, from 2010 to 2012. == Recordings ==