Hans-Christian Braun was born at Wernigerode, Harz region, in 1963. Before he took up singing he played the trumpet from age 10. He was active in various choirs, but after passing his school-leaving examinations he opted for an occupation in farming. It was only later that he decided to make singing his profession. From 1985 to 1990 the tenor attended the Franz Liszt College of Music in Weimar. He passed his final year of study as an extramural student, having been offered an engagement by the Rundfunkchor Berlin in 1989. Choirmaster Dietrich Knote, known as a strict taskmaster, became one of his chief mentors there. Braun had chosen the Rundfunkchor Berlin because of its wide-ranging repertoire and high proportion of sacred music.
Hans-Christian Braun has a special affinity for baroque music. He has sung the Evangelist in Johann Sebastian Bach’s passions and oratorios in countless performances. But he has also discovered many new composers and works. For example, he performed the tenor solo in Arnold Schoenberg’s “Glückliche Hand” (The Fateful Hand), which he will also sing in February 2005 under Michael Gielen. On top of this Braun is principal tenor of the Singphonische Quartett a „downsized male choir“ which devotes itself to 19th and 20th-century vocal quartet writing and offers parodies of orchestral masterpieces in its own settings with texts from the pen of Joachim Vogt. The Singphonisches Quartett is a regular feature of receptions and banquets of the Federal President at Schloss Bellevue (for details see www.d-s-q.de).
Hans-Christian Braun is also a member of the chamber group 6cant.
