Conductor Christine Brandes, formerly a leading soprano specializing in the Baroque, drew meticulously expressive playing from COT’s orchestra. From mournful low strings to high-spirited, burbling woodwinds, she made sure that Salieri’s skillful orchestration deftly supported the onstage action.
Musical America, Wynne Delacoma

Christine Brandes led the orchestra with lightness, providing solid support for her cast while driving the comic action forward. The conductor, who impressed me in a 2023 production of Handel’s Alcina with the Seattle Opera, is a real talent at the podium. Hopefully, Brandes will have more opportunities to showcase her talents to Chicago audiences.
Seen and Heard International, Zach Carstensen

In her COT podium debut, singer-turned-conductor Christine Brandes brought her considerable expertise in the Baroque and Classical repertory to bear on her interpretation, supporting the singers through crisp pacing, adroit balances and a respect for this Falstaff as a light entertainment very much of its time and place—there was no attempt to turn it into something it is not. The orchestra played beautifully for her, the tangy woodwinds in particular.
Chicago Classical Review, John von Rhein

COT made many splendid choices for this opera which is new for most Chicagoans and one I particularly admired was hiring Christine Brandes as conductor. Formerly a soprano who excelled in Baroque and Mozart roles, Brandes now works on the podium and did a marvelous job keeping the opera moving at an exciting clip, always finding the vim and the zest in the score.
Hyde Park Herald, M. L. Rantala

Meanwhile, conductor Christine Brandes led fluidly from the pit, with alert dynamics...
Chicago Tribune, Hannah Edgar

It’s this kind of hybridity that The Atlanta Opera’s new production of Semele embraces—combining historically informed Baroque musical style, performed on modern instruments under the baton of conductor Christine Brandes, with 21st-century staging that eschews period literalism in favor of stylized modernity. The result is a carefully calibrated contrast: Baroque-informed musical expression paired with sleek, contemporary visuals that evoke timeless themes without anchoring the mythology, psychology, or action to any specific era.

Brandes, a seasoned interpreter of Baroque and Classical-era music, led the Atlanta Opera Orchestra with a singer’s sensitivity to line and phrasing, allowing the ornamentation and dramatic nuances of the score to emerge naturally. Though played on modern instruments, the ensemble achieved a texture and style that supported the vocal lines rather than overwhelming them.
Earrelevant, Mark Gresham

But the music. Oh, the music. Here, conductor Christine Brandes shone. The overture was a model of clarity, with individual entrances clearly delineated as instruments seamlessly integrated into the orchestral fabric after their solos. Though plasticity of tempo was far more restrained than in more romantic performances and recordings of earlier eras, nothing about the Brandes’ Flute was metronomic.
Classical Voice North America, Jason Victor Serinus

Conductor Christine Brandes, a Classical and Baroque repertoire specialist, made sure the singers were thoroughly integrated with the hundreds of video cues on the film projections behind them. Her tempi were well chosen and executed for that purpose, and both singers and orchestra responded in kind.
Bachtrack, Erica Miner

The musical elements were well served. The production’s  strengths began in the orchestra pit. Christine Brandes, herself once a stellar Mozart and Baroque soprano, conducted an astutely paced reading from a rapid, lively Overture to the final joyous chorus, here sung offstage as the characters return from their game adventure. Both the sparkle of the comedic episodes and the nobility of the Masonic arias and choruses were fully captured under Brandes’ direction. She elicited tight ensemble playing and precise articulation from the excellent orchestra.
South Florida Classical Review, Lawrence Budmen

Christine Brandes conducted the Wolf Trap Opera Orchestra with focus and intensity, finding particular clarity when it counted most, during complex stretches of ensemble singing. (Shout-out to the acoustic embrace of the actual Barn itself for making such pristine balance possible at all.) Musically, it was a night characterized by marvelous tangles of woodwinds, crisp statements of strings, and sturdy stage-side continuo furnished by Lori Barnet on cello and William Woodard on fortepiano.
The Washington Post, Michael Andor Brodeur

What a triumph: Seattle Opera conclusively proved that it can handle Handel, with a superb new staging of the composer’s 1735 opera “Alcina,”… Rarely do operagoers get to savor this combination of history, novelty, imagination and musical expertise in one production. Nor do we often get the chance to hear a baroque-era opera conducted with the authority of Christine Brandes, herself a former singer who has sung the role of Morgana in this opera and knows the score down to the last tiny nuance.
The Seattle Times, Melinda Bargreen

Making her Seattle Opera conducting debut, Christine Brandes (who formerly has sung the role of Morgana) performed a major miracle in achieving the sound of so-called “authentic” performance practice from modern instruments. She maintained perfect balance in the small but well-chosen ensemble, always attuned to the vocal needs of the singers, never covering them, and allowing them to navigate their multifaceted challenges successfully.
Broadway World, Erica Miner

Christine Brandes led the orchestra to extreme heights of performance; keeping intricate baroque ornamentation and athletic runs perfectly together is no easy feat. Throughout the performance, Brandes joined orchestra and vocalists together in mesmerizing unity.
Backtrack, Rosy Rogers 

Conductor Christine Brandes is a magnetic presence onstage. She asserts her authority effortlessly, resulting in a graceful yet solid performance born out of a profound knowledge of the score. A delight to work with on and off the podium, her insights were incredibly valuable and brought the best out of the music and the musicians. It was truly gratifying to have her lead the world premiere of “Loud” so successfully, as evidenced by audience’s rapturous reception.
Jimmy López Bellido

Newport Classical’s Saturday Night festival concert brought the San Francisco-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra to the Breakers Mansion in a delightful HIP of Handel, Biber, and a newly commissioned East Coast Premiere of American composer Mason Bates Appalachian Ayre. With only a three-day notice, guest conductor Christine Brandes adroitly filled in on the podium for Music Director Richard Egarr, skillfully pulling and stretching those notes that gave structure and direction to the musical lines, all the while keeping an energetic pace without losing sight of the tactus (basic pulse) which remained steady throughout the many changes of time and tempo. She telegraphed a palpable connection, and the 19 players responded accordingly.
The Boston Musical Intelligencer, Stephen Martorella

Perhaps the afternoon’s most delightful surprise was the professional conducting debut of Christine Brandes, best known until now as a soprano of agility and intelligence. Those qualities have apparently carried over into her new career; she led the performance alertly and with a keen sense of dramatic nuance.
San Francisco Chronicle, Joshua Kosman

Brandes supported and reinforced her musical command with a supple, compelling demeanor. Her face bloomed open with hope and touching self-deception, hardened in fury and even captured the ticking processes of thought and self-scrutiny. It was a marvelous thing to behold. The string accompaniment wasn’t always as tightly controlled, but Brandes seemed to raise the Esterházy’s game to a higher, keener level than they had brought to the opening quartet.
San Francisco Classical Voice, Steven Winn

Christine Brandes, garbed in either persona of her trouser role shows not only acting range and comic control, but lustrous singing… Although her voice’s richness is less the point in the production than her characterization, its intrinsic beauty of round tones, claret-like depth, and flexibility are more than moving. Clearly, whether comic or poignant, she has the whole crew in hand, even as she gets into the lascivious play singing with shine and conviction at the same time. A fine performance.
Opera Wire, Lois Silverstein

Downloads

Discography

Amazon

Amazon | ArkivMusic

Amazon