Victor Conrad Braun (August 4, 1935 – January 6, 2001) was a Canadian baritone who had a major international performance career in concerts and operas that lasted more than 40 years. While he was an accomplished performer of the standard opera works of Mozart, Puccini, Strauss, Verdi, and Wagner; he was particularly lauded for his portrayals of works by 20th-century composers like Alban Berg, Bartók, Henze, Siegfried Matthus, and Luciano Berio among others. Life and career Born in Windsor, Ontario, Braun initially studied geology at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) before deciding to pursue a singing career. While a student at UWO he began studying voice privately with Lillian Wilson in London, Ontario in 1954. In 1956 he entered The Royal Conservatory of Music where he studied singing with George Lambert and Weldon Kilburn. That same year he became a member of the chorus of the Canadian Opera Company (COC). He made his professional solo debut with the company in 1957 as Sciarrone in Puccini's Tosca. He remained committed to the COC for the next five years where he was heard in mainly secondary parts. However, his profile with the company was considerably raised when he gave a much lauded portrayal of Escamillo in Georges Bizet's Carmen in 1961; a role he performed with the company again in 1964. Another critical success for him at the COC was the part of Monterone in Verdi's Rigoletto (1962). In 1963 Braun left Canada for Europe after having won a stipend to study singing further in Vienna. Just a few months after his time there, he drew international attention for the first time when he won the grand prize at the 1963 Vienna International Mozart Competition. This accomplishment drew the attention of Wieland Wagner who took it upon himself to get Braun a contract with the Frankfurt Opera. He remained a resident artist in Frankfurt for the next five years singing a variety of roles, including Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro and Ottone in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea among others. During his time in Frankfurt, he began to appear regularly as a guest artist with other important opera houses in Europe. He sang at the Cologne Opera (1965-1966), Deutsche Oper am Rhein (1966-1968), La Scala (1967, as Wolfram in Tannhäuser), and the Staatsoper Stuttgart (1967-1969) among others. In 1968 Braun left Frankfurt to become a resident artist at the Bavarian