Oleg Bryjak

Oleg Bryjak (Ukrainian: Олег Брижак, 27 October 1960 – 24 March 2015) was a Kazakhstani-German bass-baritone opera singer.[1] Born in Jezkazgan, Kazakh SSR, into an ethnic Ukrainian family,[2] he moved to Germany in 1991[3] to join the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.[4] From 1996 until his death, he was a soloist with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf.[5]

Oleg Bryjak
Олег Брижак
Born	27 October 1960 Jezkazgan, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union
Died	24 March 2015 (aged 54) Prads-Haute-Bléone, France
Cause of death	Killed onboard Germanwings Flight 9525
Occupation	Opera singer
Employer	Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Bryjak had been a protodeacon in a Ukrainian Orthodox church in Krefeld.[3]

Bryjak died on 24 March 2015 along with his colleague Maria Radner when Germanwings Flight 9525 was deliberately crashed by its co-pilot in Prads-Haute-Bléone, France, during their return from performances of Richard Wagner's Siegfried at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.[6][7]

Notable recordings

• Leoš Janáček: Káťa Kabanová – Karita Mattila (Katia), Bryjak (Dikoj), Chorus and Orquesta del Teatro Real; Jiří Bělohlávek (conductor), Robert Carsen (director). Recorded at Teatro Real, Madrid, December 2008. Fra Musica (Harmonia Mundi) FRA003 (DVD).

References

1. "Düsseldorfer Opernsänger unter den Opfern des Flugzeugabsturzes – Trauernde Angehörige erreichen den Flughafen in Barcelona". Bild.de (in German). Berlin.
2. Посол України підтвердив загибель Олега Брижака у катастрофі Airbus A320, BBC Ukrainian, 25 March 2015. Andriy Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, confirmed that Bryjak was ethnically Ukrainian, but did not hold Ukrainian nationality.
3. В авикатастрофе на юге Франции погиб оперный певец Олег Брияк. naviny.by (in Russian).
4. Administrator. "Oleg Bryjak – Биографи&#11". olegbryjak.com (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2015-04-03.
5. Оперный певец Олег Брыжак погиб в авиакатастрофе Germanwings, Deutsche Welle (in Russian), 24 March 2015.
6. John Shammas (24 March 2015). "Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crash: First pictures of opera singers Maria Radner and Oleg Bryjak among 150 dead". Daily Mirror. London. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
7. Garry Humphreys (26 March 2015). "Maria Radner: Internationally acclaimed contralto who was due to make her Bayreuth Festival debut later this year". The Independent. Retrieved 31 March 2015.

External links

• Obituary at The Independent
• Trauer um Wagner-Sänger / Oleg Bryjak und Maria Radner verunglückt Bayerischer Rundfunk, 25 March 2015 (in German)