It has been a big week for opera singers on the national level. Just a few days ago Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel was knighted by the Queen and this week will see two major singers get the same recognition in Canada.

The artists in question are Michael Schade and Russell Braun, who are now appointees to The Order of Canada.

Braun hails from Georgetown, Ontario and is a regular performer at the Salzburg Festival, Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Diego Opera, Canadian Opera Company and San Francisco Opera. His upcoming performances including performances of Faure’s “Requiem” and Brahm’s “Four Serious Songs in Toronto. He ill also appear in “Louis Riel” at the Canadian Opera Company in April and May in Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario.

Schade, an honorary appointment, is from Oakville, Ontario and has performed around the world, including the Canadian Opera Company, the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Metropolitan Opera, the Washington National Opera, the San Francisco Opera and the Los Angeles Opera among others. He also has a varied discography that features music by Bach, Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi, Mendelssohn, Mahler and Haydn among others. He was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance in 2002 for his recording of St. Matthew Passion with Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Schade’s upcoming performances include “Die Fledermaus” in Vienna, “Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg” in Milan and “Idomeneo” in Florence.