Bass-baritone Oleg Bryjak made his LA Opera debut as Don Fernando in Fidelio (September 2007). He returns to LA Opera as Alberich in Siegfried (September/October 2009).

Oleg Bryjak was born in Kazakhstan in the former USSR and has appeared on opera stages all over the world, including Paris, Zurich, London, Chicago, Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Sao Paolo and Tokyo. His repertoire includes more than 30 operas, and he has worked with such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Sir Andrew Davis, James Conlon, Donald Runnicles, John Fiore, and Simon Rattle.

In 1990 he took second prize in the International Sylvia Gesty Competition in Stuttgart, Germany. From 1991 to 1996 he was engaged at Karlsruhe Staatsoper, singing such roles as Bartolo in II Barbiere di Siviglia, Dulcamara in L'Elisir d'Amore, Fra Melitone in La Forza del Destino), Kezal in The Bartered Bride, Varlaam in Boris Godunov, both Galitsky and the title role in Prince Igor, Boris Ismailov in Lady Macbeth from Mtsensk, and Alberich in the Ring cycle, among others.

Since 1996, Mr. Bryjak has been a member of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. There he has sung Leporello in Don Giovanni, the Father in Hansel und Gretel, Don Pasquale, Falstaff, Rigoletto, Amonasro in Aida, Klingsor in Parsifal, Alberich in the Ring cycle, Telramund in Lohengrin, Iago in Otello, Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, Mustafa in L'Italiana in Algeri, Dr. Kolenaty in The Makropulos Case, Pizarro in Fidelio, Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger, the title role in Der fliegende Holländer, Scarpia in Tosca, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana and Tonio in Pagliacci, Gianni Schicchi, and Michele in Il Tabarro.

Since 1998 he has appeared regularly with the Vienna Staatsoper as Telramund, Amonasro, Alberich and Pizarro. Other recent highlights of his career include his Chicago Lyric Opera debut as Alberich (Ring cycle) 2003-2005; Alberich at the Royal Albert Hall in London and in a live TV and radio broadcast at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus in 2004; Alberich and Klingsor in Amsterdam in 2005/06; his Tokyo debut as Scarpia in 2006; his Covent Garden debut as Dikoj in Katya Kabanová in 2007; Alberich at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2008; Krušina in The Bartered Bride at the Paris Opera; and Dikoj in Madrid.