'Brian Smith Walters and Gweneth-Ann Rand offered pretty much everything one could hope for in the Volsung lovers. The former's Heldentenor thrilled vocally as any Siegmund must; there was, though, much more to him than that. Like the rest of the cast, he took advantage of the lack of full staging to show just how much character narrative can develop through words and music. From outlawry and dejection to apparent victory, only to be snatched away from him by the chief of the gods himself (ever unknown to him as his father), this was a story that demanded to be told.'
- Mark Berry for Seen and Heard
'Brian Smith Walters showed himself here as a Tristan every inch a Heldentenor. As vividly communicative in words as in music, Smith Walters paced his performance wisely, with as keen a developmental edge as any listener might wish for, culminating in shattering agonies and sweetly long-for release.'
- Mark Berry for Opera Magazine, 2020
'Brian Smith Walters amazed as Tristan; his depth of tone and power is an opera house's delight.'
- A Young(ish) Perspective, 2025
Critically acclaimed heldentenor, Brian Smith Walters, is equally at home in the big Romantic scores of Wagner, Strauss, and Smyth, as he is in contemporary repertoire. Described by Pierre Boulez as ‘un musicien formidable’ and ‘unflaggingly robust’ by Opera Magazine, heldentenor Brian Smith Walters began his musical career as a French horn player before turning to singing. In his career, he has performed over 80 roles, including such roles as Tristan Tristan und Isolde, Siegfried, Parsifal, Siegmund Die Walküre, Paul Die tote Stadt, Samson Samson et Dalila, Captain Vere Billy Budd and Peter Grimes.
