Biography

Brian began his musical career as a French horn player before turning to singing. In recent years, Brian has performed such roles as Tristan Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal, Siegmund Die Walküre, Peter Grimes, Loge Das Rheingold, Schreiber Tannhäuser, Don José Carmen, Male Chorus The Rape of Lucretia, Mark The Wreckers, and Samson Samson et Dalila.

In contemporary music, he has premiered various works by Nicola LeFanu, Michael Torke, Domenic Muldowney, and Ailis Ni Riain and has collaborated with Harrison Birtwistle, Oliver Knussen, and Pierre Boulez on performances of their works. As a student, Brian was the UK’s sole representative to the first Lucerne Festival academy for contemporary music.

Brian has performed on BBC Radios 3 and 4; SWR Radio (Switzerland); NDR Radio and Television (Germany); and African Television.

He has worked with conductors Valery Gergiev, Sir Mark Elder, and Christoph Eschenbach in festivals such as Lucerne, Schleswig-Holstein, Longborough, Buxton, Grange Park, and Aldeburgh with additional work at the Barbican and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Please contact for a full CV.  

Specific Training

Vocal

- serious study of bel canto style

- 8 years of university/music college study, Royal Northern College of Music and University of the Pacific's Conservatory of Music

- professional development Intensive Opera Course taken at Associated Studies, London

​- Estill technique studied in Amsterdam

Drama 

- trained in Meisner and Chekhov methods

- professional development in Stanislavski after university study

- music theatre experience from youth to university

Teaching

-experienced vocal teacher and coach, having been teaching since 2003, working with both individuals and ensembles. Though focusing mainly on classical and music theatre styles of singing, he has also pop, rock, jazz, and country styles. 

-experienced MD at college and university levels

-taught on A-level Music, A-level Performance Studies, and BTEC Acting courses for over a decade

Additional Skills

Language Skills

- French and German: high competency 

- Italian and Spanish: intermediate level

- Russian, Czech, and Polish: basic level

Instruments

- French horn: professional level

- Piano: grade 8 standard

- Trumpet: intermediate level

Dance and movement 

- dance classes taken in basic styles for the stage (eg waltz, polka)

Reviews

Smith Walters' voice assumed a beautiful, bronzed sheen, with “Wälse! Wälse!” ringing out like a battle cry and “Winterstürme” triumphantly tender...His taut acting of the nervous, hunted fugitive who gradually relaxes as he finds the sister who is his other self, was absolutely thrilling.
- Wagner News, re Siegmund, Die Walküre

...a convincing and sturdy lead, wearily torn between family and fatal duty.

- Opera Magazine, re Jacko, Jacko's Hour

...his dark tenor added a heroic element to the part...what Smith Walters did was impressive.

- Planet Hugill, re Loge, ​Das Rheingold

Brian Smith Walters was entirely convincing as the manic, obsessive Grimes. 

- Nottingham Post, re ​Peter Grimes

Brian Smith Walters' intense portrayal explored Parsifal's widely ranging emotions throughout the act, from the joy of recognising Gurnemanz through a Tannhäuser-like outpouring, channelling Amfortas' pain, as he described his wanderings. There was a sense of relief and lightness in the Good Friday scene as his emotional burdens were removed along with his armour, but Parsifal was still on a knife edge and plunged anew into despair at O wehe! before regaining his hard-won serenity in the baptism of Kundry. His floating of es lacht, die Aue! was beautiful and at the end there was a sense of having achieved the purpose for which he was born, radiant, yet with an undertow of grief as he continued to feel Amfortas' suffering. He was so deeply into the role that he stood gazing at an imaginary Spear in his hands.

​-Harmony Magazine, re concert performance of Parsifal