Acerca de
Rusne Tuslaite is a Lithuanian Soprano praised for her ‘effortless vocals and understated stage presence’ (Ham&High). She is the Royal Academy of Music Alumna and the Royal Opera House Emerging Artist for their Youth Council Steering Group in 2021.
She made her Lithuanian National Opera debut at the age of seventeen as a winner of the television song contest ‘Dainu dainele 2016.’. Her recent operatic engagements include the roles of Fiordiligi (cover) in Mozart's 'Così fan tutte' (The Grange Festival), Chief hen and Woodpecker in Janáček’s ‘The Cunning Little Vixen’ (Hampstead Garden Opera), Lidochka in Shostakovich’s ‘Cheryomushki’ (Welsh National Opera’s Youth Company), Countess Almaviva (Hampstead Garden Opera) and Susanna (RAM opera scenes) in Mozart’s ‘Le Nozze di Figaro', Tiresias in King’s world premiere of ‘Cantata Superba’ (Audentia Ensemble) and Manola in Massenet’s ‘Cherubin’ as well as chorus in Tchaikovsky’s ‘Iolanta’, Ravel’s ‘L'Enfant et les Sortilèges’ with the Royal Academy Opera. Rusne was a member of the Glyndebourne Festival chorus for 2022 making her main stage debut in Smyth’s ‘The Wreckers’ as well as performing at the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival for Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio’ (Philharmonia voices). She is delighted to be joining the Grange Festival 2023 singing in the chorus for Tchaikovsky's 'The Queen of Spades', Purcell's 'Dido and Aeneas' and Glück's 'Orfeo ed Euridice'. She has previously performed in many prestigious venues such as the Glyndebourne Opera House, the Wales Millennium Centre, the Grand Theatre Amiens, the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the Usher Hall, the King George Hall and the Auditorium du Nouveau Siècle.
Rusne is also a member of the prestigious Philharmonia Chorus performing all over the UK and France. Her oratorio repertoire includes Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Faure's 'Requiem', Handel’s ‘Messiah’ and 'Dixit Dominus', Bach's chorale op.8 'Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland', Mahler’s Symphonies No. 2, 3 and 8 as well as Schoenberg’s ‘Gurrelieder’. She has sung alongside the Welsh National Opera Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Orchestre National de Lille under the baton of Eduardo Strausser, Robin Ticciati, Alice Farnham, Lada Valesova, Sir Donald Runnicles, Sian Edwards, Maxim Emelyanychev, Jakub Hrůsa, Ludwig Wicki, Alexandre Bloch, Esa-Pekka Salonen, James Shearman and Predrag Gosta. She has recently worked with the London City Orchestra and conductor Thomas Payne on Strauss' 'Vier letzte lieder' as a cover soloist for soprano Nadine Benjamin MBE.
Rusne won numerous national and international singing competitions in Lithuania and received the Arthur Burcher Memorial Prize, the Toni V Fell Prize and was commended in the Historical Women Composer Prize in the UK. In 2018 she was representing the Royal Academy of Music at the Kathleen Ferrier competition's Junior edition as one of the sixteen top singers across the UK conservatoires.
Rusne actively performs and takes part in masterclasses and festivals in Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Austria, France, Italy and Vatican. Some of the most well-known include the International Chorus Inside Festival (Rome, Italy), Welsh International Academy of Voice's Summer programme (Cardiff, Wales), the Mozarteum University Summer Academy (Salzburg, Austria), the St Denis Festival (Paris, France) and the British Youth Opera Summer festivals (London, England). Rusne has previously worked with many legendary singers including Nuccia Focile, Michèle Crider, Dennis O’Neill, Della Jones, Jack Li Vigni and Anna Netrebko’s singing teacher Tamara Novicenko.
Rusne is generously supported by the Mario Lanza Educational Foundation, the Clemence Charitable Trust, the Carr-Ellison Family Charitable Trust and the Open Music Foundation.