Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands
Experienced Owner with a demonstrated history of working in the performing arts industry. Strong entrepreneurship and professionally skilled in Opera, Theatre, Dramaturgy, and Dance.
Dramaturg and author on music, theatre, opera and dance. He wrote a study on Wagner’s Ring-cycle, on Orientalism in Opera, on Opera in Venice, on the music of Aleppo, and on Bizet's Pêcheurs des perles. In 2009 his essays were published. As a music journalist he contributed to Opernwelt, De Standaard and The Wall Street Journal Europe. As a production dramaturg he worked on Il re pastore, The Abduction from the Seraglio (Antwerp), Partenope (Vienna), La Juive, Orlando furioso, Médée and Tristan und Isolde (Paris), Cavalli's Xerse (Lille), Tosca, Pique Dame (Riga), Werther (Erfurt), Prince Igor (Essen), Carmen, La damnation de Faust, A Little Night Music, The Rape of Lucretia, La voix humaine/L’heure espagnol, Orphée, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Een lied voor de maan, Lijflied, Het meisje…, Così fan tutte, The Shell Trial He realised adaptations of Romeo and Juliet for Scottish Ballet, of Shéhérazade and The Tempest in Amsterdam, with visual artist Shirin Neshat, and of Life is a Dream for Rambert Ballet. For the Ruhrtriennale/ITA he made a stage adaptation of Pasolini’s Teorema, directed by Ivo van Hove, which was selected for the Lincoln Center Festival in New York. He worked as a dramaturge for the Operadagen Rotterdam Festival. There he directed 'Alla turca - East meets West'. For Delft Chamber Music Festival and Rotterdam Philharmonic Festival he directed 'Begin van een onbekend tijdperk' and in 2021 'Nevski Prospekt'. In 2022 he directed Sound and Fury/Erasmus with Cappella Pratensis. He wrote the libretto Alp Arslan for composer Richard van Schoor, and together with composer Mathilde Wantenaar a libretto for the opera Een lied voor de Maan and for Dear Professor. Bruls conducted workshops for contemporary music theatre, libretto writing, youth opera and cultural journalism in Barcelona, Stavanger, Hobart, Ghent, Brussels and Aix-en-Provence. For the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin he made a podcast series about Josquin Desprez with Shirley Apthorp.
libretto for the music theatre production Dear Professor of composer Mathilde Wantenaar, with Snaar Festival and Nederlands Kamerkoor https://www.nederlandskamerkoor.nl/nl/agenda/dear-professor https://www.muziekgebouw.nl/nl/agenda/dear-professor-cmnk https://debalie.nl/programma/dear-professor-nederlands-kamerkoor-24-04-2026/
dramaturgy of opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner. Director Pierre Audi, conductor Tarmo Peltokoski. Also performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (2016), Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (2016) and Nationale Opera Amsterdam (2018 and 2026)
advisor and contributor for documentary series Opera. Now by Vasco Mendonça, in collaboration with Aleksi Barrière, for Medici.tv and Mezzo
dramaturgy and text for staged concert Het Lied van de Sibylle (El Cant de la Sibilla) with Wishful Singing and Amsterdams Andalusisch Orkest