Emil Burian

Emil Burian (12 December 1876 – 9 October 1926) was a Czech operatic baritone. He was the father of poet and composer Emil František Burian and the grandfather of Czech songwriter and poet Jan Burian.

Born in Rakovník, he was the younger brother of the famous Czech tenor Karel Burian, and, like his brother, was a pupil of singing teacher in Prague. Burian made his professional opera debut in 1895 at the Cologne Opera. He sang then at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava and the National Theatre Brno. From 1899 until 1901 he performed at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb and from 1902 until 1904 he worked at the Divadlo Josefa Kajetána Tyla in Plzeň. From 1904 to 1906 he was on the roster of singers at the theatres of Nuremberg and Freiburg im Breisgau. He sang alongside his brother at the Semperoper in Dresden from 1906 until 1907, and then performed at the Hamburg State Opera from 1908 to 1910.