+++
date = "2015-04-06T22:42:00-04:00"
discipline = "Baritone"
lastmod = "2015-04-06T22:42:00-04:00"
primary_image = "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmopera/image/upload/v1545409169/media/webhook-uploads/1428374439996/Brett.jpg.jpg"
publishDate = "2015-04-06T22:42:00-04:00"
related_companies = ["scene/companies/houston-grand-opera.md","scene/companies/opra-national-de-paris.md","scene/companies/glyndebourne.md","scene/companies/lyric-opera-of-chicago.md"]
slug = "brett-polegato"
title = "Brett Polegato"
website = "http://www.brettpolegato.com/"
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platform = "Facebook"
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url = "https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brett-Polegato/112314102114574"
[[social_media]]
platform = "Twitter"
template = "social-media"
url = "https://twitter.com/BrettPolegato"
+++

<p>
	<b><strong data-redactor-tag="strong">Brett Polegato's</strong></b> artistic sensibility has earned him the highest praise from audiences and critics: "his is a serious and seductive voice" says <i>The Globe and Mail</i>, and <i>The New York Times</i> has praised him for his "burnished, well-focused voice" which he uses with "considerable intelligence and nuance." He appears regularly on the world's most distinguished stages including those of Lincoln Center, La Scala, the Concertgebouw, the Opéra National de Paris, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, the Teatro Real, Roy Thomson Hall, the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, and has collaborated with conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Andris Nelsons, Bernard Haitink, Seiji Ozawa, Jeffrey Tate, Marc Minkowski, and Martyn Brabbins. He can be heard as soloist in the Grammy Awards' Best Classical Recording of 2003 - Vaughan Williams' <strong>A Sea Symphony</strong> (Telarc) with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Robert Spano.
</p>
<p>
	Brett begins his 2014/15 season with another role debut: Lieutenant Audebert in the Canadian premiere of Kevin Puts' <strong>Silent Night</strong> for Calgary Opera. He returns home to Toronto to join the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Choir in December performances of<strong>Messiah</strong> and his busy season continues with performances of Mahler's <strong>Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen</strong> with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in January. In March, he journeys to France to sing another of his signature roles: Kurwenal in a new production of <strong>Tristan und Isolde</strong> at the Opéra National de Bordeaux. From there, he travels directly to Britain to make his debut in June as Marcello in <strong>La Bohème</strong> and to reprise the title role in July of the highly successful production of Tchaikovsky's<strong>Eugene Onegin</strong> for Grange Park Opera. He concludes his whirlwind season as Don Quixote in <strong>Man of La Mancha</strong> for Calgary Opera's summer festival, Opera In The Village.
</p>
<p>
	Brett's 2013/2014 season began with a role debut: he sang his first Ford in <strong>Falstaff</strong> for Pacific Opera Victoria. In November, he travelled to Winnipeg to perform Doctor Malatesta in <strong>Don Pasquale</strong> for Manitoba Opera and in December, he appeared with Symphony Nova Scotia in performances of Handel's <strong>Messiah</strong>. After January concerts with the Eybler Quartet of a new transcription of Schumann's <strong>Dichterliebe</strong> in both Toronto and St. Catharines, he travelled to Atlanta for February concerts and a recording of Vaughan Williams' <strong>Dona Nobis Pacem</strong> with the Atlanta Symphony and conductor, Robert Spano. March found Mr. Polegato in Vancouver reprising the title role in Mozart's <strong>Don Giovanni</strong>, and he returned to Vancouver Opera in May with another role debut: that of Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa, in <strong>Don Carlo</strong>. He concluded his busy season in Buenos Aires, where he created the role of Gowan Stevens in the World Premiere of Oscar Strasnoy's <strong>Requiem</strong> for the Teatro Colón.
</p>
<p>
	One of today's most sought-after lyric baritones on the operatic stage, Brett has made a name for himself in a number of dramatic roles, most notably the title roles in <strong>Don Giovanni</strong> and <strong>Eugene Onegin</strong>, which his has sung at the Canadian Opera Company, the New Israeli Opera, Calgary Opera and Vancouver Opera. In the fall of 2010, he journeyed to Moscow to sing the title role in Berg's<strong>Wozzeck</strong> at the prestigious Bolshoi Theatre in a production directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov and conducted by Teodor Currentzis. He has appeared frequently in the title role of <strong>Pelléas et Mélisande</strong>, including new productions at the Strasbourg's Opéra National du Rhin, at the Leipzig Opera conducted by Marc Minkowski, and in Munich with Marcello Viotti. Pelléas was also the role which marked his Paris Opera debut in September of 2004. Another of his signature roles is Il Conte Almaviva in Mozart's <strong>Le Nozze di Figaro</strong>, which his has sung to great acclaim for companies that include New York City Opera, L'Opéra de Montréal and Norwegian Opera in Oslo. He has appeared with the Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Opéra de Genève, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opéra National de Toulouse, Teatro Real in Madrid, Saito Kinen Festival, Florence's Maggio Musicale, Vlaamse Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera and Calgary Opera in over 50 roles, including Starbuck (<strong>Moby Dick</strong>), Oreste (<strong>Iphigénie en Tauride</strong>), Zurga (<strong>Les Pêcheurs de Perles</strong>), Yeletsky (<strong>Pique Dame</strong>), Valentin (<strong>Faust</strong>), Figaro (<strong>Il barbiere di Siviglia</strong>), Dandini (<strong>La cenerentola</strong>), Sharpless (<strong>Madama Butterfly</strong>), and Wiedhopf in Braunfel's <strong>Die Vögel</strong>.
</p>
<p>
	Equally at ease on the concert and recital stages, Mr. Polegato made his Carnegie Hall recital debut at Weill Recital Hall in May 2003 with pianist, Warren Jones. He returned the following year with the Atlanta Symphony to reprise their Grammy Award winning performance of <strong>A Sea Symphony</strong>, and again in 2012, as soloist in Walton's <strong>Belshazzar's Feast</strong>. He is a frequent guest artist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared with most every major U.S. and Canadian orchestra. In 2012, he garnered critical acclaim as soloist in Zemlinsky's <strong>Lyrische Symphonie</strong>with conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and for his interpretation of the title role in Mendelssohn's <strong>Elijah</strong> for the Elora Festival. In 2005, he made his highly-acclaimed debut with the Cleveland Orchestra, in a programme which included Vaughan Williams'<strong>Five Mystical Songs</strong> and Fauré's <strong>Requiem</strong>. He has appeared as soloist with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra in Walton's <strong>Belshazzar's Feast</strong> at Wolf Trap, the Chicago Symphony in the U.S. premiere of Saariaho's <strong>Cinq Reflets</strong>, the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Mahler orchestral lieder, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Toronto Symphony in Beethoven's <strong>Ninth Symphony</strong> and Mahler's <strong>Des Knaben Wunderhorn</strong>, and the Calgary Philharmonic in John Adams' <strong>The Wound Dresser</strong>. In 2002, he returned to the London BBC Proms for a concert performance of Ravel's <strong>L'heure espagnole</strong> with Gianandrea Noseda conducting, and rejoined the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center for Brahms' <strong>Ein Deutsches Requiem</strong>. He has performed Handel's <strong>Messiah</strong> with the Toronto Symphony and Sir Andrew Davis, and with the Handel &amp; Haydn Society under Andrew Parrott. As a recitalist, Mr. Polegato appears frequently throughout North America and Europe, and is particularly noted for his programming choices and wide range of repertoire.
</p>
<p>
	Polegato's discography shifts as seamlessly through genres as his live appearances. In addition to the Vaughan Williams' <strong>A Sea Symphony</strong>, his recordings include the Vaughan Williams' <strong>Dona Nobis Pacem</strong> (ASO Media), Ben Moore's <strong>Ode To A Nightingale</strong>(Delos), his critically praised solo disc, <strong><i data-redactor-tag="i">To A Poet</i></strong>, with pianist Iain Burnside (CBC Records) and a live period-instrument performance of <strong>Messiah</strong> with the Handel &amp; Haydn Society (Arabesque Recordings). With the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra he has recorded Bach's <strong>Coffee and Peasant Cantatas</strong> (Analekta-Fleur de Lys) and, most recently, Handel's <strong>Messiah</strong>. In March 2000, CBC Records released a disc entitled <strong><i data-redactor-tag="i">Opera Encores</i></strong> that joined him with the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra led by Richard Bradshaw. His opera recordings include Emmerich Kálmán's <strong>Die Herzogin von Chicago</strong> (Decca) with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Gluck's <strong>Armide</strong> with Les Musiciens du Louvre (Deutsche Grammophon's Archiv label).
</p>
<p>
	He finished first among the men at the 1995 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Mr. Polegato is represented exclusively by Simon Goldstone at Intermusica Artists.
</p>
