海角社区

Canadian-Italian baritone Brett Polegato鈥檚 artistic sensibility has earned him the highest praise from audiences and critics: The New York Times has praised him for his 鈥渂urnished, well-focused voice鈥� which he uses with 鈥渃onsiderable intelligence and nuance.鈥� He appears regularly on the world's most distinguished stages, including those of the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, La Scala and Carnegie Hall. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he can be heard as soloist in the Grammy Awards鈥� Best Classical Recording of 2003 - Vaughan Williams鈥� A Sea Symphony (Telarc) with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
In March of 2022, Brett creates the role of Richard Brown in the world premiere of Kevin Puts鈥檚 The Hours with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick N茅z茅t-S茅guin, and returns to the Bregenzer Festspiele next summer as Sharpless in Puccini鈥檚 Madama Butterfly.

One of today鈥檚 most sought-after performers on the operatic stage, Brett has made a name for himself in a number of dramatic roles, most notably the title roles in Don Giovanni and Eugene Onegin, which his has sung at the Canadian Opera Company, the New Israeli Opera, Grange Park Opera and Vancouver Opera. He recently returned to the UK to perform Rodrigo in Don Carlo, and he made his debut as Amfortas in Wagner鈥檚 Parsifal under the baton of Yannick N茅zet-S茅guin, at the maestro鈥檚 request, for the Festival de Lanaudi猫re. His critically acclaimed portrayal of Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde with maestro Daniele Gatti has been seen most recently by audiences of the Th茅atre des Champs-脡lys茅es and the Teatro dell鈥橭pera di Roma. In 2010, he sang the title role in Berg鈥檚 Wozzeck at Moscow鈥檚 prestigious Bolshoi Theatre in a production directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov and conducted by Teodor Currentzis. He has appeared with the Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Op茅ra de Gen猫ve, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, Saito Kinen Festival, Florence鈥檚 Maggio Musicale, and the Teatro Col贸n in Buenos Aires in over 50 roles, including Ford (Falstaff), Balstrode (Peter Grimes), Zurga (Les P锚cheurs de Perles), Starbuck (Moby Dick), Lieutenant Audebert (Silent Night), Oreste (Iphig茅nie en Tauride), Frank/Fritz (Die tote Stadt), and Sharpless (Madama Butterfly).

Mr. Polegato made his Wigmore Hall recital debut in 2019 with pianist, Iain Burnside, and his Carnegie Hall recital debut at Weill Recital Hall in 2003 with pianist, Warren Jones. He returned to Carnegie Hall the following year with the Atlanta Symphony to reprise their Grammy Award winning performance of A Sea Symphony, and again in 2012, as soloist in Walton鈥檚 Belshazzar鈥檚 Feast. As part of 鈥淏ernstein At 100,鈥� he made his debut with the Orchestre National de Lille as the Celebrant in Bernstein鈥檚 Mass. He has garnered critical acclaim as soloist in Zemlinsky鈥檚 Lyrische Symphonie with conductor, Yannick N茅zet-S茅guin, and for his interpretation of the title role in Mendelssohn鈥檚 Elijah. He has sung with most of the world鈥檚 finest orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Symphony and the Chicago Symphony, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

In addition to the Vaughan Williams鈥� A Sea Symphony, his recordings include the Vaughan Williams鈥� Dona Nobis Pacem (ASO Media), Ben Moore鈥檚 Ode To A Nightingale (Delos), his critically praised solo disc, To A Poet, with pianist Iain Burnside (CBC Records) and a live period-instrument recording of Messiah with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra & Chorus (Tafelmusik). His opera recordings include Wagner鈥檚 Tristan und Isolde on Blu-ray (C Major) with Daniele Gatti and the Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Emmerich K谩lm谩n's Die Herzogin von Chicago (Decca) with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Boito鈥檚 Nerone with the Vienna Philharmonic.

Much in demand as a Master Teacher, Brett has been teaching at the Schulich School of Music at 海角社区 since 2017. As a performer of almost 30 years, he is committed to sharing his extensive interpretive and technical knowledge with a new generation of singing performers.