Mark Allan
Special to The Record
Mark Allan
Special to The Record
Don’t think of Brett Polegato as an opera singer. He doesn’t.
Sure, the in-demand, Toronto-based lyric baritone has sung some of opera’s plum roles including the title characters in Don Giovanni and Eugene Onegin.
Although he trained as an opera singer, it’s not what he prefers.
“My goal was to be a concert singer, a recitalist,” he says in a mellifluous voice during a phone interview from Toronto. “Opera is what I do to pay the bills.”
When Polegato sings, he wants to focus on the song without being distracted by the trappings of opera, including acting.
“I’ve always loved standing in front of an audience with no costumes and no sets, and telling stories … where the words are paramount and, as a singer, your job is to hold an audience captive just by the storytelling.
“People forget the drama comes as much in the telling as it does in the showing.”
Polegato, who performs with pianist Robert Kortgaard on March 29 at the Sid Williams Theatre, reveals that “a large percentage of classical singers hate recital work.
“It makes them feel incredibly naked to be up there without the sets and the costumes. Many of my colleagues say, ‘How can you do this?’ ”
Polegato and Kortgaard will present a program called Just One of Those Things, described as a transatlantic voyage with songs and stories from both sides of the ocean: Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Sondheim meet Noël Coward and Welsh singer Ivor Novello.
Polegato says the Sid audience needn’t feel intimidated.
“I really hope people come. It’s all in English; they don’t have to worry about looking at a program. It will be a very casual type of concert.”
Polegato and Kortgaard, also based in Toronto, both have well-respected resumés.
“His is a serious and seductive voice,” says the Globe and Mail of Polegato. The New York Times has praised him for his “burnished, well-focused voice,” which he employs with “considerable intelligence and nuance.”
As he has matured, his voice has “become darker, it’s become bigger, it’s fuller … as you get older your singing becomes less cerebral and more athletic.
“You learn to access more of your sound. And as you mature, you know yourself more, so you become more comfortable in your body.”
Lyric baritones, he explains, are “not as percussive as some of the more dramatic voices. They tend … to have some of the more sympathetic characters.”
He cites Frank Sinatra as a good example of a lyric baritone.
Polegato appears regularly on some of the world’s most distinguished stages, including Lincoln Center, La Scala, the Opéra National de Paris, Roy Thomson Hall, the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.
He was a soloist in the Grammy Awards’ Best Classical Recording of 2003 - Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony (Telarc) with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Kortgaard has performed as a soloist with major Canadian orchestras and has given recitals throughout Canada and the United States, as well as overseas.
He’s also known as an exceptional accompanist.
“In any sort of recital repertoire, it’s crucial to know your pianist very, very well,” Polegato confirms.
He describes the show they will perform at the Sid as “a very big program,” which Polegato will deliver without the assistance of amplification.
“A lot of this music people have not heard unmiced in a very long time. It is really quite full-voiced singing.
“I’m hoping that, for people who like this repertoire, it will be a throwback to a different era, a different way of hearing the music performed.”
Brett Polegato and Robert Kortgaard perform March 29 at the Sid Williams Theatre in Courtenay.
The 2016–2017 Blue Circle Series is proudly presented by Odlum Brown Limited.
For concert details and tickets, visit sidwilliamstheatre.com, phone 250-338-2430 or visit 442 Cliffe Ave.