Hugh’s Goes Classical with Brett Polegato and Robert Kortgaard

Hugh’s Goes Classical with Brett Polegato and Robert Kortgaard in the Green Sanderson Hall at Hugh's Room, 296 Broadview Avenue
Curated by Eric Friesen and Angela Hewitt
$40 in advance, $50 at the door 

Brett Polegato’s artistic sensibility has earned him the highest praise from audiences and critics: “his is a serious and seductive voice” says The Globe and Mail, and The New York Times has praised him for his “burnished, well-focused voice” which he uses with “considerable intelligence and nuance.” The Italian-Canadian baritone appears regularly on the world’s most distinguished stages, including those of Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera, 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, Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall, and has collaborated with such conductors as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Daniele Gatti, 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’ A Sea Symphony (Telarc) with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Robert Spano.
In recognition of his lifetime achievement in the field of classical music, Brett was presented with a 2024 Opera Canada Ruby Award. The award represents the highest honour in Canadian opera.

Pianist Robert Kortgaard was born in Regina, Saskatchewan and grew up in Calgary, Alberta. He completed his Bachelor and Master’s degrees at the Juilliard School in New York City. As a recipient of arts awards from the Canada Council, he furthered his musical studies in Italy and England. Mr. Kortgaard has performed as a soloist with
major Canadian orchestras and has given recitals throughout Canada and the United States, as well as in England, Finland, Portugal, Italy, Indonesia, the Czech Republic, China and Japan.
He is a favourite collaborator of many of Canada’s finest instrumental soloists, vocalists and chamber groups. His performances are frequently heard on CBC Radio, and he has recorded for the Centrediscs, Marquis Classics/EMI, CBC Records, Teldec and ATMA Classique labels.

 

And So It Goes ...
A Cabaret

Sigmund Romberg The Desert Song (from The Desert Song)

Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise (from The New Moon)

Ivor Novello And Her Mother Came Too (from A to Z)
Fly Home, Little Heart (from King’s Rhapsody)

Franz Grothe Illusion
Cole Porter Begin The Beguine
Miss Otis Regrets
Noel Coward Nina (from Sigh No More)
Rogers & Hammerstein If I Loved You (from Carousel)
Soliloquy (from Carousel)

INTERMISSION

Andersson, Rice & Ulvaeus
Leigh & Darion
Billy Joel

Anthem (from Chess)
The Impossible Dream (The Quest) (from Man of La Mancha)
And So It Goes

Schönberg & Boublil
Marc Blitzstein

Empty Chairs at Empty Tables (from Les Misérables)
Emily (from The Airborne Symphony)

Peter Maxwell Davies Farewell To Stromness
Stephen Schwartz
Ron Miller
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim

Proud Lady (from The Baker’s Wife)
For Once In My Life
Johanna (from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)
Being Alive (from Company)

Brett Polegato, Baritone
Robert Kortgaard, Piano