Susan Platts, mezzo, Brett Polegato, baritone &
Rena Sharon, piano

Susan Platts
 
British-born Canadian mezzo-soprano Susan Platts brings a uniquely rich and wide-ranging voice to concert and recital repertoire for alto and mezzo-soprano.  She recently made debuts at Italy's La Scala and San Carlo theatres, and return appearances with the Toronto and Vancouver Symphonies, Malaysian Philharmonic, and Cleveland Orchestra.  In addition she sang Mahler's Second Symphony with Carl St. Clair and the Pacific Symphony, Mahler's Second and Third Symphonies with Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony, Elgar'  Dream of Gerontius with Grant Llewellyn and the North Carolina Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with David Loebel and the Memphis Symphony, the Verdi Requiem with Pinchas Zukerman and the National Arts Centre Orchestra; Argento’s Casa Guidi with Osmo Vänska and the Minnesota Orchestra; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Missa solemnis with the Colorado Symphony; and a recital on New York’s prestigious Frick Collection series.  This season includes the Verdi Requiem with the Santa Rosa Symphony and Orlando Philharmonic; Mahler #2 with Benjamin Zander and the Akron Symphony; Mahler #8 with Yoav Talmi and the Quebec Symphony; Bach's St. Matthew Passion and Beethoven #9 with the Detroit Symphony.

In May of 2004, as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, world-renowned soprano Jessye Norman chose Ms Platts from 26 candidates world-wide to be her protégée. Since then, she has had the honor of mentoring with Ms Norman.

Ms Platts has performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center as well as performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, CBC Radio Orchestra, L’Orchestre de Paris, Les Violons du Roy, American Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival, and Los Angeles and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She has collaborated with many conductors including Roberto Abbado, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Andrew Davis, Bramwell Tovey, Jane Glover, Helmuth Rilling and Itzhak Perlman. Ms Platts has opened two of America's premier art song series: the Vocal Arts Society at the Kennedy Center, in Washington D.C. and the "Art of the Song" Series at Lincoln Center, in New York City and has given acclaimed recitals on the major series of Cleveland, San Francisco, Louisville and throughout her native Canada.

Ms. Platts has recorded Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde for Fontec Records with Gary Bertini conducting the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, a CD of dramatic sacred art songs with pianist Dalton Baldwin, Gustav Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Smithsonian Chamber Players and Santa Fe Pro Musica for Dorian Records and Brahms Zwei Gesänge with Steven Dann and Lambert Orkis on the ATMA label.  She has also recorded a CD of the music of Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms.
 
Brett Polegato

Brett Polegato opens the Canadian Opera Company’s 2008/2009 season singing the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.  In November, he performs one of his signature roles, the title character in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, in a new production for Vancouver Opera.  He joins mezzo-soprano, Susan Platts, for recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and Rockefeller University in New York City.    Between recital appearances, he travels to Boston to sing Handel’s Messiah with the Handel and Haydn Society and, later in December, with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir in Toronto.  Following these performances, he travels to Naples to sing Ned Keene in Robert Carson’s new production of Peter Grimes at the Teatro de San Carlo, with Jeffrey Tate conducting. In February, he appears with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in performances of Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony. His season culminates in his first essay of Schubert’s monumental cycle, Winterreise, with pianist Stephen Ralls, for the Aldeburgh Connection in Toronto.
In the 2007/2008 season, Brett returned to Seattle Opera where he made his role debut as Orestes in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride to great critical and public acclaim.  In November, he travelled to Salt Lake City to perform Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden gesellen with the Utah Symphony, and then on to Geneva, for December performances of Papageno in an exciting new production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte for the Opéra de Genève.  In the New Year, he made a rare concert appearance in Toronto, singing songs to the poetry of Walter de la Mare for the Aldeburgh Connection.  He concluded the season with a return engagement to the Canadian Opera Company, where he appeared for the first time in the title role of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in May - a role he then performed for the Israeli Opera in June.
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, and returned the following year with the Atlanta Symphony to reprise their Grammy Award winning performance of A Sea Symphony.  He is a frequent guest artist with the Bayerisher Rundfunkorchester in Munich and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared with most every major U.S. and Canadian orchestra.  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.
Polegato's discography shifts as seamlessly through genres as his live appearances. Recordings include the Vaughn Williams’ A Sea Symphony, his critically praised solo disc, To A Poet, with pianist Iain Burnside, on CBC Records, an Analekta-Fleur de Lys disc of Bach's popular Coffee and Peasant Cantatas with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and a live period-instrument performance of Messiah by the Handel & Haydn Society on Arabesque Recordings.  In March 2000, CBC Records released a disc entitled Opera Encores that joined him with the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra led by Richard Bradshaw. His opera recordings include Emmerich Kálmán's Die Herzogin von Chicago (Decca) with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Gluck's Armide with Les Musiciens du Louvre, on the Deutsche Grammophon's Archiv label.
He finished first among the men at the 1995 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.  Mr. Polegato is represented exclusively by Simon Goldstone at IMG Artists.

Rena Sharon

Born in Montreal, Canada, began her life in chamber music at the age of eight. Her early studies were with Professor Dorothy Morton, and she continued her training at the Eastman School and Indiana University. Principal teachers were Menahem Pressler and Gyorgy Sebok, Janos Starker, and Joseph Gingold.
Called "one of the finest musicians of her generation" and a "national treasure", she began concertizing throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe at the age of 19. In 1987 she was awarded "Best Pianist" diploma at the International Voice Competition of Rio de Janeiro. Among Canada's foremost chamber musicians, her performance spectrum also comprises solo recitals and concerti. The roster of distinguished artists with whom Ms. Sharon has performed includes Ben Heppner, Steven Isserlis, Gary Hoffman, Scott St. John, Pamela Frank, Sharon Kam, Steven Dann, Douglas Boyd, Kevin MacMillan, Richard Margison, Marina Piccinini, Shauna Rolston, James Somerville, Martin Beaver, James Ehnes, Susan Platts, Wendy Nielsen, Benjamin Butterfield, Amanda Forsyth, and Jerome Hines. Recent tours include performances in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Mexico with Jozef Luptak and Gabriela Demeterova, in Montreal and California with violin virtuoso Lara St. John.
Ms Sharon has travelled to Rwanda in 2005 and 2006 for performances and teaching, under the auspices of the Canadian consulate and distinguished physician and researcher Dr. Reva Adler.
As founder and Artistic Director of The Song Circle, an innovative performance company dedicated to the art of song, she has directed and co-written several theatre pieces, beginning with the "CBC Vancouver Salon" in 1997. That event, later described as "a sparkling evening of poignant delight, fun and unpredictable discovery, with an unmatched electricity and sense of community between performers and audience", brought together violinist Scott St. John, UBC student singers and pianists, actor Joey L'esperance as Erik Satie, and Frances Wainwright as hostess for a re-enactment of the Parisian fin-du-siecle salon scene. Subsequent productions "Hearts and Flowers", co-written with David Maggs, "CBC Radio Song Salon", "Songs of the Earth", script co-written with David Maggs, "Songs of the Heart" script by Leonard George, and "Homecoming", have earned praise for their fluid merge of script and song, magical atmosphere, and accessible blend of story-telling and music. The Song Circle was featured at the Vancouver Festival in August 2000 in "A Day of Song". Subsequent productions include the International Writers Festival in collaboration with distinguished Canadian author Bill Richardson, for the launch of his book "Waiting for Gertrude", and “The Song Circle Cafés”, with writer-director Kico Gonzales-Rizzo at the 2003 Festival Vancouver. Singers for these events included Benjamin Butterfield, Wendy Nielsen, Phoebe MacRae, Michael Colvin, Jean Stillwell, Lambroula Pappas, Alain Coulombe, Tyler Duncan, and a large cast of UBC students and alumni. A recent sold-out performance of “Hearts and Flowers” opened the 05-06 season of the distinguished “Virtuosi” series in Winnipeg, Canada. The Winnipeg Free Press described the event as “superb…a unique concert that tackles some of the myths about classical music head-on”…..the inimitable Rena Sharon had us in the palm of her hands”.

In addition to her concert schedule, Ms. Sharon also lectures extensively about Art Song. She has spoken to Vancouver audiences about "Die Schone Mullerin", "Winterreise", and “Dichterliebe", and participated in the Schubert and Brahms series on CBC radio for the 1997 commemorative celebration and the award-winning Schubert marathon in 2004 for Radio Canada produced by Sylvia l’Ecuyer. Best-known is her lecture entitled "I Love Lieder", an introduction to the collaborative process of poetry and music. Her charismatic communications about the art of music, described as "lightsome, witty, humourous, warm and accessible, yet profoundly passionate and evocative", have been likened in style to those of the late Leonard Bernstein. In November 2005 she participated in the Whistler Forum Summit on Collaborative Governance, presenting a lecture/demonstration on Chamber Music as a model of collborative co-creation.

Currently the Professor of Collaborative Piano Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, she is also Artistic Co-Director of the Young Artist Experience (www.youngartistexperience.ca), an interdisciplinary chamber music camp for gifted teens which blends intense music study with a spectrum of explorations comprising art, science, humanities and social responsibility. She has also been on the faculties of summer institutes in Winnipeg, Seattle, Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, Victoria, the Czech Republic, and the Banff Centre.

In February 2000 she was awarded the prestigious "Dean of Arts Award", presented to one member of the UBC Faculty of Arts annually for excellence in teaching, research, and community outreach activities.

Ms. Sharon is heard regularly in performance on the CBC national radio, and has recorded on the Marquis, Finlandia, Brava, Summit, Sono, CBC-5000, and Boston Record labels.