• Brett Polegato, Baritone
• Kimberly Barber, Mezzo Soprano
• Robert Kortgaard, Piano
• Peter Tiefenbach, Piano

Brett Polegato, Baritone

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.” He appears regularly on the world's most distinguished stages in nineteen countries, 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 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.

Brett Polegato opens the Canadian Opera Company’s 2009/2010 season as Sharpless, his role debut, in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. In November, he heads to Vancouver to take part in Vancouver Opera’s 50th Anniversary Gala Concert. He spends the winter in Oslo, where he performs one of his signature roles, Il Conte Almaviva, in a new production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. The New Year begins with a series of performances of Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Colorado Symphony, and is followed in March by a lieder concert with the Aldeburgh Connection to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Hugo Wolf. After successful performances of Winterreise last season, he will perform the monumental work again - this time in Montréal with pianist, Liz Upchurch. In May, he sings another of his signature roles, the title role in Don Giovanni, for Calgary Opera. Following these performances, he makes his debut with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony with Robert Spano, conducting, and then travels immediately to Ottawa, to sing Lescaut in a concert performance of Massenet’s Manon for Opera Lyra. He concludes the season in Toronto, where he makes a return appearance with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

In 2008/2009, Brett Polegato opened the Canadian Opera Company’s season singing the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. His performance was lauded by critics and audiences alike. In November, he performed one of his signature roles, the title character in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, in a new production for Vancouver Opera. Between recital appearances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and Rockefeller University in New York City, he travelled 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 travelled to Naples for the re-opening of the Teatro di San Carlo, singing Ned Keene in Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes with Jeffrey Tate conducting. In February, he appeared with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in performances of Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony. His season culminated in his first essay of Schubert’s monumental cycle, Winterreise, with pianist Stephen Ralls, for the Aldeburgh Connection in Toronto.

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 Eugene Onegin, which his has sung at the Canadian Opera Company, the New Israeli Opera and Vancouver Opera & Don Giovanni. He has appeared frequently in the title role of Pelléas et Mélisande, 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 Le Nozze di Figaro, which his has sung to great acclaim for companies that include New York City Opera, L’Opéra de Montréal and Michigan Opera Theater. 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 Oreste (Iphigénie en Tauride), Zurga (Les Pêcheurs de Perles), Yeletsky (Pique Dame), Valentin (Faust), Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), and Wiedhopf in Braunfel’s Die Vögel.

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. In 2005, he made his highly-acclaimed debut with the Cleveland Orchestra, in a programme which included Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs and Fauré’s Requiem. He has appeared as soloist with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra in Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast at Wolf Trap, the Chicago Symphony in the U.S. premiere of Saariaho’s Cinq Reflets, the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Mahler orchestral lieder, the Toronto Symphony in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In 2002, he returned to the London BBC Proms for a concert performance of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole with Gianandrea Noseda conducting, and rejoined the National Symphony Orchestra at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center for Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem. He has performed Handel's Messiah with the Toronto Symphony and Sir Andrew Davis, and with the Handel & 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.

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.

Kimberly Barber, Mezzo Soprano

The list of major performing arts companies and world class venues where mezzo-soprano Kimberly Barber has performed is long and illustrious. Operatic credits include Opéra de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, Seattle Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opéra de Marseille, ENO, and the Canadian Opera Company in a diverse and eclectic repertory. She is recognized for the verisimilitude, intensity and depth of her interpretations of Strauss’s Composer, Handel’s Xerxes (for which she was nominated for Toronto’s Dora Award as Best Singing Actress), Ariodante and Nerone (AGRIPPINA), and Mozart’s Cherubino and Annio (CLEMENZA DI TITO), among many others. She recently performed the title role in the Canadian premiere of Marc Blitzstein’s REGINA for Pacific Opera Victoria, Jessica in the world premiere of John Estacio’s FROBISHER and a critically acclaimed Sister Helen in Jake Heggie’s DEAD MAN WALKING for Calgary Opera—all broadcast nationally on CBC’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. She made her debut as Ottavia in Monteverdi’s CORONATION OF POPPEA with Toronto’s Opera Atelier in the spring of 2009.

On the concert stage she has performed with the London Symphony, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Mostly Mozart Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall, the Minnesota Orchestra, Montréal’s I Musici, the Chicago, Montréal and Toronto Symphonies and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in repertoire ranging from Duruflé, Fauré and Mahler to Stravinsky, Argento and Bernstein. Her frequent collaborations with pianist Steven Blier and the New York Festival of Song, with performances at Wigmore Hall in London, Weill Hall, and the 92nd Street Y in New York, have shaped her interest in presenting art song in an accessible format. Her deep attention to text and musical interpretation are hallmarks of her performances as a recitalist.

In addition to the recently released “L’Accordéoniste”, Ms. Barber’s growing discography includes her Concepción in Ravel’s L’HEURE ESPAGNOLE for Deutsche Grammophon under André Previn, her first solo recording for CBC Records, “Faustina Bordoni: Faces of a Prima Donna”, and the title role of Handel’s RINALDO for Naxos Records.

Kimberly Barber is increasingly in demand as a guest lecturer, adjudicator, panellist and pedagogue. She is an Associate Professor of Voice at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.

Robert Kortgaard, Piano

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 continued 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 and China. He is one of the country's most respected concert pianists, having appeared with most of the country¹s leading orchestras and recital societies. Mr. Kortgaard has become one of the most in-demand colleagues of Canada's most esteemed vocalists, and is a frequent partner of sopranos Measha Brueggergosman and Wendy Nielsen, mezzo-soprano Jean Stilwell and cabaret diva Patricia O'Callaghan. For five years, he was resident musician at the University of New Brunswick, and he is now artistic director of the Indian River Festival in Prince Edward Island.

Robert Kortgaard recently joined forces with pianist Peter Tiefenbach to create an impressive new ensemble. As two of Canada's most accomplished and virtuosic musicians, they have been amazing concert and broadcast audiences across the country for many seasons, both as individual artists and in collaboration with some of Canada’s finest musicians. Now they lend their unique gifts to the large and varied body of repertoire for two pianos, four hands.

Mr. Kortgaard now makes his home in Toronto, from where he travels the world as an in-demand soloist and collaborative artist.

Peter Tiefenbach, Piano

Peter Tiefenbach enjoys an enormously varied career as a performer, composer and teacher. A native of Regina, Saskatchewan, he studied music in Canada, the U.S. and England before settling in Toronto in 1986. His unique combination of talents has established his reputation as a gifted pianist, mentor and creator.

Mr. Tiefenbach has collaborated with many of Canada’s leading singers including Maureen Forrester, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Brett Polegato, Sally Dibblee, Kimberly Barber, Russell Braun, and Donna Brown. He also appears frequently with duo-piano partner, Robert Kortgaard, most recently as part of Veronica Tennant’s Invitation to the Dance.

With soprano-comedienne Mary Lou Fallis, he has toured throughout Canada, to the U.S., Japan, England and Iceland. The two have also co-written several shows, including An Evening with Karlheinz Vapny at Lunchtime (2000); Primadonna Does Shakespeare (2002); Primadonna Does More With Less (2005); and Primadonna Choralis (2006) and Primadonna Goes Camping (2008). Their latest venture is a CD: Fallis & Tiefenbach LIVE at the Gould.

A Juno Award-nominated composer, Mr. Tiefenbach’s recent commissions include works for the Borealis String Quartet, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Canadian Brass, the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Saskatoon Children’s Choir, and the Elora Festival Singers. He was a guest composer at the 2004 World Children’s Choir Festival (Hong Kong), and served as composer-in-residence for the festivals Colours of Music and Music Niagara.

For several years in the 1990’s, Mr Tiefenbach hosted classical music programs for CBC Radio. Among his interview subjects were such major musical figures as Witold Lutoslwaski, Luciano Berio, Henri Dutilleux, Isaac Stern, and Andras Schiff, among many others. He also presented a number of highly regarded specials and series for CBC Radio including The Case for Anton Bruckner, Who Was Richard Strauss?, and Aspects of Mozart.

Mr. Tiefenbach is a member of the faculty of the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music, where he coaches singers in the Performance Diploma and Artist Diploma programs, and teaches courses in orchestral literature. An avid choral singer, he is a long-time member of the Exultate Chamber Singers, and of the choirs of St Thomas’s Church, Toronto.

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