It’s the new year and people are full of resolve to achieve their goals of weight loss or world peace. And it’s not like I don’t want to be buff and have Bono put a sock in it, but I have some selfish goals that are, sadly, more achievable. I want to hear my favourite singers perform, the Canadian baritones Brett Polegato and Etienne Dupuis.
Brett Polegato stole my heart when he strode onto the stage of the Jubilee Auditorium in 1998 and sang the Largo al factotum with sprezzatura – an effortless grace and electric charisma. He sang with every particle of himself; the hall was a vibrating column of air and I was vibrating too, to the golden timbre of his voice. He turned me into an overnight opera fan, an addict, actually, wanting my hit of that moment of sympathetic resonance, pierced like Saint Theresa by the arrow.
His Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen from Bach’s Cantata 82, Ich Habe Genug, is meditative and tender-sweet as a lullaby, and his Sorge infausta una procella from Handel’s Orlando is virile, heroic, muscular with dancing agility when he climbs to the upper register of his voice.
But Brett, you’ve broken my heart by not showing up to performances I’ve bought ticket for – Cosi Fan Tutti in Edmonton, with Benjamin Butterfield whose voice complements yours so beautifully, and a Messiah in Calgary. I am hoping that you’ll be there in Toronto in April, for Eugene Onegin.
A baritone whose voice is becoming increasingly breath-taking is the young and talented Etienne Dupuis. He has a strong and yet lyric voice, and an easy, confident stage presence that complements his assured sound. I am looking forward to hearing him this May in Starmania in Quebec City.
La Belle Province 