Measha Brueggergosman Releases New CD "Surprise" on Deutsche Grammophon

Measha Brueggergosman on her new CD cover entitled "Surprise." This is her first release on Deutsche Grammophon.
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Measha Brueggergosman Releases New CD Surprise on Deutsche Grammophon

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Noted by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a singer of rare gifts and artistic intensity” and by the Miami Herald for possessing “a superb voice capable of just about everything,” Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman has emerged as one of the most magnificent performers and vibrant personalities of the day.

She is critically acclaimed by the international press as much for her innate musicianship and voluptuous voice as for a sovereign stage presence far beyond her years. Her extraordinary versatility, intuitive musicality, and radiant star quality have yielded an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Her first recording on the label, Surprise, will be released in North America in autumn 2007.

A dynamic scope of repertoire coupled with a profound depth of artistic commitment bring Measha Brueggergosman together with many of the finest international orchestras and most esteemed conductors of our day. During the 2007-08 season performances include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Pinchas Zukerman and the National Arts Centre Orchestra and with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra, Janáaek’s Glagolitic Mass with Michael Tilson Thomas for her London Symphony Orchestra debut, Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été with Vasily Petrenko and the NDR Hannover Orchestra, and Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi with David Robertson and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. She also makes her Philadelphia Orchestra debut as soloist for the 2007 Marian Anderson Award Gala concert honoring Richard Gere and his humanitarian leadership.

Deeply committed to the art of recital, Measha Brueggergosman brings a program inspired by her Deutsche Grammophon recording, featuring songs by, among others, Bolcom, Satie, and Schoenberg, to many of North America’s major cultural centers including Boston, Chicago, New York, Toronto, and Washington DC as well as to numerous cities in Brazil, Great Britain, and Spain.

During the past season her concert schedule included performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Franz Welser-Ma‘st and the Cleveland Orchestra (in Cleveland and on tour), with Daniel Barenboim and the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro alla Scala.

In addition the performance is with Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche
Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, opera arias with Sir Andrew Davis and the New York Philharmonic, season opening gala concerts of Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Peter Oundjian and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Schanberg’s Brettl-Lieder and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Gershwin songs with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at Glasgow’s Proms in the Park concert, and, with Gustavo Dudamel, performances of Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and of Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra on tour in Sweden, Paris, and in London.

She also joined Michael Tilson Thomas, Maxim Vengerov, and the New World Symphony for a gala concert inaugurating Miami’s Carnival Center for the Performing Arts. She gave solo recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels with Roger Vignoles, in Gstaad with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and at Hertz Hall in Berkeley and at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor with J.J. Penna.

Notable performances of the recent past have included Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Janáeek’s Glagolitic Mass with the Stuttgart Philharmonic and Sebastian Weigle as well as with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas, the Verdi Requiem with Sir Andrew Davis and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Hans Graf and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood and with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and the Detroit Symphony, Krzysztof Penderecki’s Credo conducted by the composer, as well as Dvorák’s Te Deum with Jiaí Balohlávek and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, opera arias with Patrick Summers and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and William Bolcom’s Songs of Innocence and Experience with Leonard Slatkin and the orchestra and chorus of the University of Michigan (recorded and released commercially by the Naxos label and winner of multiple Grammy Awards).

In addition to a highly acclaimed sold-out recital at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall, appearances have brought her in solo recital to the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Spivey Hall, University Musical Society, the Edinburgh, Bergen, Tuscan Sun, and Verbier festivals, and to concert series in Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Augsburg, Berlin, Bamberg, and Barcelona amongst many others. On the opera stage, she has bowed as Madame Lidoine in Dialogues des Carmélites under Jonathan Darlington for Vancouver Opera, as Juno in Joseph Martin Kraus’ Aeneas in Karthago conducted by Lothar Zagrosek at the Staatstheater Stuttgart, and as Sister Rose in Dead Man Walking and as Liù in Turandot at the Cincinnati Opera.

Ms. Brueggergosman has been honoured to participate in a number of very special events including the gala re-openings of Roy Thomson Hall and of the University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium, Canada Day celebrations from Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and the opening ceremonies of the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto – her performance presented under the auspices of MAC Cosmetics - sharing the stage with Bill Gates and President Bill Clinton. She has performed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland during two consecutive years, and has given a Royal Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth II. She also has sung for the Prince of Wales, President Tarja Halonen of Finland, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson and numerous other leaders of Canada, as well as for Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan.

Beyond the great concert halls of the world, Ms. Brueggergosman lends her voice, passion, and energy to social and environmental causes as a Canadian good-will ambassador for three international organizations: African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF); Learning Through the Arts; and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Her commitments to these organizations have taken her on a broad spectrum of missions, including internally displaced persons camps in northern Uganda.

So Much to Tell, Ms. Brueggergosman’s first solo commercial recording on the CBC Records label, with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and conductor Roy Goodman, features music by Barber, Copland and Gershwin. Her second release for CBC Records, Extase, presents a sumptuous program of Berlioz’s Les nuits d'été and Massenet opera arias with Yoav Talmi and the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec.

Measha Brueggergosman has been the subject of a full-length feature documentary, Spirit in her Voice, aired by the CBC network and she has starred in numerous independent short music-films including Go Diva! and Infinite Dream. She has served as television hostess of the Toronto Variety Show and has taken centre stage in Bravo! Canada’s Gemini Award-winning concert series Live at the Rehearsal Hall, performing a mixed selection of classical repertoire, gospel hymns, and jazz standards.

Ms. Brueggergosman joined an illustrious panel of celebrity judges on the Idol Underground competition, an artist driven alter-ego of the American Idol and Canadian Idol brand, and appeared as a special celebrity guest on television episodes of The Surreal Gourmet, Opening Night, Bathroom Divas, and Bravo Arts & Minds.

Measha Brueggergosman was awarded the Grand Prize at the 2002 Jeunesses Musicales Montreal International Competition and has been a prizewinner at The Dutch International Vocal Competition's-Hertogenbosch, the Wigmore Hall in London, George London Foundation in New York, The Queen Sonja International Music Competition in Oslo, and the ARD Music Competition in Munich. She also is a recipient of the prestigious Canada Council and Chalmers Performing Arts Grants. She studied at the University of Toronto with Mary Morrison and pursued postgraduate studies in Germany with Edith Wiens. She also has worked with such distinguished musicians as Christoph Eschenbach, Ruth Falcon, Brigitte Fassbaender, Margo Garrett, Håkan Hagegård, Jessye Norman, Rudolf Piernay, and Thomas Quasthoff. Comprehensive performance and career information is also available at http://www.deutschegrammophon.com