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SARAH SEELEY TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
Measha Brueggergosman is no stranger to trying new things.
The Fredericton-born soprano recently turned 40 and always has her eye out for her next opportunity.
“It’s a really good time to do new things as I enter the next decade,” she said in a phone interview.
Brueggergosman has performed across Canada and internationally with operas and renowned orchestras and has won numerous awards.
On Canada Day weekend, Brueggergosman will have another item to add to her list of new experiences. She will sing an original song composed by three-time Oscar winner Howard Shore and his wife, lyricist Elizabeth Cotnoir.
The song was commissioned for Canada’s 150th birthday celebration. It will debut in Moncton on Sunday as part of the third annual Pop New Brunswick Festival.
“Who doesn’t admire Howard Shore? He’s an incredible musician and has written some of the most historic and pivotal film scores in modern cinematic memory,”Brueggergosman said.
Shore is a native of Toronto who has won Academy Awards for Best Original Score for Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and a Best Original Song Oscar for “Into the West”, the end-credit song from Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Brueggergosman will be joined by a 110-voice choir and the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra. The choir is comprised of singers from the Jeune Chanteurs d’Acadie and the Harmony District Choir,made up of students from the Anglophone East School District.
Brueggergosman has worked with the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra in the past.She first learned about the group after visiting Venezuela and hearing what New Brunswick was doing with Sistema, a children’s music program that originated in the South American country and is now taught across this province.
She got connected with its organizer, Ken MacLeod,who is also the CEO of the NBYO.
MacLeod said working with the soprano was a great experience for the young musicians in his orchestra.
“She’s a true professional. She has very high standards and expectations. We like that because we do as well within our youth orchestra,”he said.
“She’s very patient and really good with working with the kids and showing appreciation while helping them find areas to improve.”
MacLeod said he and NBYO music director Anthony Delgado were looking for a Canadian singer with an international reputation and Brueggergosman fit the bill, especially since she was from New Brunswick.
Brueggergosman says the young musicians have a “fire in their belly” and a hunger to improve their skills.
Brueggergosman has been working with the youth orchestra and the choir in the week leading up to Canada Day to practise the song as a large group.On Friday, they will record the composition at the Moncton Wesleyan Celebration Centre.
The song, entitled “Sea to Sea,” is 10 minutes long with lyrics in English and French.
Brueggergosman will also do several other performances with the NBYO in July as part of their tour. The orchestra is stopping in St. Andrews, Ottawa and Montreal.
