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October24-28,2019 SALE
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ableregistration:^119269751RR0001STEVE MILLER
Welcome To The Vault
Career Spanning 3 CD + DVD Collection containing 52 audio tracks and 21 performances on DVD- With 38 previously unreleased recordings! Including alternate versions of classic songs, live
performances and more, all housed in a 100 page hard bound book of Steve’s personal photos,
with a 9,000 word essay by David Fricke.3CD+DVDBoxedset
MARVIN GAYE
What’s Going On Live
Legendary concert album captures Gaye’s first live
performance after a four-year hiatus from the stage;
recorded at The Kennedy Center on Washington,
D.C.’s “Marvin Gaye Day” (1st May, 1972CD/2LPFRANK SINATRA
My Way 50
th
Anniversary
*CD Edition includes duets with Willie Nelson and
Luciano Pavarotti and two live performances from
1971 and 1987CD/LPR4| ARTS O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| SATURDAY,OCTOBER19,2019
‘I
didn’t think I would die the
first time and I didn’t think I
would die this time,” says
Measha Brueggergosman, speak-
ing bluntly about her recent
open-heart surgery and the oth-
er one that happened 10 years
earlier almost to the day. “It
didn’t seem like the thing that
would take me out.”
The late musician Warren Ze-
von, diagnosed with terminal
lung cancer, famously offered
the advice that one should “en-
joy every sandwich.” Bruegger-
gosman? The beloved 42-year-
old Canadian soprano and inter-
national operatic star enjoys ev-
ery invasive heart procedure.
“It’s too much to say I’m victo-
rious,” she says, “but I do feel
like I’m winning.”
In July, Brueggergosman had
closed the Calgary Philharmonic
Orchestra season with a program
of Bizet, Massenet, Gershwin and
Joni Mitchell. Staying with
friends before flying home to No-
va Scotia, she awoke with chest
pains. After packing her bags, she
went downstairs and told her
friends not to panic but that she
would need to go to the emer-
gency room, “like, an hour ago.”
Now, almost four months after
a five-hour double-bypass sur-
gery at the Foothills Medical
Centre in Calgary, Brueggergos-
man is set to return to the stage
on Saturday in St. Catharines,
Ont., where her one-off recital
appearance opens the Bravo
Niagara! 2019-20 season. “You
don’t go straight to a 10-show
run of a Verdi opera,” says the
singer, relaxing in a sun-splashed
hotel VIP lounge overlooking the
Toronto waterfront. “You work
up to it.”
Back in 2009, after an emer-
gency operation at Toronto Gen-
eral Hospital to repair a dissected
aorta, Brueggergosman wanted
to get to her ascending career as
quickly as possible. “I was hell-
bent on getting back to where I
was,” the Fredericton-born sing-
er says. “I felt so hard done by. It
happened when I was so young,
with so much left to do.”
Since then, she’s had two chil-
dren – boys, 4 and 6 – and her
career is well-established. She’s
also gone through a divorce and
lost her father, Rev. Sterling W.
Gosman. “I have a little bit differ-
ent perspective,” she says. “I real-
ize just how abundant life can
be. You only get one of these
things called life, so you might as
well do everything and keep
your blinders on and stay on
task for God’s purpose and shut
out the noise.”
According to Brueggergos-
man, she has a “hereditary bum
heart.” For our interview, she
wears an open-collared dress
that reveals the spot where sur-
geons have now cut into hertwice. “I’m proud of it,” she says.
“It’s a badge of honour to me.” Is
she worried about her health?
The pastor’s daughter tells me
she’s “nestled in the palm of the
divine” and that whatever hap-
pens was always meant to be.
“But not today, devil!” Her bigsoprano laugh radiates through
the room.
Less than two months after
her second surgery, the recover-
ing singer felt she need to “start
moving things.” She began
with yoga. “It was difficult,
but the fatigue was honest. It
was my body needing to recuper-
ate and strengthen. I feel better
now.”
The operation caused the can-
cellation of Brueggergosman’s
Carmen debut in Helsinki.
Though she won’t disclose how
much money it cost her – “I’m
not delicate about it, but my fi-
nances are nobody’s business” –
it is no secret that the self-em-
ployed have little in the way of
safety nets. Still, the cancelling of
the Helsinki contract did allow
her to spend more time this
summer with her mother, who
was undergoing radiation treat-
ment for cancer.
As for as the lost income? “I
have my house, my kids are in
school and there’s gas in my car,”
she says. With that she raises a
glass of Champagne and propos-
es a lunch-hour toast to day-
drinking. “I’ve earned it,” she
whispers. “Besides, I wouldn’t be
able to do this during an opera
run.”
Before I leave the lounge,
Brueggergosman, insisting I take
some food, brings me a croissant
split with brie. “Go head,” she
says. “It’s free.” The big-hearted
lady with a deep scar over her
sternum then walks back to a ta-
ble where a friend sits. Zevon
would understand and I was a
little hungry anyway.Brueggergosmanisonthecomebacktrail
BelovedCanadian
operaticstarcallsthe
scarfromhersecond
open-heartsurgery
‘abadgeofhonour’
MeashaBrueggergosman
issettoperformin
St.Catharines,Ont.,
onSaturdaytoopenthe
Bravo Niagara! 2019-20
season.
CHRISTOPHERKATSAROV/
THEGLOBEANDMAILBRADWHEELERTORONTO