Jazz and opera
Historic St. Mary’s will be filled with music this week.
Jazz great Joe Sealy and the operatic voices of Brett Polegato and Julie Nesrallah will fill historic St. Mary’s this week.
Sealy will take to the stage this Friday at 7:30 p.m., performing “Africville Suite,” which won the Juno award for Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year. This album began as a much shorter musical piece consisting of three movements. It was dedicated to the memory of Sealy’s father, who passed away in 1992. Encouraged by concert presenters to expand the work, Sealy put it off for months but finally faced the music upon the insistence of his wife who helped him prepare for the project. This presentation is a reworking of his JUNO-winning recording.
Sealy is not only a seasoned jazz performer and multiple Juno award winner, he is an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Polegato and Nesrallah will present “Dreamed a Dream” on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Both shining stars of international acclaim, the duo come together in musical theatre, cabaret and operatic hits.
One of today’s most soughtafter lyric baritones on the operatic stage, Polegato has made a name for himself in a number of dramatic roles, most notably
the title roles in “Don Giovanni” and “Eugene Onegin” at the Canadian Opera Company, the New Israeli Opera, Grange Park Opera and Vancouver Opera. He appears regularly on the world’s most distinguished stages including Lincoln Center, La Scala, the Opéra National de Paris, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Roy Thomson Hall and Carnegie Hall. Mezzo-soprano, Nesrallah is a singer, actress and broadcaster with a rich and expressive voice. She is regularly engaged by leading opera companies, symphonies, festivals and chamber music ensembles around the world.
In 2014, she was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for her cultural contribution to Canada as a singer and as the host of CBC Radio 2’s program, “Tempo.” Nesrallah has been the recipient of several distinguished prizes and awards, including the Canada Council for the Arts Emerging Artist Award. The Indian River Festival fundraiser, Summer Hour Tour, is set for July 15 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Guests are invited to enjoy an afternoon touring through a variety of homes on P.E.I.’s North Shore in support of Indian River. Tickets are available as tour with lunch or tour only. Lunch includes a P.E.I. lobster roll (or optional chicken salad roll). Tickets are available online or at the box office 12-5 p.m. daily.
Tickets for the July 14 and 16 concerts and other concerts in the season are also available at the festival box office (902-8363733) and online via IndianRiverfestival.com.