Michael Burgess, Canadian tenor, remembered by National Arts Centre
Burgess, 70, died peacefully at Toronto hospice on Monday after cancer battle
The National Arts Centre has lowered its flag in honour of Michael Burgess, the Canadian tenor who died Monday evening at age 70.
A family friend said Burgess died peacefully in a Toronto hospice surrounded by his family. The tenor had been battling cancer for a number of years.
Born in Regina, the eldest of seven children, Burgess spent his formative years in Toronto singing at St. Michael's Choir School. He would go on to attend the University of Ottawa.
Burgess played the role of Jean Valjean in more than 1,000 performances of Les Miserables at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre and on tour across Canada.
He also performed with the NAC Orchestra.
"He was that kind of performer that could walk the line between opera and musical theatre and connect with an audience," said Daphne Burt, the manager of artistic planning with the NAC Orchestra, told Ottawa Morning host Robyn Bresnahan on Tuesday.
"You look out at a darkened concert hall and you can't see faces, but it still felt like he was looking straight into people's eyes."
A big sports fan, Burgess was also known to hockey fans for singing the national anthem for many years at Toronto Maple Leafs home games. He was also the first person to sing O Canada at a World Series baseball game in 1992.
Burt also said Burgess once presented a hockey helmet signed by every Ottawa Senators player to former NAC Orchestra music director Pinchas Zukerman, a big hockey fan himself.
Burgess appeared in television productions of H.M.S. Pinafore, You Must Remember This and The Sandy Bottom Orchestra, as well as in TV series including Street Legal, Border Town, and E.N.G.