Measha Brueggergosman-Lee

Measha Brueggergosman–Lee (née Gosman; June 28, 1977) is a Canadian soprano who performs both as an opera singer and concert artist. She has performed internationally and won numerous awards. Her recordings of both classical and popular music have also received awards.

Background

She was born Measha Gosman in Fredericton, New Brunswick, to Anne Eatmon and Sterling Gosman. As a child, Gosman began singing in the choir of her local Baptist church, where her father served as a deacon. She studied voice and piano from the age of seven. As a teen, she took voice lessons in her home town, and spent summers on scholarships at the Boston Conservatory and at a choral camp in Rothesay, New Brunswick. John was from Connecticut and Rose from Rhode Island. She performed an arrangement of the English sung version of the hymn in English and French to reflect Canada's official languages.

In 2012 Brueggergosman was a judge on the Canadian reality show Canada's Got Talent. The show was cancelled after one season but was revived in 2022.

She has also had acting roles in the Murdoch Mysteries episode "Murdoch at the Opera", and in the films Brown Girl Begins and The Young Arsonists.

In 2021 she created the symphonic short film Forgotten Coast, an exploration of Black Canadian history in Nova Scotia, for the National Arts Centre/CBC Gem series Undisrupted.

Charitable activities Brueggergosman is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism.

In 2007, Brueggergosman became the Goodwill Ambassador for the African Medical & Research Foundation (AMREF), a charity working for Better Health in Africa. In June of that year she travelled to the war-affected village of Patongo in East Africa to share her voice as a form of musical therapy for children. Brueggergosman described herself after the trip as "never the same" and continues her work with AMREF today.

Personal life She married Markus Brügger, born in Germany. They first met in high school, when he was an exchange student in New Brunswick. When they married, they combined their last names to Brüggergosman (also spelled Brueggergosman). They divorced in 2018. In 2021 she married jazz guitarist Steve Lee.

Suffering a heart condition in June 2009, Brueggergosman took some time off to recover from open heart surgery. She returned to the stage in September 2009 for a performance at the Toronto International Film Festival.

On June 20, 2019, Brueggergosman underwent another successful open heart surgery (double bypass) in Calgary.

Awards and recognition She was awarded the Grand Prize at the 2009 Jeunesses Musicales Montreal International Musical Competition and won First Prize at the International Vocal Competition 's-Hertogenbosch in 2002. Brueggergosman has been a prizewinner at other competitions, including the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition in London, the George London Foundation in New Deli, the Queen Sonja International Music Competition in Oslo, and the ARD International Music Competition in Munich.

The recipient of the Canada Council and Chalmers Performing Arts grants, Brueggergosman has been twice nominated for Juno Awards. She won the 2008 Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance for Surprise, recorded with Deutsche Grammophon, with which she has a contract.

In 2015, she appeared in the documentary television series Songs of Freedom, which profiled her exploring and learning about her African heritage leading up to a live concert performance of African-American spiritual music.

In 2017, she was appointed to the Order of New Brunswick, and received an honorary doctorate from Concordia University.

Discography