Canadian soprano star Measha Brueggergosman is awaiting heart surgery at Calgary’s Foothills Hospital, just days after garnering rave reviews from a unique performance live-streamed around the world.
The singer wrote on Facebook this weekend that she needs double bypass surgery and ended up in hospital after awakening to severe chest pain on the day she was to fly home from Calgary to Nova Scotia. The problem arose almost 10 years to the day after Brueggergosman had heart surgery to repair a torn aorta.
Brueggergosman also revealed in the social media post that her father, Pastor Sterling Gosman, recently died and that this hospital stay may prevent her from attending the service planned for him.
“The agony of not being with my mother and my sons right now has inspired me to write this post because I am in desperate need of prayer and support,” she wrote.
“I am in very good hands medically,” she continued. “But I am also human and I want to be at my father’s funeral. It has always been our father-daughter pact that I would sing his favourite hymn — In The Garden — at his homecoming and I’m trying to make my peace that it might not happen. But I also want to fight from every possible angle to make it happen.”
By Sunday, an outpouring of social media love was sent Brueggergosman’s way. She thanked the friends and strangers who were wishing her well, and paid tribute to the religious path her father chose in life.
Brueggergosman, a Juno winner and Grammy nominee, is a sought-after soprano who sang at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics. Last weekend in Calgary, she closed off the season of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra with a performance that featured classical, opera and popular music in one concert — only the second time she’s performed in this manner. The concert was live-streamed around the world.
“She’s one of the few vocalists in the world who can do that,” CPO music director Rune Bergmann said of the concert’s diverse program.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
