Michael Burgess (2003)
 Few
people in Canadian entertainment have had the impact that Michael Burgess
has had in the last decade. His major theatre credits include the role of Jean
Valjean in Les Miserables at Toronto’s Alexandra Theatre (Dora Award
nomination), The Concert at Skydome, Toronto and the first national Canadian
tour as well as the Tenth Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in
London, England; the role of the Narrator in Blood Brothers with David Cassidy
and Amy Sky (Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto), Man of La Mancha (Toronto and
Edmonton), and various other musical theatre productions across Canada and the
United States. Besides appearing
off Broadway, Michael has appeared with the Stratford Festival, the Guelph
Spring Festival, the Charlottetown Festival, Manitoba Theatre, The National Arts
Centre, Workshop Productions, Theatre Calgary, the Muskoka Festival and the
Citadel Theatre. On television, he
has completed a Showtime Movie of the Week entitled Sandy Bottom Orchestra,
which aired in the spring of 2000 on CBS. He
has also starred in Friday the 13th, Top Cops, Bordertown, ENG, PSI
Factor, Earth: Final Conflict, and the Gemini Award-winning television special
Michael Burgess at Massey Hall. Most
recently, he starred in Frankenstein…Do You Dream, a Bravo!-produced video
excerpt from the new musical of the same title, which won the Tim Rice Award for
Music and Drama at the Naples Film and Video Festival and was featured at the 6th
Annual Victoria Independent Film and Video Festival.
Michael has also starred in the feature film Entry in a Diary, which garnered
the Roberto Rosselini Award at the 43rd Film Festival in Salerno,
Italy, and The Original Sin, directed by Geoff Rayes, which qualified in the
short film category for the 1999 Academy Awards.
He is featured as one of the celebrity voices in the Famous People
Players productions Leave the Porchlight On and Hide and Seek. He has also
starred in a Christmas music video called O Holy Night, which airs during the
holiday season on Country Music Television, and has recorded the narration
for two children’s books, The Nightingale and The Dragon’s Pearl, both of
which are available on cassette from Stoddard Publishing. He has also lent his
voice to the animated series Bob & Margaret and Marvin the Tap-Dancing
Horse, and has been a guest on YTV’s Ants in Your Pants and CBC’s Sesame
Park.
A
confessed sports fanatic, Michael narrated the TV sports documentary The Stanley
Cup: A Century of Magic Moments on Quality Video, hosted by Ken Dryden.
He has thrilled millions of sports fans around the world with his
performances of national anthems at monumental sporting events, including two
World Series (Atlanta 1992 and Toronto 1993 – Michael was the first person to
sing O Canada at the Major League All Star Game), two Canada Cups (1987 and 1991
– anthems in six languages), an NHL All Star Game in Madison Square Garden,
NY, the Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland,
(Canada vs. Russia – Canada won, and Michael received a Gold Medal for
his contribution), the Memorial Cup (Sault Ste. Marie), the World Figure Skating
Championships, the Grey Cup, the Queen’s Plate, the Molson Indy and the
DuMaurier Open Tennis Championships.
He has also appeared at the Maple Leaf Gardens in CBC-TV’s Stars On
Ice, joining forces with champion figure skater Kurt Browning in an
unforgettable performance of “Bring Him Home,”
as well as with Brian Boitano in a stunning rendition of “The Music of
the Night” for the final farewell of Underhill and Martini. Michael
recorded the theme song “There Are No Strangers” for CTV’s coverage of the
Barcelona Summer Olympics in 1992, and flew to Barcelona to perform for Canadian
athletes, where he was accorded the privilege of being named an honorary member
of the Olympic team. In addition, Michael has served as honorary chairman of the Sun Life Nationals Tennis
Championship.
In 2002 he was honoured to receive the Queen’s
Golden Jubilee Medal as a distinguished Canadian under the auspices of the
Governor General of Canada. He has
also served on the advisory board of Ryerson Polytechnical University, and
currently serves on the advisory board of Sheridan College. Michael
believes strongly in giving back, generously donating his talents to numerous
charitable organizations across Canada. He has performed on behalf of Easter
Seals, the Special Olympics, Sick Kids Hospital, Variety Club, Kids Help Phone
and the Courage to Come Back Programme of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in
Toronto, just to name a few.
Michael is in great demand as a guest solo artist. He has participated in
special gala performances for Ed Mirvish
at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, for Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and
for the Governor General’s 25th Anniversary Celebration of the
Order of Canada; he has also appeared before the Queen at Parliament Hill in
Ottawa on Canada Day. He performs
with major symphony orchestras across Canada and the US, and continues to be a
favourite with event planners and corporate audiences.
He and his band tour each year to the delight of sold-out audiences
everywhere. His CD A Place in the
Sun has gone Gold and continues to enchant fans new and old, while his new
Christmas album, Angels in the Snow, promises to make just as strong a showing.
For Michael, the applause continues and the legions of fans multiply!
For more information on the
Michael Burgess, visit his web
site.
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