Canadian Composer Commission Song Cycle with music by John Estasio and poetry by Mary Oliver

The International Festival of Song and Chamber Music Society (Mountain View Festival) has been invited to commission a stellar addition to the Canadian Art Song Canon. Canada’s own Brett Polegato, one of our country’s finest baritones, has approached our organization to commission Canadian Composer John Estacio to write a 15 minute song cycle to poems by the famous Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Mary Oliver.
Our organization is honoured to receive this commission request. Our mandate is to support Art Song and one of the best ways to carry on this support is to commission new works.
We were privileged to be part of another recent commission, a song cycle with music composed by Canadian Composer Matthew Ricketts, set to poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay, titled “Songs for Judith”. We premiered this song cycle in partnership with Calgary Opera in October 2025.
It is of great importance to our organization to be part of Brett’s mission to add to the Art Song canon in such a meaningful way. It is important to champion Canadian Composers and Canadian artists.
Both song cycles will receive their World Premiere performances in Canada in the spring of 2026, but we need your support to make this project come alive. We hope you will agree to be a part of the creation of a new song cycle through a charitable donation.