'Kind of thing that ends careers': Calgary pianist returns to stage after serious shoulder injury

Kathleen Morrison, left, and Carlos Foggin, will perform Ein Liederabend: An Evening of German Art Song Soprano on Nov. 27 at the Pioneer on 8th as part of Rise Up! Weekends. (Courtesy Kathleen Morrison)

CALGARY -

Calgary pianist Carlos Foggin will return to performing later this month for the first time since suffering a career-threatening shoulder injury in a car accident just over a year ago.

Foggin and Calgary opera singer Kathleen Morrison will perform Ein Liederabend: An Evening of German Art Song on Nov. 27 at the Pioneer on 8th as part of Rise Up! Weekends, a series of events backed by the city and Calgary Arts Development, among others, aimed at supporting the performing arts scene during the pandemic.

The accomplished musician was driving near Bragg Creek in October 2020 when his vehicle went off the road, breaking the top of his left humerus — where the arm attaches to the shoulder — into six pieces.

Foggin underwent emergency surgery immediately after the crash, followed by another operation in May, and has been doing intensive rehabilitation since then.

"There's pins and needle and plates and all sorts of screws," he said.

"That's the kind of thing that ends careers."

He was back on the stage weeks after the accident, conducting the Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra — where he is also the music director — and the Rise Up! Weekends show will be his first time performing.

"Fortunately, it was only this major joint and it was mashed," said Foggin, pointing to his shoulder.

"My physiotherapist actually prescribed (practising piano), he said 'I want you to play,' so six weeks after I was pushing notes. But imagine that you can't move your arm and you have to spider walk with your fingers … so I started with some early music, Bach and Scarlatti, that's only in a small range with the left hand.

"I couldn't actually lift my arm off the keyboard, I'd have to take my right arm and put it on there, then all the fingers would work and the distance and muscle memory was there, but I actually couldn't go laterally with it. Even now I still can't get all the way out there, I have to shift my body."

As a fellow musician, Morrison understands what Foggin is going through, and even more so as one that has also overcome a career-threatening injury.

In 2016, Morrison was the victim of a robbery while walking in Calgary and screamed so loud she seriously damaged her vocal chords.

She and Foggin actually met in early 2018 when they performed together in her own return to the stage.

"It's a scary thing when you're in the middle of it because you never know if you're ready to come back … if it's going to be the right time or you can actually do it," she said.

"It's more of a mental block, really, than a physical block.

"It's such a random thing that life throws at you, but artists are nothing but perseverant, that's for sure."

Even though it's Foggin's first performance since the crash, it won't be an easy one.

"The pieces we're performing, Kathleen didn't go easy and say, 'oh, you're injured, we're gonna pick the easy stuff,’" he said.

"She's picking stuff that … it's hard. It's fun, it's what I love, but it's difficult."

The evening will be about showcasing both entertainers.

"This concert is really a duet between voice and piano," said Morrison. "Whereas, opera is more of an accompaniment with a singer. This is really us doing a duet for the entire evening, so you have to have someone you can collaborate with and you work well with artistically and can do the technical demands.

"One of the famous pieces we’re doing is Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel by Schubert, and when you listen to it, you can hear that Carlos' part on the piano is the spinning wheel, it just turns and turns and turns.

"We're creating small moments that has all this stuff packed into it that we need to be able to execute very finely."

Tickets are $25 and are available through Morrison and Foggin's websites.