Sarah Brightman excited to experience Pinoy Christmas

British singer Sarah Brightman is excited to experience Christmastime in the Philippines when she returns for her concert in December.

Touted as the “world’s biggest-selling soprano,” Sarah is bringing her A Christmas Symphony tour to Manila on Dec. 7 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“(The tour is) very personal to me, first of all. It’s very special to me because Christmas is a very, very special time of the year, as I’m sure it is for many people in the Philippines,” she said during a virtual presscon on Tuesday night hosted by concert promoter Wilbros Live.

A Christmas Symphony will mark her second time in the Philippines. The Time to Say Goodbye singer was last here in 2004 as part of her Harem World Tour. Back then, however, she had little to no opportunity at all to explore the country because she had another tour stop to fly to. This time around, she’s making sure she’s going to experience more of the local culture, most especially how Filipinos observe the Yuletide season.

“I’m always interested in different cultures. So, that’s another reason for wanting to bring this concert (there). But also, I think, for people in the Philippines, it’s a very important time of the year. I know that you start celebrating even in September. Lucky you! Of all the countries we are going to, this is particularly an important one to bring this to,” she said.

After starting out in theater as a young girl some 40 years ago, Sarah has since amassed sales of more than 30 million, earning awards in over 40 countries. The original Christine Daaé in the world-famous The Phantom of the Opera on both West End and Broadway, Sarah has been churning out chart-topping albums — from  Eden, La Luna, Harem, Symphony, Dreamchaser to her latest one, HYMN in 2018, which debuted at the No. 1 on the Classical and Classical Crossover Billboard charts. These albums are supported with world tours.

For Sarah, there’s a unique responsibility that comes with mounting a Christmas concert tour because it’s centered around a celebration that’s revered by many.

“You’re carrying across something that’s very personal to many people. You’re carrying that across to the audience. So, it’s actually quite a responsibility,” she said.

Repertoire-wise, she shared that she took great care in selecting which pieces of music to perform.

She said she wanted to create a concert that had a lot of tradition in it. “I wanted to bring the religious aspect into it, the Christianity into it. So, there are our religious pieces in there. There are also some fun pieces, some more contemporary pop pieces which bring in Christmas,” she added.

Sarah is also performing some of her greatest hits, which may have a slightly different arrangement — a more Christmas feel, as she put it.

“Of course, because I know why I’ve come to the Philippines, people always want to hear some of my hits. So, I’ve chosen bits which fit well into Christmas, they’re about celebration or they’re about sort of like personal thoughts, those sorts of songs and I’ve linked them all together,” she said.

“So, it has to be a complete mixture there. Everything intertwines beautifully.”

In terms of production, she will be accompanied by an orchestra and a choir during her show.

“I wanted a choir because I always think that choirs represent angels, you know. You have that wonderful feeling about people singing together,” she said.

“Also, I took special care in creating a very visual treat for everybody. It seems too much though, but it has a very spectacular look as well. It creates many moods.”

According to her, the overall visuals will be “very intimate and very beautiful.”

“I always think that with Christmas — although there’s a lot of bling and there’s a lot of color and razzmatazz around — actually people, they really enjoy the intimacy of Christmas, being with their family, very personal feelings, all of those sort of things,” she said.

“So, I’ve created some fun lighting. We’ve created some very intimate, beautiful lighting for the show which gives people a lot of feelings.”

She also shared that the stage area where the orchestra plays is “a little bit like looking into a snow globe so that you come into our Christmas world.”

Sarah stressed that it’s her job “to make people feel constantly all the right feelings or the feelings that they came for.”

Nevertheless, A Christmas Symphony will also take into consideration the various sentiments that people have this time of the year.

“Sometimes, it isn’t a great time for people. We all have been through sort of like the Christmases that haven’t been great. Either we’ve lost somebody or we’re feeling alone so there are such considerations,” she said.

“So, as well as having a lot of wonderful, beautiful pieces in the Christmas repertoire, I also have some songs that reflect on struggle, and that’s important because Christmas always brings this. If people are going through a struggle, it actually enhances that feeling with people going through this.

“So, I felt it was important to bring that element into the concepts as well, that everybody is very, very aware of the struggles that some people are going through at that time of year.”

Meanwhile, Sarah was asked how she usually celebrates Christmas.

“Well, my concerts always go on right before so I’m absolutely exhausted when I get home to Great Britain. But my holidays generally, I’m with my family because we’re Christians,” she said.

They normally get into the holiday spirit on the first day of December, but the actual celebration lasts for three days, starting on Christmas Eve and ending on Boxing Day.

“I have a very large family, I have five siblings and they have all their children, we have our parents and then some uncles and aunts, and whatever. So, there can be around 13 to 30 people around our table,” Sarah revealed.

“And what we do on Christmas Eve, it’s about everybody coming together. There’s lots of excitement. It’s about having a meal together. We’ll generally have some fish or something like cold things on the table. And then, we’ll go to midnight Mass. The following day, we’d open up presents under our tree. We have a huge late lunch which goes on till the evening.

“And then the following day is Boxing Day and that comes from an old tradition of basically people who had a lot of food and wealth. They would box up everything for people who didn’t have so much so that everybody enjoyed a wonderful meal at Christmas. So, that’s our three-day holiday and then, I think we’re all tired of each other by the third day (laughs) and everybody goes off.”

(Tickets to Sarah Brightman: A Christmas Symphony in Manila are available via TicketNet.com.ph, TicketNet outlets nationwide or call 8911-5555 for details.)