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Born on 14 August 1960, Brightman became involved in performing at a very young age, starting lessons in dance, and piano at the age of three. By the time she was 11 she successfully auditioned for her long career as a performing art student. In 1973 at the age of 13 Brightman started her stage career, landing her first role as a daughter for production of “I and Albert” at the Picadilly Theater in London.
In 1981 Brightman landed the role of Jemima in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production of “Cats,” followed by the part of Kate in “The Pirate of Penzance.” Webber, who had attended one of her shows, and Brightman eventually married, and she went on to play the lead female roles for Webber’s production of The Phantom Of the Opera, Song and Dance, and Requiem (all the parts were written specifically for her).
In 1992 Brightman performed with Jose Carreras for the Olympic Games in Barcelona, reaching an audience of about 3 billion people. Following this, Brightman decided to pursue a solo career and released a pop album “Dive” in 1993. With the release of her third album, “Timeless/Time To Say Goodbye” Brightman found worldwide success; specifically, the album reached gold, platinum and mulit-platinum in over 21 countries. In 1998 she partook in a television special on Public Broadcast Service (PBS) for her concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
“La Luna” was released in 2000 and reached Number 1 on the Billboard Top Internet Album chart, selling over 900,000 copies in the United States alone. The album, which drew on inspirations ranging from Beethoven and Billie Holiday, became her highest selling album. Following the success, she released “Classics” in 2001, which included all of her best and most iconic tracks, and five years later released a DVD of her best performances.
With the continuing success with live performances and album releases all around the world, Brightman was awarded the UNESCO Artist for Peace award in 2012, followed by live broadcast performance on the National Geographic channel. Most recently, she released a compilation album called “Voce- Sarah Brightman Beautiful Songs” for a Japanese audience in 2014.
The original Christine Daaé from Phantom of the Opera, Sarah Brightman still possesses the angelic, operatic voice and elfin beauty that first made her famous. There are no cheap seats at a Sarah Brightman concert, but there are no bad views either, since she is currently using a huge screen on stage, sometimes showing videos of nature or the cosmos to illustrate the theme of the concert. Adding to the visual treats are brilliant lighting effects and at least ten costume changes, most of them formal gowns with spectacular beading.
She has historically performed either with a full orchestra, or their recorded tracks, but on her Dreamchaser tour she is using a small back-up band instead, the better to hear her as she performs hits like Time To Say Goodbye, Closer, Nessun Dorma, Angel, and Phantom of the Opera.
Her voice, a pure, breathy soprano, can sometimes be all but overpowered by her musical accompaniment, something that happens so frequently it almost has to be by design rather than accident. She seems to prefer having her voice be experienced as just another instrument in the orchestra, rather than the centerpiece of each song, an aim not always appreciated by everyone in the audience. Fortunately, this does not happen throughout the whole evening, at least not on her current tour.