Sarah Brightman brings her ‘Christmas Symphony’ tour to Sarasota

Sarah Brightman was just looking to make herself and fans feel better during the prolonged pandemic lockdown last year when she got together with some musical collaborators to create “A Christmas Symphony.”

“I devised a Christmas show that we could stream, we found a venue that would take us in, got a whole team of people who put the lighting together, created a set, and I went to all the Christmas repertoire that I knew,” the singer said in a recent telephone interview.

A streaming program was arranged, and “there was an overwhelming response. That’s when we got the thought that when things returned to normal, we would take it out.”

And now, for the first time in her career, the original Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera” is traveling around the United States with a Christmas concert tour that began Nov. 26 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and ends Dec. 21 in New Orleans. In between: a Sarasota concert at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall and a Wednesday night engagement in Clearwater at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

Arts Newsletter:Sign up to receive the latest news on the Sarasota area arts scene every Monday

Holiday favorites on stage:Where to find Nutcrackers, Dickens and Christmas carols in Sarasota-Manatee

The schedule gives her just enough time to get back home to England to celebrate the holiday with her large family.

In each city, she works with a local orchestra and choir to join her on new arrangements of traditional carols and other music, as well as some of the songs that have built her a large fan base around the world.

She said fans are often eager to hear favorite singers perform holiday songs “or music that fits within that Christmas spirit. That is really where I started, collecting all the pieces of music that I felt I could sing, and people would enjoy me singing, and to tick all the boxes. It’s quite a responsibility to take on Christmas concerts because it’s an emotional time of year, and everybody wants to get a different feeling from it.”

And that may be particularly true this year as people start to re-emerge after staying home for so many months.

Review::Westcoast Black Theatre makes audiences ‘Joyful’ in new holiday show

Review:Moving past COVID, Asolo Repertory Theatre opens vibrant ‘Hair’

Building her show was all about figuring out “what will bring the Christmas spirit and what do people expect and enjoy listening to,” she said. The concert also will include some new music to address the specific feelings people go through at this time of year.

“People have had a difficult time through Christmas. They’re melancholy but soulful, that winter time of year. So we touch on those melancholic feelings and the fun side of Christmas and the very spiritual and more religious side of it. I think all these areas I’m using in this show.”

The touring production features “a beautiful set and fabulous lighting design. People love to see beautiful things at Christmas.”

Also on stage:Florida Studio Theatre premieres 'America in One Room' that takes pulse of the nation

Expanded cultural center:CreArte Latino stirs passions in new Sarasota-Manatee audiences

Brightman became an international star in “Phantom,” written by her ex-husband, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and has built a following for her classical-crossover music. She sold more than 12 million copies of her duet with Andrea Bocelli, “Time to Say Goodbye,” and she has performed at two Olympic games, in Barcelona and Beijing. And she is credited as the only artist to have topped Billboard’s dance and classical music charts simultaneously.

While she was off the stage herself for so long, Brightman said she “went into a bubble with my singing coach and went through a lot of retraining for my voice. It was needed at this point, and I felt very refreshed. So there were some upsides from the pandemic.”

She said there was nothing wrong with her voice, but from time to time, “it just needs refreshing. Maybe your breathing is off, the way you need to breathe needs perfecting and to work with another pair of ears is really good to do. I think I used my time wisely.”

‘A Christmas Symphony’

Sarah Brightman. 8 p.m. Dec. 14. Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $145-$185. 941-263-6799; vanwezel.org

Follow Jay Handelman on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Contact him at jay.handelman@heraldtribune.com. And please support local journalism by subscribing to the Herald-Tribune.