Christine Brewer
Introduction
Recognised as amongst the foremost singers of our age, Christine Brewer’s recent engagements have included the gala concerts to re-open the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (under Bernard Haitink), Britten’s "War Requiem" in Rome with Antonio Pappano and she has forged strong links with the BBC Proms (most notably with performances of Wagner’s "Die Walküre" and "Götterdämmerung" and Schönberg’s "Gurrelieder" under Donald Runnicles, and Mahler’s 8th Symphony under Sir Simon Rattle). Christine Brewer’s opera engagements include the Färberin ("Die Frau ohne Schatten") with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Paris Opera, Gluck’s "Alceste" and Britten’s "Albert Herring" in Santa Fe. Miss Brewer is the recipient of the BBC Radio 3 Listener’s Award of the 2008 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards.
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Biography
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Press Reviews
LPO/Jurowski - Four Last Songs, Royal Festival Hall, 2011
'Splendour number one? Christine Brewer’s red dress, red enough to have been cut from the carpet laid out at Westminster Abbey. Red enough too to serve as a suitable visual symbol of the American soprano’s regal authority in the long curling lines of Strauss’s Four Last Songs — the tender peach at the centre of Vladimir Jurowski’s programme with the London Philharmonic.'
Geoff Brown/The Times, May 6, 2011
CD: Echoes of Nightingales, Hyperion, 2011
Click here for review in Opera News, July 2011
'This extraordinary disc brings together songs by predominantly American composers that were used as encores by four sopranos who were hugely popular in the US from the 1930s to the 60s – Kirsten Flagstad, Eileen Farrell, Helen Traubel and Eleanor Steber. The astonishing Steber could sing just about anything. The other three were Wagnerians – Flagstad, of course, being the greatest – though Traubel also notoriously annoyed operatic authorities by singing cabaret. But all four ended their US recitals and broadcasts with either songs from the shows, salon numbers or sentimental ballads by the likes of Idabelle Firestone and Mildred Lund Tyson. Brewer, in tremendous voice, carves out a niche as their successor, partly because the majestic quality of her delivery equals theirs, but more importantly because she, like they, has the ability to make this repertoire live and breathe without sounding mawkish. The high points – there are many – include Frank La Forge's Hills and Sweetheart from Sigmund Romberg's Maytime. And Brewer's pianist, Roger Vignoles, sounds as if he's thoroughly enjoying himself.'
Tim Ashley/guardian.co.uk, April 14, 2011
Recital at the Holywell Music Rooms, Oxford, January 30, 2011
'Brewer has a wide repertoire, including Handel, Gluck, Verdi, Wagner and Britten. Her versatility was evident in the contrasting halves of the concert. She has a powerful voice, wonderfully suited to the melting phrases and intense emotions of the music in the first half. The opening song of Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, Der Engel, was exquisite. Strauss’s Befreit (Freed) was another highlight. In the confines of the Holywell Music Room the effect of her voice was exhilarating. She and Vignoles were just as convincing in the ‘lighter’ pieces in the second half. The songs, all by American composers, were sentimental, witty, even downright bizarre. Brewer displayed a gentler, more relaxed, personality in this music. I loved the bluesy Happiness is a thing called Joe by Harold Arlen, and Frank La Forge’s passionate eulogy to hill walking. John La Montaine’s setting of the Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods included some nice sound effects in the accompaniment and ended with surprising jauntiness.'
Simon Collings/Weekend, February 8, 2011
Wigmore Hall Recital, January, 2010
'Christine Brewer singing American song – it’s like Judi Dench in Shakespeare, or an Aaron Sorkin screenplay: it just doesn’t get any better. Forcing the restrained acoustic of the Wigmore to ring as though it were St Paul’s, and persuading a white-haired Friday night crowd to whoop and clap between numbers until cut off by the next piano introduction, it’s hard to say whether Brewer’s voice or personality carries greater weight. Every bit the equal of the “glad, great-throated nightingale” she sang of, her repertoire may have been from a bygone era but there was nothing dusty about this recital.'
Alexandra Coghlan/The Arts Desk, January 29, 2010
New York City Opera / Gala Concert, October 2010
'With hard economic times limiting its fall productions to just two, the company presented Christine Brewer in an all-too-brief gala concert on Thursday. It was a welcome chance to hear one of today's few true dramatic sopranos on the stage of a New York opera house. Brewer was supposed to star in the Metropolitan Opera's revival of Wagner's "Ring" cycle in spring of 2009, but withdrew because of a knee injury. She opened with a dazzling "In questa reggia" from Puccini's "Turandot," then offered a moving "Liebestod" from Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde," and closed with a group of songs by Harold Arlen and Jerome Kern. In the latter, she showed she can lighten her voice and move into popular mode without sounding the least bit arch or affected.
Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2010
'An Evening With Christine Brewer... was a welcome opportunity to hear this elusive dramatic soprano, one of the best in the business... Ms. Brewer’s big, sumptuous voice is ideally suited to the Wagner and Strauss repertory. At 55, she is in her prime and sounding glorious. To open the program, Ms. Brewer gave a vocally blazing yet lyrically sensual performance of “In questa reggia” from Puccini’s “Turandot.”... Ms. Brewer is the uncommon singer of her vocal type whose voice can slice through a thick orchestra while still sounding lustrous, and it was thrilling to hear her as the icy, avenging Princess Turandot. ... Ms. Brewer’s opulent voice soared during her magisterial account of the “Liebestod.”'
Anthony Tommasini/New York Times, October 29, 2010
Strauss: Opera Scenes / Telarc / 2010
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles, Eric Owens
'Christine Brewer, a superlative Strauss singer, wields her sumptuous voice to impressive effect in the recognition scene from “Elektra,” the imprisonment scene from “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” and the final scene from “Salome.” She is beautifully supported by Eric Owens, Donald Runnicles and the Atlanta musicians.'
New York Times, Record Review of the Year 2010, Vivien Schweitzer
'The rewards come from Ms. Brewer’s spectacular singing, supported by the urgent, sensitive conducting of Donald Runnicles with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. As captured here Ms. Brewer’s voice is glorious. She sings with abundant sound and wondrous colorings. It is not that common for a big-voiced dramatic soprano to combine such easy power with such alluring vocal beauty. She brings distinctive interpretive touches to extended scenes from “Elektra,” “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” and “Salome,” and exudes vocal charisma.'
Anthony Tommasini/New York Times, September 2, 2010
'Brewer is one of the great dramatic sopranos of our time and ideally suited to interpreting Strauss's complex music.'
Classic FM Magazine, November, 2010
'Precisely why Chrisitne Brewer is not regognized as the greatest dramatic soprano of our day is beyond me. it is true that she seems to prefer concerts to actual staged opera, but once one hears her opulent, handsome sound, it is clear that we're in the company of a very great singer indeed. Her voice brings to mind a geyser: easily produced, always astounding with an almost miraculous presentation.'
Robert Levine, International Record Review, October, 2010
Chandos / Ariadne, 2010
'Christine Brewer's lustrous Ariadne hd to be captured on disc, even if recording never quite does justice to the way her voice luminously fills a hall.'
BBC Music Magazine, December, 2010
'Christine Brewer makes a glorious Ariadne'
Classic FM Magazine, November, 2010
'Christine Brewer's Prima Donna/ Ariadne is towering. More fiery than Jessye Norman, less silvey than Gundula Janowitz, she still has absolute dignity, and I cannot recall hearing this role so easily sung. Top notes ring out with utter confidence and low notes are merely a lower extension - no register breaks, no surprises. Her attention to the text is sensitive; her opera seria attitude in her opening, low-lying monologue is delivered with just the right deadly seriousness and 'There is a land' soars exquisitely. Her soft singing in the final duet is stunning and her grander utterances gleam.'
Robert Levine, International Record Review, October, 2010
'Christine Brewer’s Ariadne boasts a gleaming, sumptuous dramatic soprano,capable of vulnerability and tenderness.'
Sunday Times, September 12, 2010
'Recorded in a separate acoustic from the singers, he occupies his own kingdom, and only the Fry completist should consider buying this set on his account. Instead, the name that matters is Christine Brewer’s. Ariadne is one of the American soprano’s signature roles and I’d want to hear the results even if she sang in Esperanto. Few singers can beat her for matching a full vocal bloom to vivid dramatic gifts. Close your eyes and you easily see both her characters: the abandoned Ariadne of Greek myth moping in her cave, and the Prologue’s prima donna, aghast at the prospect of sharing the stage with a commedia dell’arte troupe.'
The Times / Geoff Brown, September 3, 2010
'Richard Strauss in English? Yes, when the cast is as smart and committed as this, with American soprano Christine Brewer, already an incomparable Ariadne, in the title role and nearly every top British singer you care to name in support....'
The Observer / Fiona Maddocks, August 29, 2010
'I have nothing but praise for this splendid recording. Sir Richard Armstrong conducts a lucid performance in which every detail is captured by the engineers. It's sung in English, and the cast is stunning, headed by the American soprano Christine Brewer in glorious voice as Ariadne...'
Sunday Telegraph / Michael Kennedy, August 29, 2010
'The recording’s value lies in preserving Christine Brewer’s Ariadne – warm, majestic and humane, rising to radiant heights in the finale with Robert Dean Smith’s Bacchus.'
Financial Times / August 28, 2010
Ravinia Festival, 2010
'Brewer's gleaming, opulent sound was thrilling to hear in the final scene of "Siegfried," in which the now-mortal warrior-maiden awakens from her long slumber to behold her conquering hero...Then came Brunnhilde's Immolation, which concludes the opera as well as the "Ring" itself. Brewer brought a powerfully thrusting tone, lovely lyrical counterforce and immense dignity to the scene. Here we have Brunnhilde lamenting the loss of her lover and betrayer even as she prepares to sacrifice herself to redeem a corrupt world she's about to set ablaze. Brewer built to a sustained, ecstatic climax that earned her a roaring ovation.'
Chicago Tribune/ July 3, 2010
Missa Solemnis: New York Philharmonic - June, 2010
'The soprano Christine Brewer sang splendidly, floating the soaring solo lines yet bringing some Wagnerian intensity even to hushed pianissimos.'
New York Times, June 24, 2010
Elijah: Boston Symphony Orchestra/ Carnegie Hall - April, 2010
'Christine Brewer’s luminous soprano...'
Financial Times/ Michael Bernheimer, April 7, 2010
Philarmonia/ Wagner Concert, December 2009
'It was Brewer who rightly dominated this spread of Wagner’s bleeding chunks with the Philharmonia and Charles Mackerras. Here’s a voice of properly Wagnerian weight that rarely sounds pushed or forced, either for the coppery low notes of Brünnhilde’s doughty resolve or the softest, purest of sign-offs in the transcendent Liebestod. As a vocal actress, the American soprano could be a mite more engaged in the moment — scores were subtly deployed for both her scenes and at times the drama lacked spontaneity. But what impresses most about Brewer is how well she has retained the lyrical qualities of her voice. Even at the service of some of the biggest sings in the rep, she has ramped up the volume and projection without losing any of that wonderfully pure, bright tone.'
Neil Fisher, Times Online, December 15, 2009
'Above all, the dramatic interventions of the soprano Christine Brewer — as Isolde and Brünnhilde — had one feeling there could scarcely be a more powerful, technically sumptuous, poetically mellifluous exponent of those roles active in the world today.'
Paul Driver, Times Online, December 20, 2009
Alceste, Santa Fe Opera, 2009
'Brewer brought the requisite regal dignity and ample soprano tone to the role one would expect. The soprano rose to the final scene’s challenges superbly... with an affecting, beautifully refined and nuanced "Divinites du Styx". '
Chicago Classical Review, Lawrence A. Johnson, August 3, 2009
'Christine Brewer, the eagerly awaited Alceste, makes a grandly conceived, imposing figure as the tragic queen. '
Santa Fe Reporter, John Stege, August 6, 2009
'In... “Ombres, larves, pâles compagnes de la mort” and “Ah! malgré moi” — she brought an emotional depth and exquisite technical control to the music. '
New York Times, Allan Kozinn, August 6, 2009
'Christine Brewer sang the role with vitality, warmth, and shattering power, a resplendent earth mother of opulent potency.'
Ionarts, Charles T. Downey, August 7, 2009
'Brewer was regal in the title role. If the soprano, still apparently recovering from a knee injury, is limited in physical movement, her large, lustrous vocalism emerged unfettered.'
San Francisco Classical Voice, Georgia Rowe, August 1, 2009
Mahler 8/ New York Philharmonic - June 2009
'Soprano Christine Brewer as Magna Peccatrix was in excellent voice as she carried the top line in the beautifully sung trio...''
Classicalsource.com/ David M. Rice
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/ Robin Ticciati - Four Last Songs, January 22, 2009
'Christine Brewer was the soloist in the Four Last Songs, and she judged them beautifully, bringing dignity leavened with just a little wonderment...'
The Guardian, January 28, 2009
'No apologies were needed for Strauss's Four last Songs, delivered with soaring heart by the American splendour, Christine Brewer, who was making her Liverpool debut.'
The Times, January 26, 2009
London Symphony Orchestra/ Sir Colin Davis - Verdi Requiem - January 11 & 14, 2009
'On this occasion that was very much the soprano part, taken with supreme intensity and fullness of voice by Christine Brewer, now a great heroic soprano.'
Spectator/January 22, 2009
'Soprano Christine Brewer rose to her best form in the “Libera me”, where she floated long phrases with a classical purity of line...'
Financial Times/January 13, 2009
'As for Christine Brewer, this exemplary singer gives us everything and more that Verdi asks of his soprano in this work. On those many occasions he leaves her suspended beauteously in clear air one feels transported to a safe place. I have rarely heard the soaring a capella passage at the heart of the Libera me so gloriously sung or indeed so starkly contrasted with her tremulous descents into an overawed chest register. She was very much the beating heart of this performance. Quite marvellous.'
The Independent/January 13, 2009
'Christine Brewer was the sumptuous soprano...'
The Guardian/January 13, 2009
'As always with Brewer there is never any doubt that her fabulous technique and breath-control will make light of the trickiest passages... So it was here. She also has enough punch in the lower reaches of the part to make maximum impact. She really should sing more dramatic middle- and late-Verdi.'
Classical Source/ January 13, 2009
Discography
Echoes of Nightingales
Roger Vignoles, piano
HYPERION
Grand & Glorious - Great Operatic Choruses
Robert Shaw, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
TELARC
Absolute Heaven: Choral Masterpieces
Robert Shaw / Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
TELARC
Opera Arias Volume 1
Philharmonia Orchestra, David Parry
CHANDOS
Opera Arias Volume 2
Philharmonia Orchestra, David Parry
CHANDOS
Songs by Wagner, Wolf, Britten and Carter
Roger Vignoles
WIGMORE HALL LIVE
Christine Brewer in Concert: Music for a While
Opera Theatre of St. Louis
St. Louis Woman: Christine Brewer
Opera Theatre of St. Louis
BARBER: Vanessa
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
CHANDOS
BEETHOVEN: Fidelio (in English)
Philharmonia Orchestra, David Parry
CHANDOS
BEETHOVEN: Fidelio
London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis
LSO LIVE
BOLCOM: Songs of Innocence and Experience
Leonard Slatkin
NAXOS
BRITTEN: War Requiem
London Philharmonic, Kurt Masur
LPO Live
DVORAK: Stabat Mater
Robert Shafer
NAXOS
JANACEK: Glagolitic Mass
Atlanta SO & Chorus, Robert Shaw
TELARC
MAHLER: 8th Symphony
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle
EMI
MARX: Orchestral songs
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jiri Behlolavek
CHANDOS
MENOTTI: Canti della Lontananza
Roger Vignoles
ASV
MOART: Don Giovanni
SCO, Sir Charles Mackerras
TELARC
MOZART Requiem
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles
TELARC
SCHUBERT: The Hyperion Schubert Edition - Vol.31
Graham Johnson
HYPERION
STRAUSS: Complete Songs Vol 1
Roger Vignoles
HYPERION
STRAUSS: Vier letzte Lieder
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles
TELARC
STRAUSS: Great Strauss Scenes
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles
TELARC
STRAUSS: Ariadne
Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Sir Richard Armstrong
CHANDOS
WAGNER: Tristan und Isolde
BBC Symphony Orchestra Donald Runnicles
WARNER
Repertoire
BARBER:
Vanessa (Vanessa)
BEETHOVEN:
Fidelio (Leonore)
BRITTEN:
Gloriana (Elizabeth)
Peter Grimes (Ellen Orford)
Albert Herring (Lady Billows)
GLUCK:
Iphigenie en Tauride (Iphigenie)
Alceste (Alceste)
HAYDN:
Armide (Armide)
MOZART:
Don Giovanni (Donna Anna)
Le Nozze di Figaro (Countess)
Idomeneo (Elettra)
La clemenza di Tito (Vitellia)
PUCCINI:
Turandot (Turandot)
STRAUSS:
Ariadne auf Naxos (Ariadne)
Elektra (Chrysothemis)
Die Aegyptische Helena (Helena)
Die Frau Ohne Schatten (Faerberin)
WEBER:
Oberon (Rezia)
Euryanthe (Euryanthe/Eglantine)
WAGNER:
Die Walkure (Brunnhilde)
Siegfried (Brunnhilde)
Gotterdammerung (Brunnhilde)
Tristan und Isolde (Isolde)
