Sarah Brightman has the spirit, or at least spirituality, on her new album, Hymn, which comes out Nov. 9 with a world tour lined up to support it.
"I think at this time in my life, especially at this time when I think humankind is going through a really huge and profound transition -- especially with technology and all sorts of new things happening in our lives -- that's caused a lot of upheaval in the world," the award-winning soprano and actress tells Billboard. "There's a lot of confusion, and people sometimes don't know where to go. I wanted to sing something very familiar, something close, something that could be religious or spiritual. Those are things that make me feel centered. I feel like right now a lot of people are not feeling centered and don't quite who where they are or what's going to happen, so as an artist I went to a place where I feel centered, and this is what I ended up with."
Brightman says she was initially missing a sense of "mission" after her last studio release, 2013's Dreamcatcher. It was longtime producer Frank Peterson, who's guided eight of her 15 albums, who helped her hone in on the Hymn concept when they began discussions during 2016. "He called me and said, 'How are you feeling? Talk to me about stuff,' and I did," Brightman recalls. "He said, 'It really would be lovely to sing some pieces that are very uplifting, that are not dangerous in any way, something sort of about hope and future and all of these things.' So we got together and started working on different things, and we came up with this album, which was an absolute delight to work on." She also told Peterson that she "kept hearing choirs all the time in my head," which also led to the spiritual and hymn-like approach to the 12 tracks.
Brightman and Peterson recorded Hymn (pre-order here) at studios in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Vancouver, London, Hamburg and Budapest. They took the title track from British rock band Barclay James Harvest’s 1977 album Gone To Earth and recorded a new version of "Time to Say Goodbye," her 1996 duet with Andrea Bocelli, to close the album. Hymn also includes collaborations with Japanese artist Yoshiki ("Miracle"), German DJ Paul Kalkbrenner ("Sky and Sand"), French tenor Vincent Niclo and the Eric Whitacre singers ("Fly to Paradise"), while the London Symphony Orchestra appears on 11 of the songs.
"You have to be very open-minded, often, when you're working on a lot of these pieces," Brightman says. "We worked for a long time, a lot of experimenting and lots of things that didn’t' work. But I'm really glad I've gone through with it. I'm really enjoying this (album)."
Brightman will take Hymn on the road starting Nov. 24 in Sao Paolo Brazil, touring South America, Mexico and Puerto Rico first, then kicking off in North America on Jan. 30 in Baltimore, with tickets going on sale at 10 a.m. local time on Sept. 21 (with a Sept. 18 pre-sale) and CD copies of Hymn coming with every pair of online tickets purchased. Austrian jewel maker Swarovski will be providing crystals for Brightman's costumes and tiaras, as well as for a line of merchandise that will accompany the tour.
"It's obviously going to have a lot of choir, lots of humans in this show," says Brightman, who has tabled her well-publicized plans to travel in space for the time being. "I had enough of energy screens on the last tour. This one is going to be very human, full of lots of musicians and beautiful lighting. We're figuring out everything that we’re doing now, and I'm very excited."
The track list for Hymn includes:
Hymn Overture
Hymn
Sogni featuring Vincent Niclo
Sky And Sand
Canto Per Noi
Fly To Paradise featuring Eric Whitacre Singers
Gia Nel Seno (La Storia Di Lucrezia)
Follow Me
You
Better Is One Day
Tu Che M’hai Preso IL Cuor
Miracle (Sarah’s Version) featuring Yoshiki
Time To Say Goodbye
Hymn: Sarah Brightman In Concert tour dates:
Nov. 24 São Paolo, Brazil Espaco das Americas
Nov. 25 São Paolo, Brazil Espaco das Americas
Nov. 27 Brasília, Brazil Ulysses Guimarães Convention Center
Nov. 29 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Vivo Rio
Dec. 1 Curitiba, Brazil Teatro Guaira
Dec. 4 Lima, Peru Gran Teatro Nacional
Dec. 6 Montevideo, Uruguay Antel Arena
Dec. 8 Buenos Aires, Argentina Teatro Colon
Dec. 10 Buenos Aires, Argentina Teatro Colon
Jan. 17 San Juan, Puerto Rico Coliseo de Puerto Rico
Jan. 19 Monterrey, Mexico Arena Monterrey
Jan. 22 Guadalajara, Mexico Auditorio Telmex
Jan. 24 Puebla, Mexico Auditorio Metropolitano
Jan. 26 Mexico City, Mexico Arena Ciudad de Mexico Jan. 30 Baltimore, MD Hippodrome Theatre
Feb. 1 Mashantucket, CT Foxwoods Resort Casino
Feb. 2 Atlantic City, NJ Tropicana AC
Feb. 3 Philadelphia, PA The Met Philadelphia
Feb. 5 Washington, DC DAR Constitution Hall
Feb. 6 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall
Feb. 7 Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre
Feb. 9 Montreal, QC Place Bell
Feb. 10 Toronto, ON Sony Center
Feb. 12 Pittsburgh, PA Benedum
Feb. 13 Detroit, MI Fox Theatre
Feb. 14 Chicago, IL Chicago Theatre
Feb. 16 Greenville, SC Bon Secours Wellness Arena
Feb. 17 Atlanta, GA Fox Theatre
Feb. 19 St. Petersburg, FL Mahaffey Theater
Feb. 20 Hollywood, FL Hard Rock Live at The Event Center
Feb. 21 Orlando, FL Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
Feb. 23 Grand Prairie, TX Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House
Feb. 25 Sugar Land, TX Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land
Feb. 27 Phoenix, AZ Comerica Theatre*
Mar. 1 San Diego, CA Viejas Arena
Mar. 2 Anaheim, CA Honda Center
Mar. 3 Las Vegas, NV Smith Center PAC
Mar. 5 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre
Mar. 7 Salt Lake City, UT Abravenal Hall
Mar. 9 San Francisco, CA The Masonic*
Mar. 10 Los Angeles, CA Dolby Theatre
Mar. 13 San Jose, CA City National Civic
Mar. 15 Portland, OR Keller Auditorium
Mar. 16 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre
Mar. 18 Vancouver, BC Queen Elizabeth Theatre