Brightman Eden

Hymn is the twelfth studio album by English soprano Sarah Brightman and first since 2013's Dreamchaser. The five-year gap between both studio albums marks Brightman's longest break between studio releases. This album marks Brightman's ninth studio collaboration with producer Frank Peterson. The album was released on 9 November 2018, entering at No. 1 on both the Billboard Classical Crossover Albums and overall Classical Albums, making Brightman the female artist with the most No. 1s in both charts.

Broadway star Sarah Brightman was the inspiration behind such stage hits as Phantom of the Opera and Requiem, written in her honor by ex-husband Andrew Lloyd Webber. Born August 14, 1960, in Berkhampstead, England, Brightman began dancing at the age of three, and ten years later made her London theatrical debut in Charles Strouse's I and Albert.

While the sales of Sarah Brightman's ambitious, Middle Eastern-themed 2003 album Harem may have fallen short of its predecessor, the veteran UK chanteuse's popularity as a live performer has only mushroomed. This live recording of her ambitious, sold-out Harem World Tour engagement at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Arena is testament to that appeal, begging the question: Will Brightman become the Grateful Dead of classical crossover? Indeed, abetted by the rich sonic textures of longtime producer/collaborator Frank Peterson, the worldbeat conceits of her recent studio recordings are folded into a larger, even more expansive live vision here. Brightman's overt dramatic instincts and oft-chaemeleonic vocal abilities drive a slate of material that stretches from the Arabian Nights/Madame Butterflypastiche of Harem's seductive "It's A Beautiful Day" through surprisingly effective classical/rock reinventions of Kansas' "Dust in the Wind" and The Moody Blues' chestnut "Nights in White Satin" to expected classical bowings "Nessun Dorma" and the obligatory nod to "Phantom of the Opera"Harem's East-meets-Eurodisco sensibility will also welcome the melodic new studio bonus cut, "Snow in the Sahara."

–Jerry McCulley

Sarah Brightman (born 14 August 1960) is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, musician, songwriter, conductor, and dancer.
Brightman has sung in many languages including English, Spanish, French, Latin, German, Turkish, Italian, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and Catalan.Brightman began her career as a member of the dance troupe Hot Gossip and released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 1981, she made her West End musical theatre debut in Cats and met composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, whom she later married. She went on to star in several West End and Broadway musicals, including The Phantom of the Opera, where she originated the role of Christine Daaé. Her original London cast album of the musical was released in CD format in 1987 and sold 40 million copies worldwide, making it the biggest-selling cast album of all time.

Ex-husband Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Records can be accused of scraping the bottom of the barrel in its second compilation of old Sarah Brightman tracks released to take advantage of the singer's international popularity due to her albums Time to Say Goodbye, Eden, and La Luna, all recorded for a different company. Happily, even the bottom of the barrel contains some excellent material, even after the cream was skimmed off with The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection. During and after her marriage to Lloyd Webber, Brightman performed on the Original London Cast recording of The Phantom of the Opera and recorded the albums The Songs That Got Away (1989) and Surrender (1995), and that's the material sampled here, that is, the remaining tracks that weren't used on The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection.