21C now represents soprano Christine Brewer
21C Media Group is excited to announce that it now represents soprano Christine Brewer, handling her media and public relations. The Grammy Award-winning American singer’s appearances in the opera house and concert hall are marked with her own unique timbre, at once warm and brilliant, combined with a vibrant personality and emotional honesty reminiscent of the greatest sopranos of the past. Brewer’s range, rich tone, power, and control make her not only a favorite of the stage but a sought-after recording artist.
A native of the Mississippi River town of Grand Tower, Illinois, Christine Brewer has risen from her start as a member of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus to become one of world’s pre-eminent sopranos in the specialized repertoire of Wagner and Strauss, along with much else. The Los Angeles Times has said: “Brewer is the ideal modern Wagnerian soprano. She can unleash thrilling high notes powerful enough to penetrate clichés.” Of her Telarc recording of Strauss’s Four Last Songs and Wagner’s Liebestod, the Times of London enthused: “Opulence is the word.” She has turned heads and stained cheeks with her performances of Beethoven, Mahler, and Britten, too. Reviewing her portrayal of Leonora in Beethoven’s Fidelio, the Times of London said: “No one could approach the unalloyed gold of Christine Brewer’s indefatigable and beautifully sung Leonore.”
Highlights of Christine Brewer’s 2010-11 season have so far included performances of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Janácek’s Glagolitic Mass with both the Chicago and Toronto Symphony Orchestras. In March, she sings in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Royal Concertgebouw under the direction of Mariss Jansons. In April, she returns to her home turf of St. Louis to perform in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and Barber’s Prayers of Kierkegaard with the St. Louis Symphony under David Robertson. In May, she will sing one of her signature works, Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, with the London Philharmonic, as well as perform in Verdi’s Requiem at the Cincinnati May Festival and in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Brewer’s summer highlights include her role debut in a concert version of Puccini’s Turandot at the Hollywood Bowl under Gustavo Dudamel, plus the Four Last Songs at the Grand Teton Music Festival.
An avid recitalist, Brewer has returned to the most prestigious stages this season, including London’s Wigmore Hall and Carnegie’s Zankel Hall. This spring, she gives recitals at Oberlin Conservatory and the Vocal Arts Society of Washington DC, among others. In past seasons, the soprano graced Lincoln Center’s “Art of the Song” series at Alice Tully Hall, along with the stages of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Spivey Hall in Georgia, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Mondavi Center in California. She has sung at the Gilmore, Ravinia, and Cleveland Art Song festivals.
On the opera stage, Brewer is known for her striking portrayal of the title role in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, which she has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra de Lyon, Théatre du Chatelet, Santa Fe Opera, English National Opera, and Opera Theater of St. Louis. Garnering critical acclaim with each role, Brewer has performed Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the San Francisco Opera, Gluck’s Alceste with the Santa Fe Opera, the Dyer’s Wife in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten at Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Paris Opera, Lady Billows in Britten’s Albert Herring at the Santa Fe Opera, and Queen Elizabeth in Britten’s Gloriana with Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She is also celebrated for her work on a number of lesser-known operas, including the title roles of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride—with the Edinburgh International Festival, Rio de Janeiro Opera, and Madrid Opera—and of Strauss’s Die ägyptische Helena, with the Santa Fe Opera.
Brewer has worked with the most notable conductors of our time, including Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, Alan Gilbert, Lorin Maazel, Sir Charles Mackerras, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Shaw, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Jaap van Zweden. Frequently sought after to sing the great symphonic works of Mozart, Brahms, Verdi, Mahler, Beethoven, Strauss, Wagner, Janácek, and Britten, she has sung with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, along with the symphony orchestras of Cleveland, Philadelphia, Washington DC, St. Louis, San Francisco, Boston, and Dallas. In Europe, she counts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Staatskapelle Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Toulouse Capitole Orchestra as regular partners. In addition, she has made appearances with the Malaysian Philharmonic, the New World Symphony, and the Toronto Symphony. It is typical of her versatility that she has been invited to perform for such special occasions as the re-opening of Covent Garden, with Plàcido Domingo, for TRH The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, and a gala performance of Górecki’s Symphony No. 3 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and long-time collaborator Donald Runnicles.
A highly-regarded recording artist, Brewer has contributed to Hyperion’s prestigious Schubert series with pianist Graham Johnson, as well as singing on discs of Janácek’s Glagolitic Mass and Dvorák’s Te Deum with Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Telarc). Recent recordings include a live recital disc from the Wigmore Hall (Wigmore Hall Live); Fidelio in German with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO Live); Barber’s Vanessa with the BBC Symphony and Leonard Slatkin (Chandos); a Grammy Award-winning take on William Bolcolm’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, also with Slatkin (Naxos); Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (EMI); Strauss lieder with pianist Roger Vignoles (Hyperion); Fidelio in English and the recital album Great Operatic Arias, both with the London Philharmonic (Chandos); and Britten’s War Requiem with the London Philharmonic and Kurt Masur (LPO Live). With Donald Runnicles and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, she has recently recorded Strauss’s Four Last Songs and the Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde; a selection of Strauss Opera Scenes; Mozart’s Requiem; and Górecki’s Symphony No. 3 (Telarc). Echoes of Nightingales, a new disc with Vignoles in Hyperion’s Strauss lieder series, will be released in March.
Christine Brewer: upcoming engagements
March 4-6
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Mahler: Symphony No. 8
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Mariss Jansons
March 13
Oberlin Conservatory, OH
Recital
Craig Terry, piano
March 23
Vocal Arts Society, Washington, DC
Recital
Craig Rutenberg, piano
March 28
Friends of Chamber Music, Portland, OR
Recital
Craig Rutenberg, piano
April 2
Savannah Music Festival, GA
Recital
Craig Rutenberg, piano
April 8-10
St. Louis, MO
Mahler: Symphony No. 2
St. Louis Symphony / David Robertson
May 2-4
London, England
Strauss: Four Last Songs
London Philharmonic / Vladimir Jurowski
May 20-21
Cincinnati May Festival, OH
Verdi: Requiem; Janácek: Glagolitic Mass
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra / James Conlon
May 27-29
Sao Paolo, Brazil
Verdi: Requiem
Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo / Claus Peter Flor
June 23-26
San Francisco, CA
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
San Francisco Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas
July 17
Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA
Puccini: Turandot
Los Angeles Philharmonic / Gustavo Dudamel
www.christinebrewer.com