Just A Minute With: British soprano Sarah Brightman

By Belinda Goldsmith

BEIJING (Reuters Life!) - After 30 years in the entertainment business, British soprano Sarah Brightman says she has finally reached a stage where she is happy.

Brightman, 47, who was once married to British musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, is well known for successfully crossing from pop music during her days with Hot Gossip to popular classical music, singing on massive stages across the globe.

She sang the theme song at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics watched by over one billion people globally.

Brightman, who divides her time between her three homes in the United States and Germany where she does most her recording, spoke to Reuters while she was in Beijing: Q: Why do you think you were chosen for Beijing?

A: "I have always performed in big sports events. I don't know why this is. Maybe it is to do with the type of music I sing, what it represents, as it is very theatrical, but yet it also has a very popular feel."

Q: What particular skills do you need for this?

A: "I've had a very long career, as my career from my first recording stands about 30 years. I think committees organizing these things want someone with a lot of experience as there is a lot you have to go through and you have to deliver at the end of the day."

Q: Why do you think classical crossover singers are so popular now?

A: "For a long time the pop market never seemed to allow the beauty of a voice and said it belonged in the opera house or to musicals or somewhere else. Probably myself, (Luciano) Pavarotti, (Andrea) Bocelli, our sort of group of people, have forced the situation so that the pop market does now recognize beautiful voices also."

Q: You've transformed over the years. Was that deliberate?

A: "I've made the most of the gifts I have been given. My attitude towards my work has always been the same in that I have always given it everything. I think if I hadn't I would have been mad at myself. I have to give everything because I have a huge passion for what I do."

Q: Has your personal life suffered because of this?

A: "I don't know, because it is hypothetical. If I have missed out on things, I don't know and I have absolutely no regrets. Everybody has to stand up for their own decisions and I feel happy in the place that I am."

Q: Would you ever go back to musical theatre?

A: "Never say never. I've never felt as if I was a musical theatre artist. It was never my choice of something to go and see and I sort of fell into it in a funny sort of way. I love doing plays and I love doing what I do and that is very successful for me. I can't see myself changing."