Gala: An Evening with Sarah Brightman

Gala - An Evening With Sarah Brightman was a 2016–17 concert tour by English soprano singer Sarah Brightman with eleven shows in Japan,^[1][2] three in South Korea^[3] and three in Mexico.^[4]

Gala - An Evening With Sarah Brightman

Tour by Sarah Brightman
Location	Asia Europe North America
Associated album	Gala - Sarah Brightman The Collection
Start date	7 July 2016 (2016-07-07)
End date	11 March 2017 (2017-03-11)
Legs	4
No. of shows	25
Sarah Brightman concert chronology

The Gala Tour features a classical crossover repertoire. Mario Frangoulis share duets like "The Phantom of the Opera," "Canto De La Terra" and "Carpe Diem," recorded with Frangoulis on Brightman's "A Winter Symphony" album, which he also features as a bonus track on "Tales of Christmas," his first holiday album released in 2015. Joining the two singers are pianist Di Wu, counter tenor Narcis Iustin Ianău, and maestro Paul Bateman, the show is directed by Anthony Van Laast.^[5]

For Japan concerts, Brightman sang the song titled "Stand Alone", from the drama Saka no ue no kumo (坂の上の雲; lit. Clouds over the hills) composed by Joe Hisaishi and performed by the NHK Symphony Orchestra.^[6]

Set list

ACT I

1. "Sunset Boulevard Overture"
2. "Harem" (Only Turkey)^[7]
3. "Stand Alone" (Only Japan) ^[6]
4. "Nella Fantasia" (Not performed in Japan and Turkey)
5. "Anytime Anywhere"
6. "Dust in the Wind"
7. "Carpe Diem" (with Mario Frangoulis)
8. "It's a Beautiful Day"
9. "La Luna"
10. "Rachmaninov #23" (Tsusi) (Di Wu solo)
11. "A Whiter Shade of Pale"
12. "Scarborough Fair" (Not performed in Japan)
13. "Buongiorno Principessa" (Mario Frangoulis solo) (Not performed in Mexico)
14. "Vincero Perdero" (Mario Frangoulis solo) (only Mexico)
15. "Canto Della Terra" (with Mario Frangoulis)
16. "Nessun Dorma"

ACT II

1. "Spellbound Concerto" (Di Wu solo)
2. "Figlio Perduto"
3. "Stranger in Paradise"
4. "There for Me" (with Mario Frangoulis)
5. "Pie Jesu" (with Narcis Iustin Ianău)
6. "Caruso" (Narcis Iustin Ianău solo)
7. "The Phantom of The Opera" (with Mario Frangoulis) and (Erkan Aki in Turkey)
8. "Time to Say Goodbye"

Encore

1. "Warsaw Concerto" (Paul Bateman on piano with Brightman conducting)
2. "Running"
3. "Ave María" Schubert (Only Mexico)

Concert style

The concert style is very classical as Frangoulis stated "I particularly like the Gala Tour concept because it brings us both back to our roots in the theatre and classical music"^[8] Brightman said in an interview "The concert has a hollywood feel about it, I'm doing beautiful classical pieces and crossover pieces... In all it will be a very rich concert, very glamorous looking and will take us back in time".^[9]

She uses different gowns, Park Jin-han from Korea Times wrote: "As the sound of wind meets the audience and the stage gleams with an eerie red light, Sarah Brightman, one of the world's most popular English classical crossover singers, appears on stage in a glittering silver dress and sings the theme song of the musical The Phantom of the Opera. ^[10]

In Antalya's concert an orchestra of 50 have accompanied her on the stage. Sarah opened her concert with "Harem" which gave its name to her 7th album that hit the shelves in 2003, singing famous arias and crossover hits during the concert but also she invited Erkan Aki to sing with her some duets.^[7]

Tour dates

List of 2016 concerts^[11]

Date	City	Country	Venue	Gross revenue
7 July 2016	Sapporo	Japan	Sapporo Hokkai Kitayell
9 July 2016	Sendai		Sendai Xebio Arena
11 July 2016	Tokyo		Nippon Budokan
12 July 2016
14 July 2016			Tokyo International Forum
15 July 2016
17 July 2016	Kanazawa		Kanazawa Honda No Mori Hall
19 July 2016	Osaka		Festival Hall
20 July 2016
21 July 2016			Orix Theater
22 July 2016	Nagoya		Nagoya Century Hall
24 July 2016	Seoul	South Korea	Olympic Hall
26 July 2016	Daegu		EXCO [ko]
27 July 2016	Gwangju		Unversiade Gymnasium [ko]
29 July 2016	Zhengzhou	China	Zhengzhou International Convention and Exhibition Centre
31 July 2016	Suzhou		Suzhou Sports Centre
3 August 2016	Harbin		Harbin Opera House
5 August 2016	Tianjin		Tianjin Grand Theatre
7 August 2016	Taipei	Taiwan	Taipei Arena
9 October 2016	Antalya	Turkey	Expo Congress Center
1 December 2016	Mexico City	Mexico	Arena Ciudad de México
3 December 2016	Zapopan		Telmex Auditorium
5 December 2016	Monterrey		Arena Monterrey

List of 2017 concerts

Date	City	Country	Venue	Gross revenue
11 March 2017	Tainan	Taiwan	Tainan City Stadium
14 August 2017	Yogyakarta	Indonesia	Prambanan Jazz Festival

Critical reception

The Gala show received positive reviews from critics. Park Jin-han from Korea Times wrote: "Her voice had such power, striking hard and strong at once and yet soft and tender as well.".^[10] Antalya Expo's official website wrote: "Singing famous opera and classical music pieces during the concert, British soprano made the audience impressed by her strong voice and style."^[7]