Concert #1

Name: Concert #1
Start: 2025-10-11T19:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-10-11T21:30:00-05:00
Location: 721 E Main St, Belleville, IL 62220-3943, United States

Schedule

Sat Oct 11 2025 at 07:30 pm to 09:30 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

721 E Main St, Belleville, IL 62220-3943, United States | Belleville, IL

Please join us for the opening concert of the 160th Concert Season of the Belleville Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra welcomes soprano Christine Brewer to perform on this celebratory program.
As a recognition of this anniversary year, the orchestra will open the season with the rousing Zampa Overture, by Ferdinand Hérold, which was played by the orchestra on its very first concert on January 26, 1867. The orchestra will also perform the symphonic poem, Die Moldau, by Bohemian composer Bedrich Smetana. This glorious piece evokes the flow of the Vtlava River (or in German, the Moldau) from its source in the mountains of the Bohemian Forest through the Czech countryside to the city of Prague.
The heart of the program will be a performance of Four Last Songs for soprano and orchestra by Richard Strauss. The settings are for a solo soprano voice, feature soaring melodies against a full orchestra, and have prominent horn parts. The combination of a beautiful vocal line with supportive horn accompaniment references Strauss’s own life; his wife Pauline de Ahna was a famous soprano and his father Franz Strauss a professional horn player.
Ms Brewer has made a life’s work of studying and performing these songs, having performed them all over the globe with many of the world’s finest orchestras. Grammy Award-winning American soprano Christine Brewer’s appearances in opera, concert and recital are marked by her own unique timbre, at once warm and brilliant combined with a vibrant personality and emotional honesty reminiscent of the great sopranos of the past. Named one of the top 20 sopranos of all time (BBC Music), her range, golden tone, boundless power, and control make her a favorite of the stage and highly sought-after reording artist.
Ms. Brewer sang a concert in Los Angeles honoring and remembering world-renowned cellist Lynn Harrell in 2021. She had performed and recorded with Harrell many times prior to his death in 2020. Their recording session of Somewhere Over the Rainbow with John Williams conducting is a moving arrangement that they recorded in the same studio where Judy Garland recorded that song in 1939. Ms. Brewer will perform this splendid arrangement of Over the Rainbow with the Philharmonic.
She has sung around the world in concert halls and opera houses with renowned conductors like Donald Runnicles, Zubin Mehta, David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, Kurt Masur and Michael Tilson Thomas. One of her favorite concert hall requests is Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs, which she has performed over 100 times in 40 different countries on five continents. She recorded those songs with the Atlanta Symphony and Donald Runnicles conducting. In 2011, Christine joined Arts and Faith in St. Louis to perform a memorial concert at The Sheldon Concert Hall, remembering the September 11 attacks and honoring those who lost their lives that day. She has continued working with Arts and Faith as they bring musicians from the St. Louis metro area together to make music together each year. The program has grown over the years and audiences see and hear artists of all faiths performing their music and singing together in harmony.
Ms. Brewer has recently sung the role of Mrs. Grose in Benjamin Britten’s opera “The Turn of the Screw” at the Spoleto Festival 2025 in Charleston, SC. Upcoming events include singing with the Holiday Brass at Manchester United Methodist Church, performing with members of the St. Louis Symphony brass members. She will also do a holiday recital with pianist Craig Terry at the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville in December, and a concert with pianist Alla Voskoboynikova at the Hettenhausen Theatre at McKendree in February celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the theatre.
Ms. Brewer began a program with the Marissa, Illinois 6 graders called Opera-tunities and continued the program for nearly 15 years alongside their teacher Nancy Wagner, conductor David Robertson, and members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. She is also a visiting professor at Webster University. In April 2015, Christine joined 140 other notable celebrities receiving a bronze star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
Christine’s discography includes over 25 recordings. One of her most recent recordings Divine Redeemer on Naxos, contains selections with concert organist Paul Jacobs.
The Philharmonic is composed of about 60 volunteers, professional musicians and amateurs, who meet weekly to provide concerts throughout the year, including a much-loved fully-stage Nutcracker Ballet with the Belleville School of Ballet. It is proud to be second oldest continuously performing symphony orchestra in the United States.
HEROLD Overture to Zampa (Performed at the first Philharmonic Concert on January 26, 1867.)
HANDEL Let the Bright Seraphim from Samson by Handel
H. ARLEN Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Christine Brewer, Soprano
SMETANA The Moldau
STRAUSS Four Last Songs
Christine Brewer, Soprano