For Sarah Brightman, Christmas is a very special time of the year, a sentiment she shares with her Filipino fans as well.

The world's best-selling soprano and Grammy-nominated artist is taking her "A Christmas Symphony" concert tour internationally for the first time. And she's bringing this special holiday event to Manila on 7 December, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, her first time to be back in the Philippines since 2004. Along with an orchestra and a choir, the show will feature show-stopping renditions of classics from the Christmas canon, personal holiday favorites, and Brightman's greatest hits.

In her symphony concert that has been mounted in the US, London and Singapore, to name a few, Brightman took great care about what pieces people would like to hear. Her hits may have a slightly different arrangement but have a more Christmas feel.

"There are traditional ones, there are religious ones, there are fun ones, there's a complete mixture but everything intertwines beautifully, " she share during a recent online media conference with members of Philippine media.

" I wanted to bring a religious aspect into it, Christianity. So there are religious pieces in there. There are also some fun pieces, some more contemporary pop pieces, which bring in Christmas. And because I know I come from the Philippines, people always want to hear some of my hits. So I have chosen it, which fits well into Christmas. They're about a celebration or they're about personal thoughts, those sorts of songs, " Brightman enthused.

"I wanted a lot of choirs because I always think that choirs represent angels. They have that wonderful feeling about people singing together, that wonderful thing. So because a lot of songs have a lot of choir singing along, I wanted to create a concept that had a lot of tradition in it, pieces that people were very familiar with. "

Artist for peace

Brightman who originated the role of Christine Daaé in the world-renowned The Phantom of the Opera on both the West End and Broadway stages assured that there will be some renditions of her celebrated pieces like Phantom of the Opera and a wonderful choir singing Masquerade, a sort of a Gothic Christmas piece.

The UNESCO Artist for Peace Ambassador always makes sure to take great care of her voice by collaborating with different people all over the world to keep them up. For her, it's very important to do training for at least two hours with teachers and professors. She explained that a female voice changes, it becomes richer and it takes on different sounds and tones within. Being in the business for 40 years, the best-selling artist's secret is she's always prepared to put 150% into it.