VALDOSTA, Ga. — Renowned Grammy Award-winning soprano Christine Brewer presents her 100th performance of a Strauss favorite this weekend with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra.

Brewer is scheduled to perform composer Richard Strauss’ “Four Last Songs.”

“This is my 100th performance with orchestra of these songs but my love affair with this music began back when I first heard them in St. Louis with Irish soprano Heather Harper singing with the St. Louis Symphony and Maestro Leondard Slatkin,” Brewer said in an interview with The Valdosta Daily Times.

“I went right out and bought a score and took it to my next voice lesson. Thankfully, I had a wonderful voice professor, Glenn Freiner, who told me that he agreed with me that they are wonderful songs, but he thought I was too young to begin singing them. He said that I could study the poems and maybe sing them in 20 years.

“I didn’t wait quite that long but I did wait until I was in my 30s to start performing them.”

Brewer is known for her opera appearances, concerts and recitals, according to information provided by the Valdosta Symphony.

Her performances “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 a highly sought-after recording artist, one who is ‘in her prime and sounding glorious,'” according to Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times.

Howard Hsu, Valdosta Symphony conductor and music director, said another soprano was originally scheduled to perform with the orchestra for the “Peak Performance” concert but she had to withdraw.

“But the legendary soprano Christine Brewer was gracious enough to step in. Her performance with the VSO will mark her 100th performance of Strauss’s ‘Four Last Songs’ and she’s regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of this work,” Hsu said.

“She also has a wonderful background story, having started as a music teacher and turning down big singing jobs until her daughter graduated from high school.”

Though she performs throughout the nation and the world and has recorded more than 25 albums, Brewer retains her love for teaching music.

She “continues her work with the Marissa, Ill., sixth graders in a program called Opera-tunities, which is now in its 14th year,” according to her biography information. “She also works with the voice students at Webster University.”

And she loves the works of Strauss.

“I sing and have recorded lots of Strauss’ music. I’ve performed the title role in his opera ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’ probably more often than any other role,” she said. “I was first attracted to that role, because of the glorious soaring lines in the music where he takes the soprano to heavenly places.

“Strauss was married to a soprano, so I think he wrote especially well for the soprano voice. It feels so natural and perfect.”

CONCERT

Valdosta Symphony Orchestra presents “Peak Performance,” featuring Wagner’s “Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin,” Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia” on a theme by Thomas Tallis, Strauss’ “Four Last Songs” with guest artist Christine Brewer, soprano, Bartok’s “Miraculous Mandarin Suite,” Op. 19.

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 28.

Where: Whitehead Auditorium, Valdosta State University Fine Arts Building, corner of Oak and Brookwood.

More information: Call VSU College of the Arts Outreach, (229) 333-2150, or visit www.valdostasymphony.org.