Petra Berger

In 1987 Petra and her sister Lida decided to compete on the television program Soundmixshow presented by Henny Huisman, reaching the finals with the song "I Know Him So Well." After this show, the sisters were offered a recording contract and, under the name of Chess, soon had a modest hit with the song "Never Change a Winning Team," composed by Jeroen Englebert. They followed this song with the singles "Make My Day" and "Promise Not to Tell." In the early 1990s, Petra had a hit with the song "I Dreamed a Dream" in the musical Les Misérables. The growing success of Chess had a negative effect on her sister Lida, who quit the group. Lida liked to sing, but not to attract all the attention around her. Lida was replaced by Denise van der Hek. Success for the two of them led to recording a whole album of movie and show tunes: The Oscar Album (1992). This album included a duet with René Froger. That year Petra decided to focus on musicals, and then they were both gone from the group.

After her success with the group Chess, Petra Berger decided to become a better singer. She took singing classes that had various maestros of song at the same time, as well as piano, dance, and acting classes. Her first musical audition was in Les Misérables, but it came to an end in the final round. Her second musical audition was for Cyrano de Bergerac: The Musical, in which she played a major role. After an audition for the musical Phantom of the Opera, she played the role she had auditioned for. Later in the year 1993, the theatrical impresario Joop van den Ende asked her to come audition for the role of Johanna in the musical Sweeny Todd, which was her first real musical role. Later she played Belle[1] in the musical Beauty and the Beast in Germany and Maria in The Sound of Music in 1995 in Belgium.

In the following years she focused on the two children she gave birth to, Boris and Babette, together with her husband Jeroen Englebert.[2] In 1999 she made an appearance in a dinner show.

In 2000 she recorded some demos along with Jeroen Englebert and the producer Pim Koopman, including the aria "O mio babbino caro" from Giacomo Puccini's opera Gianni Schicchi. The Universal Music Group company gave them the opportunity to record an album together. Her first solo album, Eternal Woman (2001), was created starting from this collaboration. This album contained a fusion of classical and pop musical themes, in which she sings of eleven legendary women of world history:

• Marie José of Belgium in "Terra Promessa"[3]
• Marie Antoinette in "Close Your Eyes (He'll Be Just Fine)" (based on Fauré's "Pavane")
• Boudicca in "Boadicea"
• Mata Hari in "The Girl Looking into Me" (based on Alexander Borodin's "Gliding Dance of the Maidens")
• Empress Elisabeth of Austria in "If I Had a Wish"
• Mary Magdalene in "When He Spoke My Name" (based on the Adagio movement from Mozart's Piano concerto No. 23)
• Juana la Loca in "Eres Todo para Mí"
• Joan of Arc in "I'm Coming Home"
• Catherine the Great in "Now's the Time"
• Mary, Queen of Scots in "Still a Queen (In My End Is My Beginning)" (based on Handel's Sarabande from Keyboard suite in D minor (HWV 437))
• Cleopatra in "All for Love"

Eternal Woman has not only become popular in the Netherlands; it was also a hit in countries like Taiwan, Israel, Turkey, and around the world. During the Night of the Proms concert series of the 2002 season, Petra Berger received wide acclaim.

Berger's second studio album Mistress, which came out in 2003, is wholly dedicated to the emotions of the mistress and the deceived wife. Once more, she dedicated songs to women who made history. On Mistress are new compositions and adaptations of famous classical works. In 2004, the duet "Every Time" (with the American singer Joshua Payne) and the Italian version ("Cerco Te") were added to the album.

After the two CDs had been released, it was time to go on a tour. With a full-evening-length concert for both albums Eternal Woman and Mistress, traveled through the Dutch theaters. She took charge of organization and everything involving the concerts. The musical production of the directing and screenplay were handled by Jeroen Engelbert and Pim Koopman.

In 2004 Berger launched a live recording of her Eternal Woman and Mistress theater tour. This DVD, besides the live concert, offers a look backstage, various videos, and two special features on the albums Eternal Woman and Mistress.

After the release of the Live in Concert DVD, Berger made a second theater tour: Petra Berger Live.

Early in 2006, she began to collaborate with the Dutch virtuoso pianist Jan Vayne. She released the album Van Bach tot ABBA, which brought the audience a diverse fusion of classical music with pop and musicals.

In 2006, after releasing Mistress, she launched her third album. On this occasion, Berger looks within. Her album Here and Now was produced by Tjeerd Oosterhuis and Jurre Haanstra and centers on her own feelings. She has no more room for the past, only the "here and now." The album was reissued in 2007 with the additional song "Life Goes On," making a duet with the Italian tenor Alessandro Safina.

On the Here and Now tour, which began in late 2006, Berger sang pieces from her first albums and works from her recent project Here and Now.

In October 2006 Berger was asked to sing two duets with the Italian star Andrea Bocelli during her concert in Scandinavian languages in Gothenburg, Sweden. They performed "Somos Novios (It's Impossible)" from Amore (originally a duet with Christina Aguilera) and "The Prayer" (originally by Céline Dion).

Berger and Vayne began their joint tour Dichtbij! in October 2007.

From Ennio Morricone to John Ewbank and from Herman van Veen to Simon & Garfunkel. All of the songs were recorded during a live session in the studio in 2008. The idea for this album originated during the Dichtbij! tour.

Petra Berger's dream of becoming a musician began with Barbra Streisand. In this album, released in 2011, Berger sings songs by Streisand that hold great value for her. On Touched by Streisand not only the most beautiful melodies of Barbra Streisand are heard, but the songs that have been personally important in her life and that fit this style of music perfectly. This makes the album like a dream that becomes reality.

• 2004: Live in Concert