Wow - I'm glad that was never part of my job description! That’s Michel Poizat extolling The Diva in his book about the unique emotional explosion experienced by many an opera lover (you know who you are). An apt introduction to Renée Fleming, not only a remarkable soprano but also a great singer of jazz, pop, gospel and American traditional.

So here is a sampling of my many favorite performances and interviews. For news, a complete discography, and more clips, go to Renée's Official Website. Or go to Renée's Twitter page.



RENÉE FLEMING: A YOUNGARTS MASTERCLASS PREMIERS MAY 28TH AT 6PM ON HBO

For what it's worth, here's my ever-growing Renée Fleming playlist.

MOST RECENT

From the LAST NIGHT OF THE PROMS at the Royal Albert Hall, Sept 11, 2010, here's Renée singing a rousing "Rule Britianna" along with tens of thousands of Britons.

The Waldbühne in Berlin, June 27, 2010 from medici.tv. Renée Fleming sings Aria of Liu from Pucini's Turandot. It's too bad you can't see the audience of 20,000.

"D'amore al dolce impero" from the May 1, 2010 performance of Rossini's Armida at the Met. I saw it Live in HD. Beautiful and astounding.


SIGNATURE ROLES

"Dove sono" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Renée's first big break came in 1990 in this role at the Houston Grand Opera. I like that you can hear the ovation at the end. A person that was in the audience for this performance said that the applause sounded like an atomic blast.

"Song to the Moon" from Dvorak's Rusalka. Renée has said in her autobiography that this aria opened the door in many ways to her subsequent success as a singer.

Verdi's La Traviata Morro!Morro! and duet from 2006 with Renato Bruson. According to Renée's Twitter site (July, 2010 from Zurich), "saying goodbye to Violetta…. Probably my last performance of her ever."

Final Act Trio from R. Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, Metropolitan Opera, January 2010 with Susan Graham and Christine Schäfer. The Marschallin is one of Renée's favorite roles. I'm suffering with her through the entire trio.

"Dis-moi que je suis belle", the Mirror aria from Massanet's Thais, Orquestra Simfònica del Gran Teatre del Liceu, 2007.

From the Opera national de Paris 2001, "Je marche sur tous les chemins" from Massenet's Manon.

This is an interesting look at the rehearsal process for Eugene Onegin and the Letter Scene.


OTHER FAVORITES

From Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, "O mio babbino caro". Renée has said this is her favorite aria and one that she sings in every concert.

"Ebben ne andro lontana" from La Wally by Catalani.

With Antonio Pappano conducting the Orchestra della Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Im Abendrot, R.Strauss' Four Last Songs.

And now for SOMETHING ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. These simply amaze me (as if her opera singing weren't amazing enough!).

"You'll Never Walk Alone" from the Obama Inaugural Celebration Concert.

Here's "The Moon's a Harsh Mistress" from Haunted Heart, an album which harkens back to Renée's days as a jazz singer.

From Lord of the Rings, "Arwen's vision of Eldarion", sung in "elfish" which Renée jokingly includes in the list of eight languages she has sung in.

I could not in a million years imagine Renée singing with Lou Reed, but amazingly it really worked for me. Here's "A Perfect Day", which Lou also sang with Pavarotti.

And from the same concert, Renée in a very moving rendition of "Oh Freedom" with Lou Reed, Suzanne Vega and Joan Baez.

From Renée and Bryn: Under the Stars, "Wheels of a Dream" from Ragtime.

Renée with Elvis Costello, Rufus Wainwright and Kate McGarrigle singing the American Traditional song "In the Pines".

Renée and Chris Thile doing vocals with Yo Yo Ma on an absolutely beautiful "Touch the Hand of Love" from Yo Yo Ma's Songs of Joy and Peace album.

I just had to include this very charming Renée singing Mozart with the Muppets, well sort of.

Discography is at Renée Fleming's official site. Not listed in the discography is a re-release CD of Armida recorded in 1992 at the Rossini Opera Festival. Renée considers this to be one the career-changing performances in her career.

If you're an opera fan and want to know what it takes to be a world class opera singer or you're an aspiring opera singer and want to know what it takes to make a career, Read This Book. It's an endlessly fascinating account of Renée Fleming's journey through life and the building of her career. Although occassionally her technical discussion about vocal technique may seem esoteric to a general reader, the book is an easy read because every page is peppered with her signature charm and good-natured humor.

I'll never see another opera (or Renée Fleming for that matter) without remembering some aspect of this book.

A FIRST AT LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO

Chicago Tribune, Dec 9, 2010 - "In a coup certain to add luster to the company's national and international reputation, Lyric Opera of Chicago appointed the celebrated American soprano Renée Fleming to the newly created position of creative consultant... In her new capacity, believed to be a first for a major American opera company, Fleming, 51, will join the Lyric board as a vice president and take an active leadership position within the artistic administration." All the details are available at the Lyric's Web Site.

(Chicago is my home town and I was lucky to have had season tickets at the Lyric for many years. I am thrilled beyond words for Renée, the LOC and the city of Chicago.)


TRADITIONAL CLASSIC





March 2012: Renée Fleming Poèmes debuted at #1 on the Billboard "Traditional Classical"





STRAUSS - FOUR LAST SONGS

Interview and excerpts from Renée Fleming's Strauss album "Four Last Songs".




CONCERT SCHEDULE

2011-12 CONCERT SCHEDULE is at Renée Fleming's official site.

Yes, opera really is a blood sport in Italy. In her opening performance of Lucrezia Borgia at La Scala in 1998, Renée Fleming endured a chorus of boos from the loggionisti.

The production had trouble written all over it. First, the director wanted an unconventional Lucrezia, one with a "human face". The conductor, on the other hand, wanted no variance from the score. The tenor withdrew at the last minute. Then there was a disquieting copper platform for Lucrezia to stand on and a cage. Thirty minutes into the performance, the conductor passed out on the podium. The show was interupted for over thirty minutes. In spite of this, all went well during Act I.

But during Acts II and III, the loggione booed the soprano. The platea shot back in an equally forceful manner with "Silence" and "Moron, shut up". By the end of the performance, the conductor was so weak he left without a curtain call and was taken to the hospital.

In the end, the Corriere della Sera's notoriously harsh chief critic gave the verdict:

"Renée Fleming has been harshly attacked by isolated spectators. The truth is, she made several intonation errors over a night that would have anguished any artist, in a role with anomalous characteristics. The body of her voice is full and vibrant, especially in the centers; timbro is pleasant except for some harshness over the 'passaggio'; her diction is, for a foreigner, better than many of her colleagues."

"She was clearly prepared with care.... What counts, in the end, is that she is a first class singer, and she demonstrates it -- we'd bet that, over the coming nights, she will conquer the audience as well."

And in fact, after that fateful night, the booing stopped.

I was really surprised by this story from Intermezzo and I think you'll be, too. It's getting increasingly more difficult for beginning singers to make enough to survive. And even though a top opera singer gets good paychecks, there are easier ways to make money. Singers must pay all their own expenses, taxes, union dues, and pay their various managers. And heaven forbid a singer should get sick and have to cancel a performance; that contractually means that s/he doesn’t get paid at all. And here's a more recent article from TimesOnline about Marcelo Alvarez, one of today's top tenors. He really tells it like it about the treatment of singers in the world of opera today.

If you aren't already familiar with Live in HD, the Met offers live high-definition performances broadcast to movie theaters around the world. For little more than the price of a movie ticket, you can see some of the finest opera performances in the world. You don't have to dress up and you can even enjoy a box of popcorn.

The venture has been so successful that this season the Met is expanding it to 1,500 venues in 46 countries. And, according to an AP article, in Munich this year, Rossini’s Armida awoke such passions that afterward there was a "near-riot" at the box office for tickets to future shows. You can find a schedule along with a list of cities which receive the broadcasts on the Met's website.

For a small fee, Met Player offers extraordinary Met performances in high-quality A/V, delivered on demand. The catalog is continuously growing and includes many HD transmissions from the Live in HD broadcasts.

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