INTERVIEW: Renée Fleming loves to take audiences on a journey
Photo: Renée Fleming’s new album is called Broadway and showcases her continued interest in musical theater. Photo courtesy of Decca / Timothy White / Provided by the artist with permission.
Renée Fleming is a Renaissance woman. Period.
The celebrated opera singer, who graced the stage of the Metropolitan Opera on numerous occasions, is now at home on Broadway (last year’s Carousel), in performing arts centers around the country (on Feb. 27 she’ll perform at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey) and working with the best orchestras in the world (soon she has engagements with the Boston Symphony Orchestra). She is the epitome of musical distinction, someone who explores new avenues and brings her gifts to various art forms.
The music she sings is wondrously diverse and showcases her adventurous personality when it comes to tackling arias and songs, both old and new. At the State Theatre, for example, she’ll transition from Johannes Brahms’ “Meine Liebe ist grü, Op. 63, No. 5” to the modern Harry Warren / Mack Gordon song, “You’ll Never Know,” from the soundtrack of The Shape of Water.
“I devote a lot of time and thought to programming, and I usually perform a wide range of music, not only because my tastes are quite varied, but also to be sure that everyone hears something they particularly like,” Fleming wrote in an email interview to Hollywood Soapbox. “I really love the intimacy of the song recital, and one of the best things about it is the freedom to take the audience on a journey I’ve mapped out. I’ll be singing some well-loved German songs, Italian songs and arias, and selections from some of the film soundtracks I’ve been on recently, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. I love new music, too, so I’m bringing selections from Letters from Georgia, beautiful settings of the letters of the iconic American artist Georgia O’Keefe. And I’ll all also sing some musical theatre pieces from my most recent album, devoted to great songs from Broadway.”
That album, simply titled Broadway, came out in September 2018 and features selections from The Sound of Music, The Light in the Piazza, Violet and Dear Evan Hansen, among others. The State Theatre concert will actually find Fleming singing a song from the new recording: “‘Til There Was You” from The Music Man by Meredith Wilson.
“I love that the Broadway musical is a wholly American art form, though descended from European traditions like opera and operetta that I also love,” Fleming wrote. “Musicals like those by Rodgers and Hammerstein are American classics, part of our shared heritage. At the same time, Broadway is amazingly responsive to musical trends and encompasses the widest possible range of vocal approaches. As someone who is passionate about singing, that really fascinates me. So the sound I used recently on Broadway in Carousel, for instance, is much closer to classical singing than the sound you’ll hear in ‘August Winds’ by Sting from The Last Ship, or the gorgeous ballad ‘So Big, So Small’ from Dear Evan Hansen. I’m really looking forward to performing The Light in the Piazza in its London premiere this summer. Adam Guettel’s score is so beautiful and incredibly romantic.”
Another project that Fleming was connected to was last year’s Bel Canto starring Julianne Moore. The drama about a hostage situation in South America was first a novel by Ann Patchett, and then it was commissioned into an opera and eventually made into a film. In some way, Fleming had a part to play in each iteration.
“When the book came out, people thought the character of Roxane was me, which was not the case,” wrote the multi-Grammy winner. “But Ann Patchett did listen to my recordings, among others, when writing the novel. She has since become a great friend, and she even introduced me to my husband. For me, the heart of Ann’s story carries through to its incarnation into the opera and the film with Julianne Moore. What happens when a group of people who could not be more different are caught together in a horrible situation? They are able to find common ground and create community, in an almost utopian way, [through] music. That power of music is something I believe in, and I think others feel the same way.”
At the State Theatre, Fleming will sing “Aria (Cantilena)” by Heitor Villa-Lobos, which is featured in the movie Bel Canto. Another selection for the night is the beloved “La Serenata” by Francesco Paolo Tosti, which has been interpreted by many singers. For Fleming, tackling a standard is a welcome challenge.
“There is a wonderful body of song literature that was popular in the last century both in concerts and on the airwaves, but you don’t hear much anymore, and I’ve enjoyed rediscovering these songs,” Fleming wrote to Hollywood Soapbox. “Like any artist, I absolutely want to bring my own interpretation, but within the appropriate musical style, with respect for the language and the poetry. One of the greatest things about singing is that no two human voices are exactly alike, so my rendition of this song will always be different from someone else’s.”
Fleming is dedicated to many causes, and she will bring her activism and outreach to the New Jersey area in light of her State Theatre concert. On Tuesday, Feb. 26, she will take part in a conversation entitled “Music and the Mind” at Rutgers University, which is located down the street from the State Theatre. The talk is part of the opera singer’s dedication to the Sound Health initiative, which explores the intersection of music, health and neuroscience, and is spearheaded by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, National Institutes of Health and National Endowment of the Arts.
“Beyond its power to create community that I mentioned earlier, music can have enormous effects on human health, on childhood development and on the workings of the brain,” she wrote. “We are riding a wave right now of discoveries in neuroscience and healthcare in which music is playing a central role. There are implications for things like Alzheimer’s, autism, PTSD, Parkinson’s, stroke, traumatic brain injuries and pain management. At the Lake Nona Impact Forum in Florida last week, I got an even stronger sense that medicine and healthcare, around the world, are about to undergo huge transformations. There’s no doubt that music therapy, and the application of music to studying the workings of the brain, will be part of that.”
After the State Theatre concert, the busy schedule continues for Fleming. On the horizon, in between her work with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and her role in the London premiere of The Light in the Piazza, is a chance to star in Norma Jean Baker of Troy, a new show also starring Ben Whishaw at New York City’s newest theatrical venue, The Shed.
For Fleming, the opportunity is a bit of a melodic curveball.
“I think I can say quite confidently that people will be surprised,” Fleming promised. “First there is Anne Carson’s brilliant prose, connecting Helen of Troy and Marilyn Monroe. Ben Whishaw is a truly brilliant actor and makes an absolutely amazing transformation in the show. The soundtrack is entirely created from digital samples of my voice, and that’s not just the music, but ambient sounds effects, everything. I’ll be singing live over an ‘instrumental; accompaniment created from my voice. And where the director Katie Mitchell has taken the story and the characters is so innovative. This piece is unlike anything I’ve ever done.”
Fleming’s illustrious career has followed the trajectory of a monumental opera star — with return engagements to the great stages of the world — and also taken wondrous detours into exciting, adventurous material. She is the modern-day Renaissance woman, now at home on Broadway, in London’s West End, on opera stages, in theaters, in recording studios and advocating for future research into health and music.
At the center of her professional life is that dedicated love to the world of opera. That will likely never leave Fleming, and she sees the historic art form — her first love, in many ways — continuing with fervor.
This reporter asked whether she worried about the future of opera, which is sometimes called into question given the crowded artistic marketplace and changing cultural attitudes. Simply put, is the future of opera promising and viable? Fleming’s response, like her career, was focused on the possibilities yet to come.
“I’m glad you asked that, and I believe the answer is a resounding yes,” Fleming wrote to Hollywood Soapbox. “There is fantastic work happening everywhere right now, new operas premiering almost every week, and even standard repertoire being performed in unconventional venues, more intimate spaces, and shared digitally. Of course the largest institutions face big financial challenges, and opera companies and productions may not look in the future exactly as they have in the past. But I believe that people will always respond to storytelling through music, and to the unamplified human voice, trained to its most virtuosic level.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Renée Fleming will perform Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 8 p.m. at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her latest recording is called Broadway. Click here for more information and tickets.
