Download your concert programme here - Barbican

Andrew Eccles/Decca
About today’s
performers
Renée Fleming soprano
One of the most celebrated
musical ambassadors of our time,
soprano Renée Fleming combines a
sumptuous voice with consummate
artistry and compelling stage
presence. She was named Singer of
the Year at the 2012 ECHO Awards.
In addition to appearing at the
world’s leading opera houses and
concert halls, she has also recently
begun to work in other musical forms
and media, hosting a wide variety
of radio and television broadcasts.
She has sung at many prestigious
events, including the 2006 Nobel
Peace Prize ceremony, the Beijing
Olympics and at the Diamond
Jubilee Concert for HM Queen
Elizabeth II earlier this year.
This year she also made her debut
in the title-role of Strauss’s Ariadne
auf Naxos, in a new production
at Baden-Baden conducted by
Christian Thielemann. She has also
appeared in the title-role of Arabella
at the Paris Opera and sang the
Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier)
at the Munich Opernfestspiele.
She began this season as
Desdemona (Otello) at the
Metropolitan Opera, conducted by
Semyon Bychkov. Next year she will
appear at Carnegie Hall and Lyric
Opera of Chicago in André Previn’s
A Streetcar Named Desire, playing
Blanche Dubois, a role she created
in the world premiere, while in June
she returns to Vienna as the Countess
in Strauss’s Capriccio, conducted by
Christoph Eschenbach. Concerts this
season have included performances
with Christian Thielemann and
the Dresden Staatskapelle and
with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and
the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Her 2012/13 recital schedule
includes concerts in Rio de Janeiro,
São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Quito,
Bogotá, Guayaquil, Paris, Geneva,
London, Vienna, Hong Kong,
Beijing, Guangzhou and Taipei.
In January she gives a duo recital
tour with mezzo-soprano Susan
Graham, which takes in San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Palm Desert,
Chicago, New York and Boston.
Her discography features a wide
range of repertoire that has won
her many awards, including three
Grammys. In recent years she has
recorded a diverse range of music,
from Strauss’s Daphne via the
jazz album Haunted Heart to film
soundtracks including The Lord of
the Rings and the theme song for
Dreamworks’ Rise of the Guardians.
She won her most recent Grammy
in 2010 for Verismo (Decca), a
CD featuring rarely heard Italian
arias. The same year Decca and
Mercury Records released the CD
Dark Hope, in which she covered
songs by indie-rock and pop artists.
Recent DVD releases include
Handel’s Rodelinda, Massenet’s
Thaïs and Rossini’s Armida, all
three in the Metropolitan Opera
‘Live in HD’ series, and Verdi’s
La traviata, filmed at the Royal
Opera House, Covent Garden.
The DVD Renée Fleming & Dmitri
Hvorostovsky: A Musical Odyssey
in St Petersburg follows the two
singers to Russia, where they
explore and perform in some of St
Petersburg’s most historic locations.
As a champion of new music she has
performed works by a wide range of
contemporary composers, including
Henri Dutilleux, Brad Mehldau,
André Previn and Wayne Shorter.
Renée Fleming’s numerous awards
include the Fulbright Lifetime
Achievement Medal (2011),
Sweden’s Polar Prize (2008), the
Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur
from the French government
(2005) and honorary membership
of the Royal Academy of Music
(2003); as well as honorary
doctorates from Carnegie Mellon
University, the Eastman School of
Music and The Juilliard School.
In 2010, she was named the
first ever Creative Consultant
for Lyric Opera of Chicago.
www.reneefleming.com
15
About the performers