Renee Fleming Socity for the Performing Arts Houston 2017

In the world of opera, there are singers, and there are superstars—musical artists who capture the imagination and fandom of the public well beyond the rarefied concert hall. Soprano Renée Fleming—a beautiful, downwardly-to-earth diva whose rich, luminous vocalism turns listeners to jelly—certainly belongs in the latter category.

As a former budding jazz vocalizer who describes the operatic vocalism as "a cultivated scream," Fleming has not simply sung several of opera's most beloved and challenging roles, only also collaborated with such jazz heavies as Brad Mehldau and Nib Frisell, recorded film soundtracks (Lord of the Rings, Guardians of the Galaxy), and even put out a cover album of indie-stone songs by Arcade Burn, Muse, and Death Cab for Cutie.

Now 58 and retired from the opera stage, Fleming'south current and upcoming projects include starring in the Broadway revival of Carousel, helping to launch nRapt, a streaming service for classical music fans, and spreading the word about the connection betwixt music and health. (Her visit to Houston this week includes a presentation at Houston Methodist Inquiry Institute on the history of music and medicine.) "It's heartening to take a future that can provide and so much intellectual stimulation and the potential for continued creative growth," Fleming says.

On Saturday, Nov. iv, at Jones Hall, Society for the Performing Arts will host Fleming as she performs a wide-ranging recital of songs by Brahms, Dvořák, Fauré and Saint-Saëns, as well as 2 recent works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw. She volition besides pay tribute to Broadway singer Barbara Melt with selections from The Music Man and The Rex and I. We caught up with Fleming during her recent European tour to ask her about her pop and jazz influences, the healing power of music, and how to reel in new audiences for opera.

Björk is a favorite of many contemporary composers and musicians, and you sing 4 of her compositions on your nigh contempo album, Distant Light. What drew you to Björk's music?

I admire and then much near Björk's artistry—her originality, the creative coloring of her vocalisation, and her emotional honesty. There is a real openness of expression in her audio. I love that she is embraced past listeners beyond multiple generations and has become a household name by following her own path. Because she is ane of the simply singers in pop music that uses a true soprano register, I could imagine her music in my vocalism, with the different textures of a symphony orchestra.

How has jazz influenced you over the years, as a singer and an interpreter of then many different eras of music?

The years I spent singing jazz and learning how to improvise in that style have given me a sense of freedom that informs my approach to some classical music and opera, including Handel and bel canto. Singing in different styles has helped me larn nearly my voice and mayhap expanded my creativity, and it has absolutely developed my ear.

I am fascinated by improvisation. In jazz, when many musicians, both vocalists and instrumentalists, are improvising together, it can be absolutely thrilling, and a well-known vocal can be entirely different in each performance. That'due south really at the heart of what makes jazz unique. And we're learning that musical improvisation engages the brain on a scale like almost nothing else.

Since you partnered with the Kennedy Center and National Institutes of Health, what have you learned that about surprised you about the therapeutic potential of music?

I take been amazed at the breadth of the enquiry, and the standing development of music therapy as a field, and how it is changing what nosotros know well-nigh the brain. All of these diverse studies, using music to understand neural plasticity, or the mode we procedure emotions, are giving u.s.a. existent scientific support for what many musicians and music lovers have always believed in: the incredible power of music. The bear on of music therapy on veterans, childhood development, treatments for Alzheimer'due south illness, autism, pain relief and more, is compelling and powerful. But inquiry is very granular, and putting this information together is like assembling tiny pieces of a vast mosaic. Merely I'thou excited, considering the big picture has emerged.

In 2018, you are gear up to brand your Broadway debut in a revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. In the age of the jukebox musical, is this a risky venture, to present Carousel in the classic Broadway style with beautiful singing?

I know that the musical standards in this production are going to be of the very highest quotient, and I retrieve there is always a place on Broadway for that. In fact, I think all of the theatrical values: music, dance, drama, scenography, will be well served by this incredible creative team and vivid cast—information technology's really a once-in-a-lifetime assemblage of talent. I just attended my starting time rehearsal, and I couldn't be more excited about Manager Jack O'Brien's vision for the piece.

Will you lot exist dancing in this new production?

Yes, en pointe. No, no, I'm kidding. At that place volition be a lot of scenic trip the light fantastic in this production. We have the incredible skillful fortune to have Justin Peck, famous from his work with New York Urban center Ballet, as choreographer, and an ensemble of truly stunning dancers.

What are some of your thoughts on outreach and building audiences for opera? What accept you observed that works or doesn't work?

You may demand to take opera to the audience in unexpected venues, which might include nightclubs, parks, public spaces and schools. I as well believe in collaboration, in Chicago with 2nd City, and great artists from dissimilar genres, in Carnegie Hall with Sting and Kevin Spacey, or with Andrea Bocelli at Madison Foursquare Garden. Considering opera is a centuries-old tradition, nosotros simply demand to make an endeavour to show new audiences that it'south not a walled garden. They can come as they are, and they will hear something they near never hear anywhere else, the unamplified human voice trained to an Olympian level.

Nov. four at 7:xxx p.m. Tickets from $34. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana St. 713-227-4772. More info and tickets at spahouston.org.

coffmanwhaviely.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.houstoniamag.com/arts-and-culture/2017/10/renee-fleming-jones-hall-houston