Celebrity Series of Boston announces pianist Inon Barnatan will join soprano Renée Fleming for a recital that will include the Boston premiere of “Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene”-- with songs exploring nature as both inspiration and victim of humanity, and an original video by the National Geographic Society
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(For Immediate Release, Boston—October 13, 2023) Celebrity Series of Boston announces that pianist Inon Barnatan will join soprano Renée Fleming for a recital that will include the Boston premiere of “Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene” at Symphony Hall on Sunday, November 12, at 5pm. Inspired by Renée’s 2023 Grammy Award-winning album, Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene, this special multimedia performance spans the classical, romantic, and contemporary eras, with beloved songs and new commissions exploring nature as both inspiration and victim of humanity. The National Geographic Society is providing an original video to reflect the musical selections.
Tickets start at $39. For more information, visit: https://www.celebrityseries.org/productions/renee-fleming-soprano/
PROGRAM
Caroline Shaw “Aurora Borealis”
Gabriel Fauré “Au bord de l’eau”
Gabriel Fauré “Les berceaux”
Maurice Ravel “Jeux d’eau”
Franz Liszt “S’il est un charmant gazon”
Franz Liszt “Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh”
Edvard Grieg “Lauf der Welt”
Edvard Grieg “Zur Rosenzeit”
Jerome Kern “All the Things You Are”
– Intermission –
Second half accompanied by National Geographic video:
Hazel Dickens “Pretty bird” (a cappella)
George Frideric Handel “Care selve,” aria from Atalanta, HWV 35
Nico Muhly “Endless Space”
Joseph Canteloube “Baïléro”
Maria Schneider “Our Finch Feeder” from Winter Morning Walks
Bjork “All is Full of Love”
Sergei Rachmaninoff “Presto” from Moments Musicaux, Op. 16, no. 4 (piano solo)
Howard Shore “Twilight and Shadow” from The Lord of the Rings
Kevin Puts “Evening”
Burt Bacharach / Hal David “What the World Needs Now is Love”
Program is subject to change.
Additional support for this performance is provided by The Newbury Boston and Egloff & Wood, LLP.
Soprano Renée Fleming is one of the most acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world’s greatest opera houses and concert halls. Honored with five Grammy Awards and the National Medal of Arts, she is an icon who has shared her voice with the world on notable occasions, from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Super Bowl.
She has lent her star power and vocal artistry to an array of contemporary roles and recording projects. She originated the role of the modern-day Clarissa in Kevin Puts’ critically acclaimed 2022 opera The Hours, an adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s 1998 novel of the same name. In 2023, she made a role debut as Pat Nixon in the Opéra National de Paris’ new production of John Adams’ Nixon in China, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.
Fleming won a 2022 Grammy Award for Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, with Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the piano. The album pairs nature-themed songs by Romantic composers like Grieg, Liszt, Fauré, and Hahn and contemporary compositions by Puts, Caroline Shaw, and Nico Muhly.
Pianist Inon Barnatan is a regular performer with many of the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors, and he was the inaugural Artist-in-Association of the New York Philharmonic. Equally at home as a curator and chamber musician, Barnatan is music director of La Jolla Music Society Summerfest in California, one of leading music festivals in the country, and he regularly collaborates with world-class partners such as Renée Fleming and cellist Alisa Weilerstein. His passion for contemporary music has resulted in commissions and performances of many living composers, including premieres of new works by Thomas Adès, Andrew Norman, and Matthias Pintscher, among others.
A recent addition to Barnatan’s acclaimed discography is a two-volume set of Beethoven’s complete piano concertos, recorded with Alan Gilbert and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields on Pentatone.
Born in Tel Aviv in 1979, Inon Barnatan started playing the piano at age three, when his parents discovered his perfect pitch, and made his orchestral debut at eleven. He studied with some of the 20th century’s most illustrious pianists and teachers, including Professor Victor Derevianko, Christopher Elton and Maria Curcio; the late Leon Fleisher was also an influential teacher and mentor.
ABOUT CELEBRITY SERIES OF BOSTON
Celebrity Series of Boston was founded in 1938 by pianist and impresario Aaron Richmond. Celebrity Series has been bringing the very best performers—from orchestras and chamber ensembles, vocal and piano music, to dance companies, jazz, and more—to Boston’s major concert halls for 85 years. The Celebrity Series of Boston believes in the power of excellence and innovation in the performing arts to enrich life experiences, transform lives, and build better communities. Through its education initiatives, the Celebrity Series seeks to build a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, lifelong, shared experience—on stages, on streets, in neighborhoods—everywhere.
Celebrity Series of Boston is grateful to our 2023/24 Season Sponsors Stephanie L. Brown Foundation and Susan & Michael Thonis, and to the many individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies whose generosity supports Arts for All! and help fulfill our mission to present performing artists who inspire and enrich our community. Individual and institutional supporters include Jill & David Altshuler, the Barr Foundation through its ArtsAmplified initiative, Amy & Joshua Boger, Stephanie L. Brown Foundation, Esplanade Association, Liberty Mutual Foundation, George & Lizbeth Krupp, Richard K. Lubin Family Foundation, Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Outside the Box: A Production of the Boston Arts Summer Institute, Eleanor & Frank Pao, Royal Little Family Foundation, Schrafft Charitable Trust, Stifler Family Foundation, Belinda Termeer, Yawkey Foundation, Anonymous (3), and many others.
Arts for All! programs are also made possible by support from the LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts for All Endowment & Innovation Funds of the Celebrity Series of Boston.
Media Contact: Stephanie Janes PR, (617) 419-0445, stephanie@stephaniejanespr.com