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Renée Fleming, soprano and Inon Barnatan, piano
Symphony Hall
This performance was rescheduled from November 2023. If you hold tickets to the original date, please keep your tickets: they will be good for the rescheduled event.
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.
Alongside acclaimed pianist Inon Barnatan, Fleming presents the Boston premiere of an all-new program inspired by her 2022 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 to and victim of humanity.
For the performance's second half, the National Geographic Society provides an original video, with awe-inspiring glimpses at the creatures, plants, and landscapes of our planet to accompany the musical selections. The footage pairs with selections by Handel and Rachmaninoff, and contemporary composers Maria Schneider, Nico Muhly, Kevin Puts (The Hours), Björk, and Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings film scores).
Don’t miss an evening of vocal artistry and awe-inspiring film!
This performance offers projected translations for works not in English and original texts for works in English.
Production photos: Peter Smith Photography, courtesy of University Musical Society, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Program
One intermission between Part 1 and Part 2
The artists ask you to please hold your applause until the end of the film.
(recorded, played before the performance while the audience is taking their seats)
Jackson Browne “Before the Deluge,” arranged by Caroline Shaw (recording)
Performed by Rhiannon Giddens, Alison Krauss, Renée Fleming, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, piano
Hazel Dickens “Pretty bird”
George Frideric Handel “Care Selve” from Atalanta
Nico Muhly “Endless Space”
Joseph Canteloube “Bailero” from Songs of the Auvergne
Maria Schneider “Our Finch Feeder” from Winter Morning Walks
Björk “All is Full of Love”
Sergei Rachmaninoff “Moments Musicaux no. 4” (piano solo, Inon Barnatan)
Howard Shore “Twilight and Shadow” from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Kevin Puts “Evening”
Curtis Green “Red Mountains Sometimes Cry”
(recorded, played during credits)
Burt Bacharach and Hal David “What the World Needs Now”
The artists ask you to please hold your applause until the end of the film.
(recorded, played before the performance while the audience is taking their seats)
Jackson Browne “Before the Deluge,” arranged by Caroline Shaw (recording)
Performed by Rhiannon Giddens, Alison Krauss, Renée Fleming, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, piano
Hazel Dickens “Pretty bird”
George Frideric Handel “Care Selve” from Atalanta
Nico Muhly “Endless Space”
Joseph Canteloube “Bailero” from Songs of the Auvergne
Maria Schneider “Our Finch Feeder” from Winter Morning Walks
Björk “All is Full of Love”
Sergei Rachmaninoff “Moments Musicaux no. 4” (piano solo, Inon Barnatan)
Howard Shore “Twilight and Shadow” from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Kevin Puts “Evening”
Curtis Green “Red Mountains Sometimes Cry”
(recorded, played during credits)
Burt Bacharach and Hal David “What the World Needs Now”
Gabriel Fauré “Au Bord De L’eau” and “Les Berceaux”
Edvard Grieg “Lauf Der Welt” and “Zur Rosenzeit”
Giacomo Puccini “O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi
Jerome Kern “All the Things You Are”
Andrew Lippa "The Diva"
Gabriel Fauré “Au Bord De L’eau” and “Les Berceaux”
Edvard Grieg “Lauf Der Welt” and “Zur Rosenzeit”
Giacomo Puccini “O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi
Jerome Kern “All the Things You Are”
Andrew Lippa "The Diva"
“Fleming clearly appreciates some glamour and sparkle in her onstage attire — Sunday’s program insert credited the designers of her voluminous green gown and geometric jewelry — but as soon as she opened her mouth, the radiance of her voice outshone all else. Sincerity undergirded every phrase she sang, and it was possible to forget that she was singing generations-old poems.”
A.Z. Madonna The Boston Globe, 8/14/2023
“America’s soprano of choice”
The New York Times
Featured Artists
Videos
Renée Fleming, Reynaldo Hahn’s “L’heure exquise”
Renée Fleming, Reynaldo Hahn’s “L’heure exquise”
Celebrity Series Book List
Read a book by or about this artist: check out our Fall 2023 reading list on Medium!
Symphony Hall Venue Information
This performance is generously supported by
Leslie & Howard Appleby.
Additional support for this performance is provided by
a Liberty Mutual Foundation Climate Resiliency Mini-Grant
and 
and 
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