Photo Credit: D. Darr


Renée Fleming is, quite simply, one of the great singers of any kind of music anywhere in the world. She resides at that unique intersection of technique, talent, soul, and artistry. There are few pleasures as pure and intimate as seeing her sing in recital with just a piano behind her.


I first saw her sing at a 400-seat recital hall in Atlanta some years ago. It remains one of the most indelible performances I’ve ever seen. Every note, every gesture, every breath seemed weighted with emotion and importance. When she concluded the last of Strauss’ Four Last Songs, I expected her to take flight and ascend to her home in the clouds.


Every casual opera fan knows her name, as she has sung in all the major concert halls and opera houses worldwide. She’s the only classical singer to have sung the National Anthem prior to the Super Bowl. She killed it. She’s also performed at the Nobel Peace Prize, the 9/11 Commemoration, the Beijing Olympics, the 2012 Obama Inauguration, and the funeral of John McCain. She was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2012.


Her recital at the Flynn marks her first-ever visit to Vermont to perform, so I am totally unclear why anyone would choose to miss it.


While in town, she’ll also pursue another of her passions: arts education. As part of the Kennedy Center’s Sound Health initiative, Ms. Fleming created a program called Music and the Mind which explores the power of music as it relates to health and the brain. At the Flynn, she’ll host a presentation and panel discussion that will feature UVM’s Dr. James Hudziak, an expert on the correlation between music and brain development, particularly in children, and members of the Me2 Orchestra, the world’s only classical music organization created for individuals with mental illnesses and the people who support them.


His enduring creative resurgence


A near-death experience in the mid-’80s led to a rededication to music and a string of 16 fantastic albums on the ECM label.


He dropped out in the ’70s, surfacing to play with the Beach Boys (!!) and a Mike Love offshoot called Celebration (their 1979 disc Celebration Disco is best avoided).


SPRING 20 2 0


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Photo Credit: Andrew Eccles


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