© Andrew Eccles
In 2017, the Marschallin in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera was supposed to be Renée Fleming's last opera role, after a career of countless unforgettable performances. In addition to numerous recordings and concerts - including the art song programme with pianist Evgeny Kissin this summer at the Verbier Festival and the Salzburg Summer Festival -, the soprano diva has not only appeared in musicals (The Light in the Piazza, Carousel), but also added two contemporary roles to her repertoire last season: Clarissa Vaughan in Kevin Puts' The Hours at the Metropolitan Opera and Pat Nixon in John Adams' Nixon in China at the Opéra national de Paris. As co-director of the Aspen Opera Theatre and artistic advisor to the Kennedy Center, she has been named a World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Arts and Health, alongside fellow soprano Pretty Yende. We caught up with her to find out more about what it means to be a busy opera star these days, albeit mostly away from staged productions.
***
Can you tell us about your collaboration with Evgeny Kissin?
Renée Fleming: He asked me if I would sing with him and I loved the idea, it was such an honour. Our first concerts were scheduled for March 2020. He was already in Vienna waiting for me, I literally got on the plane and that night Europe came to a standstill. It was wonderful that we were able to reschedule the concerts this year. We started in January in Europe, then we went to the major capitals in the US, and then Verbier and Salzburg. I'm very happy because the programme has worked so well. I tried to choose pieces that would show Evgeny's strengths, especially the first version of some songs that Liszt later rearranged into a "less difficult" version. We added a wonderful Schubert group, Duparc and Rachmaninoff, and then he programmed his solo works. It's been fantastic and I'm sad to see it end. Evgeny was a wonderful collaborator. He requires a tremendous amount of sensitivity, especially for someone like him who's famous for making a huge sound. Playing in a much more intimate, connected, collaborative way is probably something new for him. Unfortunately we don't have any more programmes together in the future because he plans so far in advance that I think it would probably take years to plan at this point!
What are your criteria when it comes to singing a new role today?
The Hours was written for me, so the composer made it for my voice at the time he wrote it. Pat Nixon in Nixon in China is not an easy role, but the way it's composed, with the space between the phrases, made it possible for me. Both projects were incredible this past season, and of course The Hours is coming back to the Met in the spring of 2024. I would say that the criteria are really about what suits me now. We lose the resilience for me at that point, so I can't sing incredibly challenging things and sing them again the next day like I could when I was young. I just have to think about what would be comfortable or what would work. I want to make sure that I feel comfortable with it and that the audience has a wonderful experience.
You have also performed in musicals, with spoken voice. That is another challenge...
The Light in the Piazza and Carousel were exciting projects because they were so new to me. I now have a relationship with National Geographic, so I'm going home next week to make a film with them. My voice will be accompanying a climate-related project. My melody album Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene with Yannick Nézet-Séguin won a Grammy this year, so I wanted to expand on that idea with a film.
Do you want to use your status as an influencer and Goodwill Ambassador for the World Health Organization to address issues such as climate change?
Yes, absolutely, climate change is causing all kinds of health problems. We can currently see that with the fires in Canada. There’s an endless amount of advocacy that I can get involved in. I shared experience in a wonderful session with my colleague Christopher Bailey from the World Health Organisation, a physiotherapist and a neurologist in Verbier yesterday and we’re having another one in Salzburg. It's a brand new programme and they've taken to it quite enthusiastically, which is fantastic. I'm very excited about it and I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds.
You are also a mentor to young singers…
I love to work with young artists. My time in Aspen this summer was incredibly gratifying, working with young singers and seeing them improve. Yesterday I gave a masterclass to the singers of the Verbier Festival Academy's Atelier Lyrique, and when they performed Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress with the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra earlier today, they had all taken on board the advice I gave them. They stuck with it, and I was really pleased to see that what I say helps. I remember taking information from so many different singers and teachers, and ultimately as artists we're responsible for putting it all together for ourselves. If people don't take something I say, I don't have a problem with that. It's a very individual growth pattern to become a singer.
You know jazz and Strauss very well. Strauss is a conversation in music, whereas jazz is a kind of musical conversation. Is this free dialogue the core of your singing?
One hundred percent, it’s being in the zone and being in a flow state that means you’re flexible. When I work with conductors they always say “Gosh, you’re so easy to follow because you’re clear”, but it’s also I’m in the moment. My favourite thing is to have that sense of communication between whoever is performing with me. That’s been that way with Evgeny Kissin as well, it’s that we have the freedom to be different every night. It’s not a metronome; we’re not a track like it’s played.
Jazz is different because it requires improvisation. I had that skill when I was a young singer and I have not had the courage to try more recently because I would have to invest time to get the skill back. It’s impressive when people can do it. You actually have to turn off the judgmental part of your brain, and I find that so fascinating. Conversation is a form of improvisation but this is heightened with music, and especially in musical improvisation.
You were the first lyric singer to perform at the Super Bowl, you've sung in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin. In addition to being a music icon, do you feel like a pop culture icon?
Well, I’ve had interesting opportunities and these aren’t things that you can seek out, they come to you. I think a bit more like feeding my innate and musical and intellectual curiosity to be able to try these different jobs and different ways of communicating with the audience. I’ve been incredibly fortunate but I wouldn’t say I’m a pop icon although my daughter said to me recently: “Mum, don’t underestimate the power of Lord of the Rings. You should start singing that track during your concerts!” That’s a good idea, maybe I’ll do that.
You're interested in arts therapy. When you're exposed to art, what are the actual feelings you have that could be analysed to know exactly how your brain is working at that particular moment?
I’m glad you ask that because I just had an experience in Aspen last week. My last performance there was a beautiful chamber music work with four different composers and the writer Richard Powers. He had chosen texts – some poetry and also an excerpt from his book The Overstory – but in the last movement of the piece, both the instruments and the singers staggered their entrances gently and I went into an altered state just listening to it. I thought I had to write to the composer and say “You have to get a scientist to look at this into a study”. I know it had a huge effect on me, and I had no words to describe that. “Altered state” was the only thing I could come up with, a bit like the effect of Strauss' Four Last Songs. My breathing slowed down completely, the time slowed down. Music has its power. It’s what we all need right now, and also being in nature. That feeds my soul.
How do you think science could be used to improve the music experience?
Science can explain why music is powerful and how it can be used therapeutically to help people with different disorders and children, but it can't improve the experience of music because we already have that, which is why we love music. Science can do a lot of other things and I think it also helps us to remember that we need the arts and these experiences that feed us and really interact with who we are in terms of our nervous system, our DNA and our evolutionary history. Art affects us physically and the successful book Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross explains this fantastically. I love science, you're always learning something.
You’re still in the opera world, but with more distance than in the past. How do you think it has changed in the last ten years?
I'm happy to see people embracing new music and new works that are relevant. A lot of the operatic works we love were created from a popular novel or play that people knew. And now we've performed them as historical pieces. The Hours was especially exciting because 40 percent of the audience had never been to the Met. That tells you that people will come if it's something they think is powerful, new and fresh. This very exciting shift is recent. I think the US is now really embracing it, because a change was definitely needed. One thing that's grown in my career is the difference between Europe and the US in terms of presentation. We never had government support, so we always had to try to cater to the audience and sell tickets. That's really created a different landscape for new works, and I think it's worth bringing some American works to Europe, especially John Adams and Philip Glass. It's an interesting time and I'm really hopeful for the art form. Instrumental music and opera are so much a part of the culture in Europe that they're not going anywhere. I want everyone to appreciate what the human voice can do, with or without amplification, in the individual sounds of people you will never hear again.
What about education today?
Music education and vocal education need to be rigorous because it’s so hard to do what we do. We have so many skills that we have to juggle: language, style, the voice and the body. It’s not something that you can learn quickly, it takes time to know how to sing over an orchestra and choir. I think that education for the public is important because one of the things that science allows us to understand is the benefit of being exposed to art, of having it in our life, of appreciating it and making it a part of our everyday existence. Almost anything you can do, like doodling or going for a walk outside, is a form of art. Art is something that we really need to connect with more, because it’s what makes us feel that there’s something bigger than ourselves. People feel isolated and lonely, and engaging artistic experiences with each other is a way of sharing.
So art is not just about seeing and hearing, it’s about feeling something…
Definitely, and ideally you should do it yourself. When we sit together at a concert, our brain waves are in tune with the artist, so this is another way that science can teach us. It's really helpful to engage with ourselves. Think about our historical past: it was important to be part of a tribe, that's how you and your family stayed safe, and that's why all this developed in us. Artistic experiences, whether it was drumming or singing or chanting, were ways of increasing those social connections and building a community. I think that’s probably the most fundamental element.
Interview by Thibault Vicq
Renée Fleming and Evgeny Kissin recital | 3 August 2023 | Haus für Mozart, Salzburger Festspiele
The Hours | 5 – 31 May 2024 | Metropolitan Opera
the 02 of August, 2023 | Print
Comments