Renée Fleming's Recital Feb 9, 2024: Maria Manetti Shrem Great Artist Performance at Cal Performances

About a year or so ago, I promised to resume writing what The Freako Diva was conceived for from the very start in 2012 -- responses to musical performances. In order to avoid the social, political, and moral ramifications of writing what in our society is called a "music review" or "music critique," The Freako Diva will now play host to the launch of my convoluted replacement: Rubina's Responses to Musical Performances. Please enjoy my musical response to Renée Fleming's recital with Cal Performances on February 9, 2024, alongside pianist Howard Watkins. With a compelling concept undergirding Fleming's programming, the recital was accompanied by an original film created by National Geographic -- Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene -- inspired by Fleming's Grammy Award-winning album of the same name which "explores nature as both inspiration and casualty of humanity." 

The Anthropocene theme allowed for a captivating multi-media approach, with the entire first half of the recital running in alignment with the National Geographic film. The nature of such a coordination also meant the entire first half was performed attaca without interruptions, ensuring that the imagery in the film paralleled that of the music. Though perhaps not a universal issue, I did find it challenging to divide my attention and ultimately preferred looking down at the performers over up at the screen. The same could be said of supertitles, and at that I eat my words. You can find the full program here along with the texts and translations. All pieces -- though vastly differing in style and in Fleming's fashion elegantly intertwining eclectic genres together -- traced the various facets of nature and Earth in its relationship with itself and with humanity. It was a tribute to her beauty and longevity despite the current ecological crisis Fleming's recital illuminated. 

The theme of human-nature relationships and the homogeneity of these relationships when countered by other disruptive engagements people have to nature highlighted the thread of the recital's first half. Overall, nature's longevity would overcome human destruction. It was delightful hearing messages of hope throughout. Of course, reading the texts doesn't even come close to the full experience, but the narrative can be seen through the choices of texts connecting the pieces to one another. 

The second half of the concert shifted gears only ever so slightly. Fleming opened with two Fauré songs followed by two more of Grieg. Both sets continued the theme of nature. We got to hear one of the most staplest of staples in opera [and, as Fleming suggested, beyond in a time-capsule somewhere] "O mio babbino caro." The recital concluded with Kern's "All the Things You Are" and Andrew Lippa's "The Diva," a comedic finish to a long and - as you may already be aware - memorable in more than one way night. As an encore, Fleming performed Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," as a sing-along with an eager audience. The recital was a unique approach to environmental activism and masterful musical performance in collaboration, executed masterfully by Fleming and Watkins. 

With the conclusion of the first half of the program, it was announced that an active crime scene was in progress outside Zellerbach while we all sat blissfully unaware, enjoying our live music outing. Due to this unforeseeable circumstance, everyone was to shelter in place until further notice. Intermission lasted approximately forty minutes, with us trapped inside the hall for about twenty and allowed to enter the lobby but not leave the theatre itself for another twenty. Everything worked out and luckily there were no victims, but we were close to erupting in anarchical behavior while trapped in the theater many long minutes after the performance had concluded. And all this on the Eve of Lunar New Year! Happy Year of the Dragon!