SALT LAKE CITY — If you’ve wondered what an evening with world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming is like, it’s safe to expect graceful and sophisticated operatic singing, an exhilarating musical journey and lots of applause.
Utah Opera’s “An Evening with Renée Fleming” Sept. 13 — a fundraising gala at Abravanel Hall supporting Utah Opera’s education programs and part of the company’s 40th anniversary celebration — took opera lovers from the lows of tragedy and loss to the highs of love and beauty.
The Utah Symphony captured the audience’s attention right away by starting the concert with Giuseppe Verdi’s “Overture to ‘La forza del destino’” under the direction of Thierry Fischer’s skillful and expressive conducting. The symphony’s flying fingers and bows had the audience leaning forward in anticipation, then captivated by a soothing and peaceful melody, and then again thrilled by the excitement infused into the ending of the piece.
A few in the audience stood up to give Fleming a standing ovation as she entered the stage for the first time — honoring her distinguished career, which includes receiving the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013 and being the first classical artist to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl in 2014.
Fleming opened with Richard Strauss’ “Four Last Songs,” a solemn set of four pieces touching on themes of death, autumn, sleep and sunset. The audience clapped between each movement, unable to hold its applause at the beauty of the music and excitement of the night.
The Utah Opera Chorus then made a bold and playful entrance into the program by singing Verdi’s “Vedi le fosche” from “Il Trovatore.” The powerful chorus, following the words, “To work now; lift your hammers,” was sung to the metronomic sound of hammers beating in tempo against an anvil.
A quick wardrobe change reflected a change in the program's mood as Fleming re-entered the stage having switched out a cold, shimmering blue gown for a romantic dress of red and black. Fleming sang about love's woes and exhilarations in the works of three Italian composers, starting with Arrigo Boito’s “L’altra notte in fondo al mare” from “Mefistofele,” moving on to Giacomo Puccini’s famous aria “O mio babbino caro” from “Gianni Schicchi” and ending with Ruggero Leoncavallo’s romantic “Mattinata.”
The Utah Opera Chorus brought the program back to the United States with Aaron Copland’s uplifting “The Promise of Living” from “The Tender Land,” sharing the message, “The promise of living … is labor and sharing and loving.”
Staying with American composers, a Leonard Bernstein set followed, with the symphony’s “Overture to ‘Candide’” and Fleming’s touching and joyful interpretations of “Somewhere” and “I Feel Pretty” from “West Side Story.”
“We’re about to celebrate what would have been the centennial of Leonard Bernstein, who brought so much to music; not just his conducting — the compositions, of course this musical and his love of Mahler,” Fleming said following the set.
In an unexpected moment, Fleming announced she would be singing a brand new piece she has recorded but is just beginning to perform: Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk’s “Virus.”
“I was trying to find something more contemporary that was a good fit for my voice, and she is definitely a soprano,” Fleming said. “You have to let me know what you think.”
Although different in style from the rest of the program, the audience's warm applause for "Virus" seemed to answer Fleming's request in the affirmative.
There were a few times throughout the evening when some of the lyrics projected above the screen in the English varied from the words Fleming was singing, but, while slightly confusing, the opera singer's talent and poise captivated the full concert hall.
One of Utah Opera’s 2017-2018 resident artists, tenor Christopher Oglesby, took the stage for the final piece of the night: the classic “Libiamo” from Verdi’s “La traviata.” Fleming and Oglesby moved and danced about the stage in character, making for a lively and beautiful ending to celebratory night.
Though audible disappointment spread throughout the concert hall when the lights went up with no encore after Fleming had taken three bows at the end of the concert, the crowd’s clapping and standing ovation was undeterred until Fleming took one last bow — a reflection of the audience’s thorough enjoyment of an evening spent with Renée Fleming.