Wednesday, August 22, 2012

This is what did it.

Some thoughtful soul has uploaded Renée Fleming's entire 2002 Théâtre du Châtelet concert on u-tube.


This was the concert that got me hooked on Renée and opera. It played on Ovation over and over. I was smitten and watched it continuously. I was still new to NYC and was fairly homesick and cold. By February 2003, it was still playing on the Ovation channel. My dear friend Beth was visiting on the coldest weekend in NYC since Grover Cleveland was President.  It was her first visit to NYC and we were looking for anything warm to do inside.

While contemplating options, we were watching this concert. Beth told me that she had grown up with opera thanks to her Mom so we took a chance and called the Metropolitan Opera. I thought it would be too expensive and that we didn't have the right clothes. We were surprised to find balcony side seats for a reasonable price. We shuffled through ice and snow to see Rigoletto. (Let it be noted that this was the weekend in which we also saw Bernadette Peters for the first time, live in Gypsy - it was a helluva weekend). 

Two nights later, I went back to see Madame Butterfly and even though I had to sit in the very last row of the family circle, I've not been the same since. It was stil some time before I would see Renée live at Carnegie Hall in a lieder recital with other singers and even longer before I saw her at the Met, but to say the least, this concert opened the door to a whole new world for me, full of music, travel and friends galore.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was looking for the like button. You have turned many people into ardent Renee fans. What a wonderful adventure you have been on and I've been able to come along on some. I'm thinking about the crazy couple at Gypsy and Sally with the ketchup bottle

Beth

Anonymous said...

These early recordings of this wonderful artist are so lovely.
Thank you so much.
Marilyn

Anonymous said...

These early recordings of this wonderful artist are so lovely.
Thank you so much.
Marilyn