Last updated: October 19, 2023
Program
GEORGES BIZET “Les Toréadors” from Carmen
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GEORG FRIEDRICH HAENDEL
“Ombra mai fu” from Xerxes
“To fleeting pleasures” from Samson
“Calm thou my soul … Convey me to some peaceful shore” from Alexander Balus
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GEORGES BIZET “Aragonaise” and “Séguedille” from Carmen
GABRIEL FAURÉ “Mandoline”, Op. 58, No. 1
REYNALDO HAHN (arr. Chason Goldschmitz) “L’heure exquise”
JULES MASSENET “Allons! … Adieu, notre petite table” from Manon
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INTERMISSION
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LEONARD BERNSTEIN Overture to Candide
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SAMUEL BARBER “Sure on This Shining Night”, Op. 13, No. 3
MARIA SCHNEIDER “Walking by Flashlight”
ANDRE PREVIN “I Want Magic” from A Streetcar Named Desire
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GODFREY RIDOUT Fall Fair
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ANDREW LIPPA “The Diva”
RICHARD RODGERS & OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
“You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel
FREDERICK LOEWE & ALAN JAY LERNER
“I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady
Program Notes
Tonight’s concert showcases the beauty of the human voice through Renée Fleming’s remarkable talents in diverse repertoire ranging from opera to art song to musical theatre, spanning four centuries by composers from Europe and North America. After the brilliant and boisterous music of “Les Toreadors” from Carmen (1875) by Georges Bizet (1838–1875), Renée opens with a first set featuring arias from works by Georg Friedrich Haendel.
Living in London since 1712, Haendel (1685–1759) became a master at writing and producing Baroque Italian opera, which was all the rage in the city in the early 18th century. He composed just over 40 of them, many of them hugely successful, in part because he wrote music that showed off his singers to their best advantage—not just as technical virtuosos, but also their ability to sing beautifully and with deep feeling. Xerxes, his 39th opera, was a commercial flop, however, when it premiered in 1738; the audience didn’t know what to make of its unprecedented mixture of comic and dramatic aspects, including its opening aria “Ombra mai fu”, a tender ode sung by the Persian king to his beloved plane tree. Rediscovered in the 19th century, its simple grace makes it a favourite today.
When opera fell out of fashion with London audiences, Haendel created the oratorio—a dramatic work, usually based on Biblical sources, similar to opera but presented in concert form. Both Samson (1741) and Alexander Balus (1747) feature strong female characters demanding beautiful singing and exceptional acting skills. The elegant air “In fleeting pleasures” is a last-ditch effort by Dalila to make peace with her husband, the Judge of Israel Samson, whom she had betrayed to her people, the Philistines, and an enemy of the Israelites, by cutting his hair—the source of his supernatural strength. In the final song of this set, we meet Cleopatra, daughter of the Egyptian king Ptolemee, just after she received news that her husband, the Syrian king Alexander, and her father were both killed in war against Jonathan of the Maccabees. Now alone to face her fate, she commends herself to Isis to take her to some “peaceful shore”, poignantly borne by the orchestra’s detached accompaniment.
With the Spanish-flavoured dances of Bizet’s Carmen, we travel to late 19th-century France. This second set features songs by two masters of melodié (French art song): Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924) and Reynaldo Hahn (1874–1947). Both songs use words by Paul-Marie Verlaine, the Symbolist French poet known for his suggestive and sensuous texts. In “Mandoline”, from Fauré’s 1891 song cycle Cinq melodies de Venise, the accompaniment evokes the instrument’s delicately plucked strings as the narrator’s voice, singing of “gallant serenaders and their sweet listeners exchanging sweet nothings,” floats expansively above. Fluid chromatic harmonies underscore the sensual imagery of the final verse before the song concludes with a reprise of the first verse and the mandolin’s “jangles”. Sunny day gives way to the “exquisite hour” of nightfall in Hahn’s intimate song from his Sept chansons grises (1887–1890). Here, the accompaniment rolls along gently, allowing the voice to carry the delicate melody to sublime heights. The set concludes with an aria from one of French opera’s most popular and enduring works: Manon (1884) by Jules Massenet (1842–1912). In Act 2’s “Adieu, notre petite table”, we witness Manon wrestling with her emotions—between her honest love for the young chevalier Des Grieux and the prospect of a glamourous life of luxury with the nobleman De Brétigny. She chooses the latter but is overcome by melancholy at having to bid farewell to the modest dwelling she shared with her true love.
The sparkling overture from Leonard Bernstein’s (1918–1990) operetta Candide (1956) takes us across the Atlantic for Renée’s third set. We continue with two American modern art song gems, the first by Samuel Barber (1910–1981). “Sure on This Shining Night” is the third song in Barber’s collection Four Songs, from 1940, using texts by different authors—in this case, the untitled lyric from James Agee’s first published collection of poems, Permit Me Voyage. Against a pulsating backdrop, the voice and various instruments of the orchestra follow each other seamlessly with the phrases of the long melodic line. In “Walking by Flashlight” (2012), Maria Schneider (b. 1960) sets a poem by Ted Kooser, one of over 100 he had penned inspired by the morning walks he took alone or with his wife during his battle with cancer. Scheider’s serene music highlights, with emotional immediacy, the author’s touchingly witty appreciation of the natural world’s reaction to his flashlight. By contrast, in “I Want Magic,” Blanche DuBois, a role Renée premiered in Andre Previn’s (1929–2019) opera A Streetcar Named Desire (1995) based on Tennessee Williams’s play, orders Mitch not to turn the light on her, so to force her to face up to him about her sordid past. Awash in dreamy harmonies, she’d much rather live in the fantasy that she’s a wealthy southern belle than face the merciless glare of the reality of her situation.
Fall Fair (1961) by Canadian composer Godfrey Ridout (1918–1984) provides a picturesque interlude into the final set. Inspired by events he had attended in Lakefield, Ontario during the 1920s, it features a catchy “lopsided waltz” tune and a “hymn-y passage”, portraying, respectively, the hustle bustle of an autumn carnival and the surrounding bucolic beauty. Renée follows with “The Diva”, a rock-inflected original number from 2020 written by Andrew Lippa (b. 1964) for her. As the song’s protagonist, she reflects, with self-deprecating humour, on the extraordinary aspects of her life as a diva, as well as the ways in which she’s just like any of us. She closes the concert with two beloved show tunes, giving us Nettie Fowler’s tender message of comfort and encouragement from the musical Carousel (1945) and from My Fair Lady (1964), the celebratory elation of Eliza Doolittle in her breakthrough moment.
Program notes by Hannah Chan-Hartley, PhD
Artists
One of the most beloved and celebrated singers of our time, soprano Renée Fleming captivates audiences with her sumptuous voice, consummate artistry, and compelling stage presence. At a White House ceremony in 2013, President Obama awarded her the National Medal of Arts, America’s highest honor for an individual artist. In May 2023, Renée was named a Goodwill Ambassador for Arts and Health for the World Health Organization, and in June it was announced that she will be awarded the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor.
Winner of the 2023 Grammy Award (her fifth) for Best Classical Vocal Solo, and honored with the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Crystal Award at Davos, Renée is the only classical artist ever to sing The Star-Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl (2014). As a musical statesman, Renée has sung at numerous prestigious occasions, from the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to performances in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games. In 2014, she sang in the televised concert at the Brandenburg Gate to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 2012, in an historic first, she sang on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in the Diamond Jubilee Concert for HM Queen Elizabeth II.
A ground-breaking distinction came in 2008 when Renée became the first woman in the 125-year history of the Metropolitan Opera to solo headline an opening night gala. In January 2009, Renée was featured in the televised We Are One: The Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial for President Obama. She has also performed for the United States Supreme Court and, in 2009, celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Czech Republic’s “Velvet Revolution” at the invitation of Václav Havel.
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Alexander Shelley succeeded Pinchas Zukerman as Music Director of Canada’s NAC Orchestra in September 2015. The ensemble has since been praised as being “transformed... hungry, bold, and unleashed” (Ottawa Citizen) and Shelley’s programming credited for turning the orchestra into “one of the more audacious in North America” (Maclean’s).
Shelley is a champion of Canadian creation; recent hallmarks include the multimedia projects Life Reflected and UNDISRUPTED, and three major new ballets in partnership with NAC Dance for Encount3rs. He is passionate about arts education and nurturing the next generation of musicians. He is an Ambassador for Ottawa’s OrKidstra, a charitable social development program that teaches children life skills through making music together.
Alexander Shelley is also the Principal Associate Conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and, starting with the 2024–2025 season, Artistic and Music Director of Artis-Naples and the Naples Philharmonic in Florida, USA. In the spring of 2019, he led the NAC Orchestra on its critically acclaimed 50th Anniversary European tour, and in 2017, he led the Orchestra in a tour across Canada, celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary. Most recently, he led the Orchestra in its first performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 30 years.
He has made eight recordings with the NAC Orchestra, including the Juno-nominated New Worlds, Life Reflected, ENCOUNT3RS, The Bounds of Our Dreams, and the acclaimed Clara, Robert, Johannes four-album series, all with Canadian label Analekta.
The Music Director role is supported by Elinor Gill Ratcliffe, C.M., O.N.L., LL.D. (hc)
Since its debut in 1969, the National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra has been praised for the passion and clarity of its performances, its visionary educational programs, and its prominent role in nurturing Canadian creativity. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra reflects the fabric and values of Canada, reaching and representing the diverse communities we live in with daring programming, powerful storytelling, inspiring artistry, and innovative partnerships.
Alexander Shelley began his tenure as Music Director in 2015, following Pinchas Zukerman’s 16 seasons at the helm. Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and former Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra (2009–2017), he has been in demand around the world, conducting the Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Stockholm Philharmonic, among others, and maintains a regular relationship with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and the German National Youth Orchestra.
Each season, the NAC Orchestra features world-class artists such as the newly appointed Artist-in-Residence James Ehnes, Angela Hewitt, Joshua Bell, Xian Zhang, Gabriela Montero, Stewart Goodyear, Jan Lisiecki, and Principal Guest Conductor John Storgårds. As one of the most accessible, inclusive, and collaborative orchestras in the world, the NAC Orchestra uses music as a universal language to communicate the deepest of human emotions and connect people through shared experiences.
Laurie began her stage management career with English Theatre and Jean Roberts’s company at the National Arts Centre. Since then she has been honoured to work with NAC English Theatre, NAC Indigenous Theatre, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and NAC Presents (now Popular Music and Variety). Laurie has been Production Stage Manager for the Shaw Festival and Theatre Calgary, and Stage Manager for, amongst others, Arts Club Theatre Company, The Globe Theatre, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Mirvish Productions, Stratford Festival, Great Canadian Theatre Company, Grand Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick, and Neptune Theatre.
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