Part of Hancher’s 52nd Season

Presented in collaboration with Creative Matters, a program of the Office of the Vice President for Research, and the Iowa Neuroscience Institute

Renée Fleming’s exquisite voice is arguably one of nature’s masterworks. In her return to the Hancher stage, she lends that unadulterated sound to a National Geographic Society film inspired by her 2023 Grammy Award-winning album that explores nature as both an inspiration to and victim of humanity. Spanning classical, romantic, and contemporary music, Fleming offers a live and affecting soundtrack to a film about life itself. In the second half of the program, Fleming will perform music by Fauré, Grieg, Puccini, Jerome Kern, and Andrew Lippa.

“While she may have announced her farewell to the traditional opera canon in 2017 … the superstar diva—or, as some have christened her, the ‘people’s diva’—seems as fiendishly busy as ever … And to say Fleming has an ardent following is an understatement.” — Classical Voice

PROGRAM:
Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene
The following suite of songs is accompanied by a film provided by National Geographic.

Hazel DICKENS: “Pretty Bird”
Georg Frideric HANDEL: “Care Selve,” from Atalanta
Nico MUHLY: “Endless Space”
Joseph CANTELOUBE: “Bailero,” from Songs of the Auvergne
Maria SCHNEIDER: “Our Finch Feeder,” from Winter Morning Walks
BJÖRK: “All is Full of Love”
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS: “Epilogo,” from Floresta do Amazonas (piano solo)
Howard SHORE: “Twilight and Shadow,” from Lord of the Rings
Kevin PUTS: “Evening”
Curtis GREEN: “Red Mountains Sometimes Cry”
Burt BACHARACH: “What the World Needs Now”

~intermission~

Gabriel FAURÉ: “Au Bord De L’eau” and “Les Berceaux”
Edvard GRIEG: “Lauf Der Welt” and “Zur Rosenzeit”
Giacomo PUCCINI: “O mio babbino caro,” from Gianni Schicchi
Jerome KERN: “All the Things You Are”
Andrew LIPPA: The Diva

Renée Fleming Website