BBC Radio: Renée Fleming Interview #1

[SsteinwayS]

So beautiful... :)

[helloanonymity]

Thank you for this. Renee is so beautiful--in every meaning of the word.

[Darknight1989]

I love how she said that you don't have to be a stick to be an Opera singer, as long as you have a beautiful voice. And this is a huge problem that a lot of up and coming female opera singers are having. As long as there is a beautiful voice in the body weight should not matter. I love Ms. Fleming a lot!

[SsteinwayS]

I agree! The music is the most important thing - that's why it's called opera and not fashion modelling. I think there's a big misconception with opera singers - most are quite average-sized men and women, and it's so sad that many people still believe in that Wagnerian soprano stereotype. If you truly appreciate opera, you'll appreciate the whole art, and not just the visual aspect. Thanks for supporting singers of all kinds, Ms. Fleming!

[bakinek]

She cant sing this song, bad czech accent but she is great singer ofc

[SsteinwayS]

Well, obviously she has to learn the words phonetically, but it doesn't mean the whole song is bad. No one can sing in five plus languages perfectly, unfortunately, and Czech is very difficult to learn! But yes, the singing is great.

[sour7lemon]

Just a tidbit of interesting information -- she claimed that Russian was MUCH more difficult to learn than Czech!

[SsteinwayS]

Well...I wouldn't know because I haven't learnt either! :O Haha, but maybe I'm lucky then...

[bakinek]

Ok but you arent Czech and i am, listening this crash my ears. She is better to sing some german stuffs, not the slovans one, I heart some black singer sang Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém and it was very horrible too, better leave this, trust me please. You dont mind I know:) Peace

[SsteinwayS]

I think the music is still more important than how badly the language is sung, but I can understand how frustrating it would be to hear someone singing in one's own language horridly. However, opera IS also very much about the story, so more Czech lessons would better for sure in her case!

[frufruJ]

@bakinek: Sorry, I'm Czech, too, but she does her best with every language she sings in (how many, eight?). Amazing. And she keeps improving with the pronunciation. She's the great singer of our generation. Bakinek, when you sing perfect German, Italian, French, Russian, Portuguese and others, THEN criticize her Czech. If you can't enjoy her singing only because of her accent, it's your bad. We can.

[SsteinwayS]

I agree with you frufruJ, but I can understand that native Czechs like bakinek and you yourself would still be a little irked by the pronunciation :P We should appreciate the singing though, and note, as you say, that she sings in a gazillion languages and thus can't fluent in all of them!

[tomkellycartoons]

Thank you!! So true!

[SsteinwayS]

No problem! Glad you agree!

[tomkellycartoons]

So true. In my first year of enjoying opera, I saw "Aida." I was momentarily taken aback when the star came out....looking for al the world like a pumpkin with feet. Within 3 seconds of her singing, all that went away.  That big girl BECAME the lovely young girl of the character. I learned my lesson well. The music is all.

[SsteinwayS]

Hahaha...luckily you didn't leave before you heard her!

[tomkellycartoons]

Hahahaha....never!!! We have Siegried coming up, and....I'm looking forward to the five hours of Wagner (sort of) but don't know if I can sit through five hours of Achim Freyer's costume and staging. Ugh. Night of the Living Dead!

[tomkellycartoons]

Dear Deborah Voight underwent bypass surgery (which she's quite open about) and says she feels better, but still...that she felt compelled to do that for ugly reasons is a shame. She is, however, by her own account, happy. And she does, I have to say, look wonderful. We saw her in concert after her transformation. She said she had to learn to sing all over again. Remarkable. I loved her both before and after.

[SsteinwayS]

Wagner is hard to sit through, especially with costumes (I've haven't done it...yet), but the music is GORGEOUS.

Well...Deborah Voigt, I must say, still sounds incredible, but now I guess, has lost some of that "larger than life" Wagnerian soprano look - still, I'm not complaining now! She looks fantastic. I posted an BBC radio interview about her talking about her weight loss too, actually.

[SsteinwayS]

I'm posting another BBC radio interview with Renée Fleming on Friday!

[linket88]

...i...simply....love her!!...(sigh)

[trekkie2006]

She makes those high notes sound sssooo easy!! I don't understand! She just opens up and they come out! It's a testament to how hard she's worked at creating a solid technique and just how amazingly beautiful her voice is. I love her.

[jgdmol4l]

it amazes me how her speaking voice is so low and yet she can sing so high...she was in her prime during this interview :)...I hope I can see hear sing the last four songs live some day before she retires

[SsteinwayS]

Definitely...she has such a magnificently rich mid-to-low register when she sings too. It's astounding. And to imagine that she sang up to high, high G's at one point too in her career! Phenomenal range, and such a down-to-earth, friendly personality too. Such a great soprano.

[jgdmol4l]

Agreed :)