The Metropolitan Opera opened its 125th-anniversary season on Monday evening with a gala Renée Fleming showcase. Everything about the three-part evening was fashioned, quite literally, for Ms. Fleming.
She was featured in three favorite roles: Violetta in Act II of Verdi’s “Traviata”; Manon in Act III of Massenet’s “Manon”; and the Countess in the final scene of Strauss’s “Capriccio,” conducted by Patrick Summers. To lend an extra touch of diva dazzle to the evening, the Met commissioned three renowned fashion designers to create Ms. Fleming’s costumes.
For weeks waggish opera bloggers had been calling the evening “The Renée Fleming Fashion Show,” “The Renéesance” and such. And in a way the gala was, as Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, said recently on “Charlie Rose,” a “kind of retro affair.”
The NY Times article has a slide show of all the costumes Ms Fleming wore and an aiduo clip from "Capriccio." Click on the photo at right to see the NY Post review.
Below Ms Fleming sings "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka by Dvorak with the Welsh National Orchestra.
