Renee Fleming News

Tune in to PBS tonight, April 6, 2012 at 8:00p.m. for Live From Lincoln Center's telecast of Renee Fleming in a special intimate concert from the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse.

Renée Fleming stars in Handel's tuneful 'Rodelinda' on THIRTEEN's 'Great Performances at the Met' on Sunday, April 22 at 12 noon on PBS stations, but as always, do check local listings. Andreas Scholl, Stephanie Blythe, Iestyn Davies, and Joseph Kaiser co-star in Stephen Wadsworth's acclaimed production under the baton of Baroque specialist Harry Bicket.

Hundreds of lunchtime diners in downtown Chicago were treated to a surprise performance 12:30-1 p.m. today by soprano Renée Fleming, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a Lyric Opera of Chicago pianist, and 100 high-school chorus members from Lake View High School, Chicago High School for the Arts, and Merit School of Music.

Lyric Opera of Chicago will hold its first-ever Career Day for Merit School of Music students on Saturday, March 17, with events taking place at both organizations. Fresh from a national concert tour, Lyric's creative consultant Renee Fleming will participate in one of the centerpiece events of Lyric's Renee Fleming Initiative - speaking with students and providing an in-person master class as a follow-up to earlier sessions held via Skype.

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, today announced details of its new world premiere. Bel Canto, by the gifted young Peruvian composer Jimmy Lopez, with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz, is based on the best-selling novel by Ann Patchett. To premiere in Lyric's 2015-16 season, the new opera, commissioned as part of Lyric's Renee Fleming Initiative, will be conducted by Lyric music director Sir Andrew Davis and directed by Stephen Wadsworth.

This weekend, medici.tv offers violinist Renaud Capucon performs Henri Dutilleux's gorgeous L'Arbre des songes (The Tree of Dreams), with conductor Tugan Sokhiev and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. The Toulouse program also presents Tchaikovsky's great "Pathetique" Symphony. On February 25 at 2:15 pm, medici.tv will present the opera Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss, starring soprano Renee Fleming and conducted by Christian Thielemann, in a production from Baden-Baden, Germany.

Tune in to PBS on Friday, April 6, 2012 at 8:00p.m. for Live From Lincoln Center's telecast of Renee Fleming in a special intimate concert from the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse.

Contra Costa County's only professional orchestra, California Symphony, presents the second regular concert of its 25th Anniversary Season, the Romance of the Cello, featuring world-renowned cellist and classical music "rock star" Joshua Roman. Internationally renowned conductor Robert Moody will lead this performance, featuring Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto, and Sergei Rachmaninoff's towering Symphony No. 2. The Romance of the Cello will take place at 4 pm Sunday, January 22, 2012at the Lesher Center for the Arts (1601 Civic Center Drive, Walnut Creek). Tickets ($20-$69) can be purchased by calling the Lesher Center ticket office at 925-943-7469 or by visiting www.californiasymphony.org.

World-renowned soprano RENÉE FLEMING will perform with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra (RIPO), Larry Rachleff, Music Director and Conductor, at The VETS Gala Concert on Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 7:30 PM.

The Metropolitan Opera premiere of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, starring soprano Anna Netrebko in her highly anticipated first North American performances of the tour-de-force title role, will be the 2012 season opener of THIRTEEN's Great Performances at the Met Friday, January 20 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, announced yesterday the repertoire, principal singers, conductors, directors, and designers for Lyric's 2012-13 season. This was Freud's first news conference since becoming Lyric's general director on Oct. 1, 2011. Joining Freud for yesterday's announcement was Sir Andrew Davis, Lyric's music director, and Renee Fleming, Lyric's creative consultant (via Skype).

Contra Costa County's only professional orchestra, California Symphony, presents the second regular concert of its 25th Anniversary Season, the Romance of the Cello, featuring world-renowned cellist and classical music "rock star" Joshua Roman. Internationally renowned conductor Robert Moody will lead this performance, featuring Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto, and Sergei Rachmaninoff's towering Symphony No. 2. The Romance of the Cello will take place at 4 pm Sunday, January 22, 2012at the Lesher Center for the Arts (1601 Civic Center Drive, Walnut Creek). Tickets ($20-$69) can be purchased by calling the Lesher Center ticket office at 925-943-7469 or by visiting www.californiasymphony.org.

Accordo, established in 2009, is a Minnesota-based chamber group featuring classical and contemporary chamber music in performance spaces.

Joseph Calleja, the 33-year-old Maltese tenor who finished 2011 with a top-ranked solo album (The Maltese Tenor) and a Grammy nomination for his recording of La traviata with Renee Fleming, will ring in 2012 with a return to the Metropolitan Opera in the title role in Gounod's Faust, opening January 5.

The Metropolitan Opera premiere of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, starring soprano Anna Netrebko in her highly anticipated first North American performances of the tour-de-force title role, will be the 2012 season opener of THIRTEEN's Great Performances at the Met Friday, January 20 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).

Friday night at the Waldorf-Astoria, Bette Midler hosted Hulaween 2011, her annual gala to benefit the New York Restoration Project. In addition to a lauded career as a singer and actress, Midler has made her first foray into Broadway producing with PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT, currently playing on Broadway at the Palace Theatre. Check out photos below from the star studded, costume filled night!

The English Concert, led by celebrated Baroque specialist Harry Bicket, comes to Walt Disney Concert Hall, Tuesday, October 11, at 8 p.m., as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2011/12 Baroque Variations series.