New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Currently wowing theatre-goers in the US with her Tony-nominated performance in Carousel, Grammy-winning soprano Renée Fleming releases her new album Broadway, out today via Decca/Universal Music. Celebrating musical theatre, the album features a diverse array of great songs for the stage by composers including Stephen Sondheim, Andrew
Lloyd Webber, Pasek & Paul, and Rodgers & Hammerstein, as well as a special guest duet with the Hamilton, television and film star,
Leslie Odom, Jr.
Fleming made her Broadway musical debut this April as Nettie Fowler in the hit new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's beloved Carousel. She received glowing reviews and even a Tony nomination - the prestigious awards ceremony takes place this Sunday. The Hollywood Reporter described her performance in Carousel as "superb" and "sheer euphoria", and Newsweek said, "she is divine".
Renée Fleming says: "The great, classic Broadway musicals were central to my childhood. I sang
Eliza Doolittle twice before I was even out of high school. This repertoire is so rich, and the sheer quality of the music is so high, that it's been a joy to record these songs. And along with the growth of popular music, the sound of musical theater has evolved over time. Composers like Jeanine Tesori, and Pasek & Paul, and even popular music icons like Sting, have enriched the genre. It's a living art form, enjoying a real boom right now, and it was a thrill for me to be able to include phenomenal songs that are absolutely current."
The new recording features a wide range of Broadway hits from the 1920s to the present, in sumptuous orchestrations (many commissioned specially for this album). Among the songs are 'The Sound of Music', 'The Glamorous Life' from A
Little Night Music, 'Tell Me on A Sunday' from Song and Dance, 'Wonderful Guy' from South Pacific, 'Fable' from The Light in the Piazza, and 'So Big So Small' from Dear Evan Hansen. Fleming's collaborators include Broadway legend Rob
Fisher as music supervisor and conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, as well as the incomparable bassist and jazz great Christian McBride, rising star pianist Dan Tepfer, and Grammy-winning producer
David Frost.
Renée Fleming is one of the most acclaimed singers of our time, with a touring schedule that spans the globe. Following a remarkable year in which she was featured in the soundtracks of Best Picture Oscar-winner The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, she made her Broadway musical debut this spring in Carousel, and she will soon be heard as the singing voice of Julianne Moore in the film of Ann Patchett's best-seller Bel Canto.
In 2013, President Obama awarded her America's highest honor for an artist, the
National Medal of Arts. In 2014, she became the first classical artist ever to sing the US
National Anthem at the Super Bowl, a televised event seen by more than 111 million fans. She has sung for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Diamond Jubilee Concert for
Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
Renée has recorded everything from complete operas and song recitals to indie rock, jazz, and the soundtrack of The Lord of the Rings. She is an exclusive Decca recording artist, earning four GRAMMY Awards, three Gramophone Awards and an array of other major industry laurels. Last year, the US Library of Congress selected her 2009 album Signatures for the
National Recording Registry, as an "aural treasure worthy of preservation as part of America's patrimony." Already honoured with two Classic BRIT Awards, she is nominated for a third, as Female Artist of the Year, to be decided in London next week.
As Artistic Advisor to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Renée spearheads a collaboration with the
National Institutes of Health focused on music and neuroscience, and she continues as the Creative Consultant for Lyric Opera of Chicago. Among her awards are the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, Germany's Cross of the Order of Merit, Sweden's Polar
Music Prize, and France's Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.
Broadway - Tracklisting:
'Fable' from The Light in the Piazza (Guettel)
'Loneliness of Evening' from South Pacific (Rodgers & Hammerstein)
'Children Will Listen/You've Got to be Taught' from Into the Woods/South Pacific (Sondheim/Rodgers & Hammerstein arr. Fisher), with guest star
Leslie Odom, Jr.
'So Big So Small from Dear Evan Hansen (Pasek & Paul)
'Something Wonderful from The King and I (Rodgers & Hammerstein)
'Wonderful Guy from South Pacific (Rodgers & Hammerstein)
'Lay Down Your Head from Violet (Tesori/Crawley)
'Down in the Depths (on the Ninetieth Floor)' from Red, Hot and Blue (Porter)
'Love and Love Alone/Winter' from The Visit (Kander/Ebb)
'Dear Friend' from She Loves Me (Bock/Harnick)
'The Sound of Music' from The Sound of
Music (Rodgers & Hammerstein)
'Unusual Way' from Nine (Yeston)
'Till There Was You' from The
Music Man (Wilson)
'The Glamorous Life' from A
Little Night
Music (Sondheim)
'Tell Me on A Sunday' from Song and Dance (Lloyd Webber/Black)
'August Winds' from The Last Ship (Sting)
'All the Things You Are' from Very Warm for May (Kern/Hammerstein)
*The album is produced in association with BBC
Radio 3 and the BBC Concert Orchestra.
