Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
American soprano known for opera, the voice of Elvish in Lord of the Rings, and a CD of jazz and rock classics.
On the island
Eight records
Well, the voice of Leontine Price and everything she stands for in a way not only the sumptuous sound, but the fact that she broke ground in so many ways, you know, as an African-American singer who struggled to be allowed to perform on so many great stages. But the sound itself, I mean, I used to sit on the subway when I was this Juilliard student and just think if I only had her high C.
RiverFavourite
Joni Mitchell I discovered as an eighteen year old and I still remember uh the C D being handled to me. Well, it was of course it was an L P at that time, the hissing of summer lawns. And she has remained my touchstone ever since, my musical touchstone. because she explored so much music. And I chose my own recording actually of her song River, and I finally met her this year. I almost fainted.
I've Got the World on a String
Sarah Vaughan was the first um jazz singer that I fell madly in love with, and I got to hear her sing live a couple of times. And at one concert I was yelling out so many requests that she finally said, That's enough for you, honey Which I took as a huge compliment. She spoke to me. And I've Got the World on a String was the first song, in a sense, that really hooked me.
Oh, I love her voice. She also changed she changed the face of how Strauss is sung. She, Maria Collis, are two artists who who not only came and were great, great singers, but they forever changed how we sing that repertoire that they sang and how we hear that repertoire.
Jan DeGaetani and Gilbert Kalish
George Crum wrote Apparition for Janda Gaitani, who was my voice teacher when I studied at the Aspen Music Festival. But I just find these pieces very haunting. It's Walt Whitman poetry about the death of Abraham Lincoln. And they're all about death. But they're evocative in a sense that they make death into a beautiful, welcoming place, a place that one wants to sink into.
The Song to the Moon is my own signature piece. It's the aria that not only am I probably most known for, but it's also the one that launched me, that gave me all of my early opportunities. And it wasn't until I chose this aria, I wasn't getting anywhere. I wasn't really having luck in auditions.
Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock
Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock have been jazz instrumentalists I adore, but this song really just grabs me. There's something about the way, in a kind of a Mahler-esque or Straussian way, the way this tune continues to build on itself and transpose and modulate ever upwards. And I just every time I hear this, it takes me to some other place.
Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, Op. 27, No. 1: II. Allegro molto e vivace
Maurizio Pollini recently just completely bowled me over. You know, if I hear something that makes me want to sit up on the edge of my chair and even better stand up and shout, then that's a great performer. And this is one of my favorite examples of that.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:02Was it quite a long time coming for you, Renee? You went really from nothing to being the lead role, the Countess, one of the most difficult and demanding roles in the repertoire.
It's true. But the thing is, it takes one impresario to take a chance and say, I think this girl has talent. I'm going to give her an opportunity. And I was literally thrown onto stage at two weeks' notice. Many of my opportunities were last minute filling in for someone. And this was one of those instances. And it was trial by fire. And it launched me.
Presenter asks
2:19Didn't you stand in as Desdemona to Placido Domingo's Otello at one point and just hadn't even met him before?
Yes, yeah. In fact, the soprano who was singing opening night had heard her back, and so they said, Renee, you're on. I had never done the role before, was begging for rehearsal. So I ran up on stage. We did this confrontation scene where Placido was throwing me on the ground and slapping me. I mean, all of these incredibly intense things. And so when it was all over and my knees were completely shaking, he said, oh, hello, I'm Placido Domingo. It was the most extraordinary experience.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
C. S. Lewis
because we all have these formative experiences, and I can still remember the moment in third grade when the librarian put the book in my little hot hand and said, I think you'll enjoy this. I remember that very moment. The book really captured my imagination and made me a fanatical reader forever on.
The luxury
I always say coffee is my absolute luxury. And it's also a forbidden luxury because caffeine actually dries the voice out a little bit, so I'm not supposed to every time I go visit my ears, nose and throat doctor, he says stop with the coffee. But I love it.
You've often stressed that you were not a natural performer, that it was never obvious that you were going to be a singer. That is very difficult to believe.
Well, I had, you know, the kernel of an instrument and I was certainly a natural musician. I mean, being raised by music teacher parents means that music was the language that I learned before speech. However, I was shy, introverted. I spent a lot of time reading, making crafts alone in my room. I was anything but a performer.
Presenter asks
14:59What was it like in Germany when you went to masterclasses given by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf?
Well, I was only twenty three. I mean, it was it was kind of a it was too soon, in a sense, to be working with someone of that stature. But what we would do is get up and sing every day, and she imparted a lot of uh interpretive information. So it was an interesting um experience as part of an incredibly important and crucial year. ... What happened in that class was that I got a little bit confused. The problem with master classes is that somebody famous walks in. imparts all kinds of information. And for a young, a really young singer, this can create more kind of confusion ... And it took me a long time to incorporate the things I'd learned from her into my singing.
Presenter asks
22:29Tell me about another desperate moment in your life, which is when at La Scala Milan you were booed.
Yes. Well, we certainly in the circles that I've always sung in are not used to opera as a blood sport. ... But for me it was traumatic. I had never experienced it before. And I was contested by a very small group of people, but a very vocal group of people. ... And the problem was that this engagement came in the middle of a very tough year. I had too many new roles back to back, too much pressure. It was the same year also that I was My husband and I were getting a divorce in the same period. ... And it was shortly after that that I developed crippling stage fright, which took me almost a year to recover from.
“being raised by music teacher parents means that music was the language that I learned before speech. However, I was shy, introverted. I spent a lot of time reading, making crafts alone in my room. I was anything but a performer.”
“We have to reproduce faithfully what's on the page in classical music. All of the interpretive choices we make have to be subtle. Whereas in jazz, anything goes.”
“I came very close to stopping singing at that time. I thought it's been lovely. I've already sung in all of the great opera houses in the world and achieved so much, and I think I'm just going to retire now and do something different, because I can't take the pressure anymore. So, what happened? Well, I I there was a little voice in me that said, Do you know you've worked really hard for this? It's not been easy, and are you sure you want to give up?”