Featured Performers

• Renée Fleming, soprano
• Inon Barnatan, piano

Program

• The first half of this evening’s performance is accompanied by a film provided by National Geographic. The audience is asked kindly to hold applause until the end of the film.
• Hazel DICKENS: “Pretty Bird”
• Georg Frideric HANDEL: “Care Selve” from Atalanta
• Nico MUHLY: “Endless Space”
• Joseph CANTELOUBE: “Bailero” from Songs of the Auvergne
• Maria SCHNEIDER: “Our Finch Feeder” from Winter Morning Walks
• Björk: “All is Full of Love”
• Sergie RACHMANINOFF: Moments Musicaux No. 4
• Howard SHORE: “Twilight and Shadow” from Lord of the Rings
• Kevin PUTS: “Evening”
• Curtis GREEN: “Red Mountains Sometimes Cry"
• Burt BACHARACH and Hal DAVID: “What the World Needs Now”
• Entr’acte: Jackson BROWNE: “Before the Deluge” (recording)
• Arrangement: Caroline Shaw, with Rhiannon Giddens, Alison Krauss, Renée Fleming, & Yannick Nézet-Séguin, piano

• Reynaldo HAHN: ”L’Heure exquise”

• Reynaldo HAHN: ”Les Étoiles”

• Alan FLETCHER: “The Cuckoo”

• John KANDER: “A Letter from Sullivan Ballou”

• Earl WILD: “Two virtuoso etudes after George Gershwin” (piano solo, Inon Barnatan)
         1: The Man I love
         2: I Got Rhythm

• John KANDER: ”Love and Love Alone/Winter” from The Visit

• Richard RODGERS and Oscar HAMMERSTEIN II: “The Sound of Music”

• Benj PASEK and Justin PAUL: “So Big/So Small” from Dear Evan Hansen

• Andrew LIPPA: “The Diva”

Pre-concert lecture at 7pm by Brian Lauritzen

Grammy-winning soprano Renée Fleming draws inspiration from the vivid imagery of nature's beauty and the urgent need to protect our planet in Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene. This program seamlessly blends timeless classical works with modern compositions, reflecting our evolving relationship with the environment. 

Expanding on her 2023 Grammy Award-winning album of the same name, Fleming, in collaboration with National Geographic, celebrates the wonder of the natural world while underscoring its fragility. Through music and stunning visuals from National Geographic, experience a moving tribute to nature as both our muse and our responsibility. 

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A program note from Renée Fleming:

I thought of the great legacy of song literature that I love, when Romantic-era poets and composers reveled in imagery of nature, finding reflections of human experience in the environment. I decided to record some of this music, and to juxtapose these classics with the voices of living composers, addressing our current, troubled relationship with the natural world...my hope is, in some small way, to rekindle your appreciation of nature, and encourage any efforts you can make to protect the planet we share.

To read the full program note, click here.

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Music and Mind

We will also host a free panel discussion about arts and health led by Renée Fleming on October 6 at Irvine Barclay Theatre. Learn more here. 

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She is the go-to soprano for world leaders, royals and Broadway musicals...the great barrier-busting Renée Fleming

The Guardian

Fleming’s still got it – her solos are sublime and her elegance palpable.

The Stage

Fleming’s voice floats and blooms with its customary beauty.

New Yorker

She is the go-to soprano for world leaders, royals and Broadway musicals...the great barrier-busting Renée Fleming

The Guardian

Fleming’s still got it – her solos are sublime and her elegance palpable.

The Stage

Sponsors

Major support for this performance is provided by Elizabeth Segerstrom and the Henry T. and Elizabeth Segerstrom Foundation