Perhaps still keeping an eye toward Irminsul?Although Fleming's "Borgia," her first appearance with the WNO, is news indeed, the soprano's forays into bel canto terrain have not been unqualified successes -- this is the role in which she was infamously booed at La Scala in 1998. Still, she remains one of the few sopranos with enough star quality to make mounting such a vehicle worth a company's while. And the supporting cast is excellent: the limpid tenor Giuseppe Filianoti and Kate Aldrich, a full-throated mezzo, will make company debuts, performing with Sondra Radvanovsky (who shares the title role with Fleming) and Ruggiero Raimondi.
"In the stream I've seen my own likeness; and now I see it again. As once it appeared in the water so now you show me my likeness!" Act I, Die Walküre
14 January 2008
Renée Fleming is scheduled to do Lucrezia Borgia in Washington, D.C. in the 2008-09 season: