Yes, I speak of Pedro Segundo!
Yes, he had seen me dancing and was very pleased!
Yes, he appreciated me calling him a percussionist and admiring all his non-traditional music makers!
Yes, he even gave me a hug!!!
Yes, I was thrilled!
Yes, this is a definite perk of being a volunteer!
(smile!)
I had very much looked forward to this one, and not just because it's in my favorite venue.
Her concert was to have a film from the National Geographic running in the background while she sang verses from a wide range of songs - wow!
I had not realized that "Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene" was an album released by her in 2021, not curated especially for this concert.
The film clips must have been chosen to impress the images she wanted of humanity's effects on the world.
I caught about twenty minutes of her doing arias from various operatic roles, and those were quite nice.
However, I was called away to help in the lobby for a while, returning for the last two songs... and for the encore!
She had asked that the lights be brought up, then asked the audience to sing the chorus with her of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" - wow!
That was quite a moving experience.
Such a good way to pull everyone together!
1 comment:
Here's something more about that album.
She had included an "artist statement" as an addition to the program notes and I found them quite interesting, plus I have much more understanding of her logic for the songs and photographs used.
Here's what she said.
"When I was 14, the film Solylent Green was released, a sci-fi thriller about a dystopian future of worldwide pollution, dying oceans, depleted resources, and rampant starvation. The story was set in 2022.
The movie has faded from memory, but one scene left a profound impression. An aged researcher, unable to go on, has chosen assisted suicide at a goverenment clinic. To ease his last moments of life, he is shown videos of a world that no longer exists: flowers and savannahs, flockss and herds, unpolluted skies and waters, all set to a soundtrack of classical music...
Fast forward to the pandemic. After more than two decades of constant touring... I suddenly found myself at home. I sought comfort in long walks near my house. I needed this time outdoors to maintain my emotional equilibrium, and I was reminded that nature would always be my touchstone. At the same time, the news about climate change grew more alarming... I realized that the crisis we had been warned of for so long had arrived.
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 withe the voices of living composers, addressing our current, troubled relationship with the natural world.
The result, in collaboration with my friend Yannick Neset-seguin, was the album 'Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene'... and I had the idea to tour music addressing this theme of nature as both out inspiration and our victim."
Good for Renee Fleming.
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