While I do enjoy the occasional opera, I am not a big fan of opera. Outside of my girlfriend’s friend, Frances Ginsberg, I cannot name very many opera stars.
I do love classical music though, and listen to classical music stations frequently. On one of these stations I discovered Renée Fleming. She has been called America’s Soprano or The People’s Diva. This station played Hallelujah from the pop album of indie rock songs that she has recently released, Dark Hope. I bought the CD based one that one song. The whole album is wonderful, but Hallelujah goes to a whole different plane. I have listened to it multiple times, and I alternate between having the hair on my neck stand up and wanting to tear up. It is an absolutely wonderful piece of music, performed by a marvelous talent.
Below is from a BBC show and has Renée Fleming singing an abbreviated version of the song. On the CD it runs a very, very short 7:39. This version is enough to give you a taste though. Absolutely marvelous…if I were in the audience I would be on my feet screaming bravo between the tears.
Plus she is just so damn beautiful it hurts.
Another wonderful Renee Fleming video can be found at Renée Fleming sings Amazing Grace at WTC