Renée Fleming Previews The Set Of "Bel Canto" For LOC

Soprano Renée Fleming was the inspiration for
Ann Patchett's diva in her novel Bel Canto.

"In this interview with Chicago Tonight's Eddie Arruza, Renée Fleming visits the set of Bel Canto, a new opera by composer Jimmy López and librettist Nilo Cruz, that she has curated for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and which will be premiered on December 7, 2015." Watch the video interview, the LOC announcing the world premiere of the opera, and a behind-the-scenes photo, after the jump. "Ann Patchett's best-selling novel Bel Canto took the literary world by storm — now, in a new work curated by Lyric's creative consultant, Renée Fleming, this riveting story inspired by a real-life event becomes a powerful opera. Superstar American diva Roxane Coss has flown to Peru to sing at the vice president's home for a visiting Japanese mogul who is an opera buff. Dignitaries of every nationality are there — but an international crisis explodes when terrorists storm the mansion and take everyone hostage. Isolated for months, unlikely alliances form between captors and captives as fear and anger mingle uneasily with desire and even love. Music is the one universal language — but can it draw forth the humanity that exists in us all? An extraordinary international cast is led by Danielle de Niese, who caused a sensation as Lyric's Cleopatra in 2007. Sir Andrew Davis teams up with Kevin Newbury (Anna Bolena) for this world premiere with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz and music by Jimmy López, a native of Peru and 'one of the most interesting young composers anywhere today.' Chicago Sun-Times" [Source] For more information about the opera, click here.

The Team Behind Bel Canto: (back row left to right) LOC General Director Anthony Freud; Curator, Creative Consultant, and Soprano Renée Fleming; Conductor Sir Andrew Davis; (front row left to right) Director Kevin Newbury; Composer Jimmy López

Which Books Are On Renée Fleming's Reading List?

“I never would have developed the ability
to be on stage unless I had read so much...”
Renée Fleming

Blizzard of One: Poems (Mark Strand)

Dropped Names (Frank Langella)

The Divided Mind (Dr. John Sarno)

Bel Canto (Ann Patchett)

Read more about what the soprano has to say about each of these works by clicking here.

Ann Patchett Talks Benefits of Friendship with Renée Fleming

Party pals: Fleming (l) & Patchett (r)

"Patchett divides her career into two distinct phases: before and after Bel Canto. Before her fourth novel became a paperback bestseller, Patchett struggled. Her second novel Taft could not live up to the passionately personal promise of her debut, and the fact that it is so little read still rankles. She calls it her 'neglected child . . . it's as if it smells or it's sticky or something.' But Bel Canto, a stylish and theatrical kidnapping fantasy set in an unnamed South American capital, was a game-changer. 'I sort of jumped into a different kind of bracket," she says bluntly. 'I've met so many interesting people because of it. I've become very close friends with Renée Fleming [the American soprano] because of that book, it's like I'm invited to better parties now, ha ha.'" [Source]