Renée Fleming Goes Glam For Ruven Afanador In "Spirit And Flesh"

New York-based portrait photographer Ruven Afanador has captured haute couture images of soprano Renée Fleming donning Oscar de la Renta for the latest issue of Spirit And Flesh Magazine. Well known for his striking black and white photos of bullfighters known as torero, he has also worked with Anna Netrebko on several occasions as well as Sonya Yoncheva and Plácido Domingo. The article features an interview with Ms. Fleming conducted by Andrew Basile. "This will come as no surprise: I’m passionate about singing, but I don’t mean just classical or opera. I love great vocalism in virtually every style, whether it’s gospel, jazz, bluegrass or world music. The voice is our most primal expression – direct and unique to each individual. It also says a lot about our national culture and identity." Other topics discussed include describing her own voice; who she would like to sing to directly; exploring Appalachian music; what she feels before stepping onstage for a performance; hopes for her daughters; what opera she would make a film; why she is called the "anti-diva"; and much more. Read the whole piece here. More stunning photos after the jump.

Oscar De La Renta, Friend Of Opera And Sopranos, Is Dead At 82

 

Night at the Opera: de la Renta attending 
Anna Bolena at the MET in 2011.

"Óscar Arístides de la Renta Fiallo (July 22, 1932 – October 20, 2014) was a Dominican fashion designer. Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, De la Renta was trained by Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo, he became internationally known in the 1960s as one of the couturiers to dress Jacqueline Kennedy. An award-winning designer, he worked for Lanvin and Balmain; his eponymous fashion house continues to dress leading figures, from film stars to royalty, into the 2010s. De la Renta is particularly known for his red carpet gowns and evening wear." [Source] The designer was always a fixture at the Metropolitan Opera as an audience member and supporter. Today's most established sopranos in the opera world are often photographed wearing the designer's creations. "'I’m a woman, and I love it so I enjoy dressing up,' says Netrebko, who attends fashion week in New York and Paris, when possible, and was excited about a recent encounter with designer Oscar de la Renta. 'I was very honored to meet him — I’m always shopping at his stores. To me, his clothing is art, which I can’t stop collecting.'" [Source] Other famous sopranos to wear his gowns include Renée Fleming, Ailyn Pérez, and Angela Gheorghiu. Some of these fashionable gowns, as well as some that just seem operatically inspired, can be seen after the jump.

Anna Netrebko's New York Apartment Has Plenty To Love

Anna Netrebko, wearing Oscar de la Renta, sits in the "Diva Chair" from Mackenzie-Childs with a painting by SoHo artist Hulbert Waldroup in the background on Beaujolais-colored walls. Read the full New York Times story by clicking here. (Photo: Fred R. Conrad)

Whoopi Goldberg "GLEE" Role Mixes Master Class and Leontyne Price

Whoopi Goldberg joined the cast of Fox's Glee for three episodes in May. The Academy Award-winning actress plays the character of Carmen Tibideaux, a theater veteran and professor at The New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts that Rachel (Lea Michele) and Kurt (Chris Colfer) have applied to and must audition for entrance. "Carmen is the Dean of

The original turban diva: Ms. Price

Vocal Performance and Song Interpretation at NYADA and is an extremely accomplished performer and singer. She is generally considered to be admonishing and strict, but kind enough and very open to new students and ideas. Carmen makes her appearance being escorted into the hall by Will Schuester to oversee the auditions of Kurt and Rachel. Backstage, both Rachel and Kurt show extreme anxiety over the knowledge of their NYADA educator as she is revealed to be one of NYADA's most infamous alumni, a profound Broadway and opera performed and the recently appointed Dean of Vocal Performance and Song Interpretation travelling around the country to handpick the students for her own inaugural class." It is obvious from her name (a strange

Leontyne Price with Oscar de la Renta

cross between Bizet's opera Carmen and an real life opera-loving pianist Jean Yves-Thibaudet) to her signature turbans (made popular by soprano Leontyne Price), that her character is meant to invoke memories of Terrance McNally's play Master Class which re-tells the story of Maria Callas at Juilliard in the early 1970s. Although not quite on that level of grandiosity (the role was played by the likes of Zoe Caldwell, Faye Dunaway, Patti Lupone, and most recently, Tyne Daly), Ms. Goldberg does a fine job of portraying a diva with an elevated sense of importance bestowing her wisdom of the human voice and its production. Continue watching for more of her fine character through the end of May. [Source, Source] A few more images of Leontyne Price in turban, after the jump.

Metropolitan Opera Opening Night Gala Dinner Photos

Henry Kissinger, Met Opera General Manager Peter Gelb, bass-baritone Erwin Schrott, soprano Anna Netrebko, Sid Bass, Mercedes Bass and Oscar de la Renta.
(Photo: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg)

“'Let’s just say, I think this is my time,' Anna Netrebko suggested after her performance in Anna Bolena at the Metropolitan Opera’s opening gala last night. 'Tomorrow it’s going to be someone else’s.' Netrebko sang in a new staging of Donizetti’s opera about Anne Boleyn, whose beheading started a trend at the court of Henry VIII. Netrebko had taken her seat at the post-performance supper. The meal was spiced lamb and pearl couscous. The decor included giant banners of Holbein paintings, candlelight and bowls filled with flowers, grapes and pears. It was a sumptuous conclusion to Anna’s final mad moments when she swept her long hair away from her neck and ran off to her beheading. Netrebko, seated next to her director, David McVicar, recalled staging the moment. 'We worked together, and we came up with the simplest solution,' McVicar said. 'He is the one who decides,' Netrebko said. 'What I work on, is if I have enough rings on my fingers to really sparkle.' 'She is the true queen of the opera,' Mercedes Bass, chairman of the gala and wife of oil billionaire Sid Bass said, as waiters passed around sherry trifle. 'She controls the stage.' The Basses funded the production, the Met’s first of the opera. The Met plans to produce Donizetti’s two other Tudor operas, even though Netrebko has declined to sing in them." Click here to see more photos of the event. [Source]