Renée Fleming to Direct Modern Spin on Mozart Opera

Renée Fleming, renowned soprano, will make her directorial debut at the Aspen Festival. She will present Mozart's "Così fan tutte" from July 21-26. Fleming reimagines the setting as a 1980s high school in Yarmouth, Massachusetts. Patrick Summers will conduct a student cast at the Wheeler Opera House. Fleming and Summers have co-directed the Aspen Opera Theater and Vocal Arts Program since 2019.

Fleming, 66, continues to sing in recitals and modern operas, though she retired from traditional roles in 2017. She resigned from her role at the Kennedy Center following the firing of Deborah Rutter by President Trump. Fleming's previous directing plans were canceled due to the pandemic.

Summers praised Fleming, saying: "She is such a polymath. I've known very few people in the opera industry as intelligent and as nice as Renée Fleming." Fleming described her new setting by saying: "It's supposed to be royalty or aristocracy. I'm putting this more in high school, 1980, Yarmouth, Massachusetts, at the beginning of World Wide Wrestling. ... Also, the early '80s was Jane Fonda aerobics." The Aspen Festival runs from July 2 to August 24 and includes other performances, such as the world premiere of "Siddhartha, She" by Christopher Theofanidis on August 2. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)