Local opera performers, fans looking forward to Super Bowl national anthem It’s a guarantee that the singer tapped to perform the national anthem at today’s Super Bowl XLVIII won’t ride into MetLife Stadium on a wrecking ball. By: Christa Lawler, Duluth News Tribune Opera singer Renee Fleming poses for photos during a National Anthem press conference for Super Bowl XLVIII at Rose Theater in News York on Jan. 30, 2014. (Brad Penner / USA TODAY Sports) It’s a guarantee that the singer tapped to perform the national anthem at today’s Super Bowl XLVIII won’t ride into MetLife Stadium on a wrecking ball. The gig that in recent years has been reserved for a mainstream pop princess instead was offered to “the people’s diva” — a move that has pleased local classical artists. Soprano Renee Fleming, arguably the best-known American opera singer currently active, is the art form’s first performer to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at football’s premiere event. “She’s a fabulous soprano, and she’s sung all over the world, and if you’ve seen her on TV or watched interviews or read her book, she feels like she could be the woman next door,” said Alice Pierce, who teaches opera and voice at the University of Minnesota Duluth. “She’s so personable and nice and good at what she does. “I’m excited for people who haven’t heard her singing.” It was a surprise pick for the NFL, which has called on Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera and Carrie Underwood in recent years. Responses on Twitter have ranged from “Renee, who?” to the San Diego Opera’s quick and funny blast: “They finally figured a way to get us to watch the Super Bowl.” “It’s funny that people are talking about whether or not people will like it,” said Sarah Lawrence, co-director of Lyric Opera of the North with her husband, Cal Metts. “That assumes that one kind of person likes football and only a certain kind of people like opera.” Lawrence defies that characterization: She’s a soprano and a Packers fan. There’s also a tug in the opposite direction. An opinion piece in the Washington Post noted that some classical fans might charge Fleming with selling out. That’s just the way these things go. “Any time a classical artist appears in a nontraditional venue, some purist is probably going to make noises about commercialism and selling out,” wrote Anne Midgette. Fleming has performed internationally and is a regular at the Met Opera. She is performing “Rusalka” through February. She’s known for her easygoing way and accessibility. Earlier this year, she sang a “Top Ten” list on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” She once performed a duet with the late Lou Reed. At a pre-Bowl news conference Thursday in New York, the artist reportedly was introduced as “the Peyton Manning of the opera world.” Photographs from the event show her holding a football. The Super Bowl is expected to get hundreds of millions of viewers, between ticketholders and the home-viewing audience. That could translate into good PR for the art form, according to Dirk Meyer, music director of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and LOON. “It’s such a huge audience,” Meyer said. “She will get exposed to many people and a lot of people who don’t have a connection to opera. Hearing her sing this will be a great way to expose the entire Super Bowl audience to the fact that opera is great and opera singing is something wonderful.” There is a tradition of opera singers performing at sporting events — just not the Super Bowl. Baritone Robert Merrill famously sang the national anthem at New York Yankees games. Metts used to sing it before the Chicago Blackhawks played. Fleming sang at the World Series in 2003. It’s a natural fit. Opera is a sport, Lawrence said. It requires a strict training regimen and endurance. “Renee, and opera singers in general, they train like athletes train,” she said. “Who better to do a live event than somebody who has no need for machines to make her sound better? It’s just perfect.” Pierce said opera has a draw similar to sporting events. “It’s very physical,” she said. “And people like to hear the soprano hit the high note.” Past singers have succumbed to the vocally challenging tune. Aguilera famously bumbled a verse; Whitney Houston might have pre-recorded her memorable version. Fleming has said she will sing it live rather than lip synching. “It’s a weird song to sing,” Lawrence said. “That’s even more reason to put it into the hands of a trained singer.” The trend, lately, has been a version with additional notes, Metts said. He expects Fleming to play it straight. “I don’t think she’ll sing it too over-the-top operatically,” he said. “She does some crossover singing. She can sing some blues and jazz. My guess is that she will tone down the opera and sing it beautifully. “She’s a great actress, so she’ll look good doing it.” Metts said he saw Fleming perform live in Handel’s “Alcina” more than a decade ago and remembered the vision of the singer at curtain call after a more-than-five-hour performance. “She just stood there in her white flowing gown with a single white light coming down on top of her,” he said. “She didn’t move. She just stood there. People went nuts.” Meyer never has seen her perform live, but has some of the soprano’s recordings and has watched videos of her appearances in productions at the Met. “She has one of those voices that is very charismatic,” Meyer said. “She has a distinct timbre to her voice. It’s very recognizable. And besides that, you can see it when you watch a video of her, she has amazing stage presence. When she walks on, something changes in the room. She’s there and she takes over.” Either way, the San Diego Opera’s resident tweeter won’t be the only person to tune in to the big game just for the opening number. “It’ll make me watch it for sure,” Pierce said. “I might not have watched the Super Bowl.”
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 18:41:36 +0000
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