Renée Fleming always loves a challenge.
This is exactly why she wanted to be involved in the production of “The Hours” at the Met.
The production also marked her return to the Met stage.
“Its just seemed like an obvious choice,” Fleming says. “There are so many stories in ‘The Hours.’ All three women are phenomenal. An opera can tell a story that other art forms can’t. It’s the music that gives the creative team an opportunity to evoke an emotional world. This piece does just that.”
Crews from the PBS series “Great Performances at the Met” filmed Fleming along with Kelli O’Hara and Joyce DiDonato jump into their respective roles in “The Hours.”
The 17th season of the series kicks off at 8:30 p.m. Friday, March 17 with “the Hours.”
The season returns with 10 new operas premiering March through December on PBS
It features opera stars Sonya Yoncheva, Isabel Leonard, Matthew Polenzani and many more.
The season includes “Champion,” the second Met Opera premiere by Grammy-winning composer Terence Blanchard, and the Met debut of Broadway stage director Ivo van Hove, with “Don Giovanni.”
For “The Hours,” Pulitzer Prize—winning composer Kevin Puts, adapted from Michael Cunningham’s novel, inspired by Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway.” It is inspired by the 2002 Oscar-winning film, the opera follows three women from different eras who each grapple with inner demons and their roles in society.
It is directed by Phelim McDermott.
Fleming says the stage direction handles the passage of time in such a unique way.
“Phelim was intrigued to being this to the stage,” she says. “This was such a tremendous project to be part of.”
Fleming plays Clarissa Vaughn, O’Hara plays Laura Brown and DiDonato plays Virginia Woolf.
Vaughn’s story finds her in the 1990s, where she is a force within society.
“She’s not the easiest character to bring to life,” Fleming says. “She’s the least transparent and she doesn’t have a powerful driving force. Yet, she’s relatable for women. She’s a fixer and she’s a woman of the ’90s.”
Fleming found inspiration from other strong women.
“I was thinking of Tina Brown and all the women who were editors during that time,” she says. “She was from the lower West Side and seen differently. In the end, she’s lesbian and that increased the layers to Clarissa. There was more complexity to who she was.”
Fleming also jumped at the chance to work with Puts again.
The pair worked together when Fleming made her Santa Fe Opera debut in 2019.
Puts worked on “Letters From Georgia,” which was commissioned by the Eastman School of Music.
“Being at the Santa Fe Opera was incredibly beautiful,” Fleming says. “I’ve also been working to be able to go to Ghost Ranch.”
Fleming hopes that audiences will enjoy the performance of “The Hours,” as much as she enjoyed getting on stage for its entire run.
“I hope audiences are engaged,” she says. “I hope they don’t tune out because there are moments of real beauty. I find with opera audiences, they think it’s unattainable to go. There are new pieces of opera that are so relevant and it helps opera companies expand beyond the 10 hits.”
