Norma "wasn't a fit" for Renee Fleming

To my disappointment Renee Fleming decided that she will never ever sing Bellini's Norma. Ever. Did I mention she said never? The BSO concert version at Tanglewood has no been replaced by "Eugene Onegin" and the Met will have to find someone else for their 2011 new production. The people at Score Desk are rather upset.
HOWEVER, (and there is always a "however") we are super duper proud of Renee for not becoming one of those sopranos who decides "I can sing whatever I want and it doesn't matter that I can't sing it properly!" We live in a world where Mimis sing Toscas and Adinas become Violettas. It's really nice to know that we have people like Renee Fleming who know when enough is enough and a role just isn't right. If Renee keeps up the good judgement she could be singing in her prime for the next ten years at least! Now that she dropped Norma she can move on to other things we would like to hear her in... say Anna Bolena or Marie in "Die Tote Stadt"?? Well, we will see what happens.

Happy Listening!! =)