Houston Grand Opera
Presents
Renee Fleming and Christoph Eschenbach
A Recital
Sunday, March 29th at the Wortham Center
Houston Grand Opera will present two of today's most in demand artists,
soprano Renee Fleming and pianist Christoph Eschenbach, together in
recital on March 29, 1998 at 5:00pm
The Wortham Center's Cullen Theater.
The recital features an eclectic program of music that includes the works of Franz Schubert, Hugo
Wolf, Claude Debussy, Samuel Barber, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Ms. Fleming and Maestro
Eschenbach, frequent collaborators, first worked together during the 1990 HGO production of
Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Ms. Fleming and Maestro Eschenbach collaborated on the
acclaimed London/Decca recording. Schubert Album, and on R. Strauss' Four Last Songs for
BMG's RCA Red Seal. They also recently appeared together in concert when Ms. Fleming
performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Eschenbach was conducting.
Ms. Renee Fleming, who won critical acclaim as the Marschallin in the 1995 HGO production of
Strauss' Der Rosenkavallier, is currently at HGO rehearsing her first Arabella. Arabella opens at
the Wortham Center's Brown Theater on April 17 with performances through May 3. Maestro
Eschenbach will conduct the Houston Symphony for all performances.
The artistry of Ms. Fleming attracts a devoted following on the operatic stage, in concerts and
recitals, on television and radio, and on recordings. Ms. Fleming, who was nominated for three
Grammy Awards this year, was Musical America's 1997 Vocalist of the Year and won the first
Solti Prize of l'Academie du Disque Lyrique in 1996 for her outstanding recording artistry.
Ms. Fleming is one of the busiest performers in the opera, recording, concert and recital world.
This season, Ms. Fleming began with summer recital appearances at the Salzburg, Tanglewood and
Ravinia Festivals, she opened the New York Philharmonic's 1997-98 season with Kurt Masur
conducting a nationally televised gala on PBS' "Live from Lincoln Center" and returned to the
Metropolitan Opera in Massenet's Manon. Ms. Fleming travelled to Oslo, Amsterdam, London
(Wigmore Hall) and Brussels on a recital tour, followed by the Opera Bastille's new production of
Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Edo de Waart.
In December, she returned to London for the Verdi Requiem at Royal Albert Hall with James
Levine conducting the Philharmonic Orchestra. In January, there were concerts with the Cleveland
Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnanyi conducting and the Chicago Symphony, Christoph Eschenbach
conducting. In February and March, she will be appearing at the lyric Opera of Chicago in
Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro conducted by Zubin Mehta. Ms. Fleming then travels to Houston
for the recital with Christoph Eschenbach, followed by her first performances as Arabella
conducted by Eschenbach at the Houston Grand Opera in April and May. After the Arabella, Ms.
Fleming performs with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, and then in July
1988 she returns to La Scala for a new production of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, her first
performance of this role. Ms. Fleming will create the role of Blanche in the world premiere of
Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire slated for September 1998 with the San Francisco
Opera.
In the fall of 1997, London/Decca launched three new Renee Fleming CD releases: Signatures
(opera scenes by Verdi, Mozart, Dvorak, Britten, Strauss, Tchaikovsky) with Sir Georg Solti
conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, Mozart's Don Giovanni also with Solti conducting
the LSO, and Mendelssohn's Elijah. These follow her 1996 collection of Mozart arias, Visions of
Love, with the Orchestra of St. Luke's conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras and Mozart's Cosi fan
tutte with Sir Georg Solti conducting, both on London/Decca. Ms. Fleming
may also be heard on RCA (Villa-Lobos' Bachiana brasileira with Michael Rilson Thomas and the
New World Symphony) and Sony (Armida conducted by Daniel Gatti, Herodiade with Placido
Domingo and conducted by Valery Gergiev, and the Lulu and Wozzeck Suites conducted by
James Levine).
Hailed as "one of the most satisfying musicians before the public today" (San Francisco Chronicle),
Christoph Eschenbach has been Music Director of the Houston Symphony since 1988 and Music
Director of the Ravinia Festival since 1994. In addition to these directorships, he will become the
Principal Conductor of the Hamburg NDR Symphony Orchestra during the 1998-99 season.
Maestro Eschenbach, who regularly conducts the major orchestras of Europe and the United
States, including the major German orhcestras, all the London orchestras, the symphonies of
Vienna, Boston, Pittsburgh and San Francisco and the orchestras of Cleveland, Chicago and
Philadelphia, is also a prolific recording artist.
With the Houston Symphony, Christoph Eschenbach's currently records for BMG's RCA Red
Seal, Telarc and Koch International and has recorded for Virgin Classics and Carlton Home
Entertainment. Recordings on Virgin Classics include Tobias Picker's The Encantadas, Dvorak's
Symphony No. 9, Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini, the Brahm's Symphonies and a series of
Schumann Symphonies. Maestro Eschenbach recent recordings with the Houston Symphony,
Schoenberg Orchestrations, and a disc of pieces by Christopher Rouse.
Christoph Eschenbach had already earned a distinguished international reputation as a concert
pianist before turning to conducting in 1972. Mr. Eschenbach won the Steinway Young Pianist
Competition at age eleven and the Inernational Music Competition in Munich at age twenty-two.
His career as a pianist was heightened by winning the first prize in the Clara Haskil Competition in
Lucerne in 1965. After making his American debut in 1969 with the Cleveland Orchestra,
conducted by George Szell, he appeared as a soloist with all the major orchestras throughout the
world.
The Wortham Center's Cullen Theater is located in downtown Houston at Texas Avenue and
Smith. For information, call Houston Grand Opera at 713-546-0200. Tickets for the Renee
Fleming and Christoph Eschenbach recital, priced from $15 to $40 are currently on sale at the
Houston Ticket Center. Tickets are available by phone at 713-227-ARTS, out of town at
1-800-828-ARTS or in person at both Houston Ticket Center locations (the ticket lobby at the
Wortham Center and the courtyard level at Jones Hall) and at al TicketMaster outlets.