New Jersey Symphony to present Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene with Renée Fleming
NEWARK, NJ—New Jersey Symphony will present Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene with Renée Fleming on Sunday, October 6, 2024, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, beginning at 3 pm. The program includes National Geographic Society visuals. The performance will be preceded by the Symphony’s Season Opening Celebration, which begins at 1 pm at the same location.
Music Director Xian Zhang will conduct the program, which features the Symphony alongside renowned soprano, Renée Fleming. This concert is inspired by her 2023 GRAMMY Award-winning album, Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene. The concert spans Classical, Romantic and contemporary music, exploring nature as both inspiration and victim of humanity.
Pieces on the program include Björk’s “All is Full of Love,” “Twilight and Shadow” from Lord of the Rings, Burt Bacharach’s “What the World Needs Now,” Puccini’s “O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi and Richard Rodgers’ “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel among many other works.
Concert tickets are available now at njsymphony.org/voiceofnature.
Patrons can also attend the Season Opening Celebration event on Sunday October 6, at 1 pm which includes hors d’oeuvres, food stations and an open bar at the same location. Guests will enjoy access to premiere concert seats. For more information on the Season Opening Celebration event, visit njsymphony.org/opening.
Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene with Renée Fleming
Sunday, October 6, 3 pm | New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark
Xian Zhang conductor
Renée Fleming soprano
New Jersey Symphony
More information on concerts and tickets: njsymphony.org/events
This concert is presented in collaboration with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming is one of the most highly acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world’s great opera houses and concert halls. A 2023 Kennedy Center Honoree, winner of five GRAMMY Awards and the US National Medal of Arts, she has sung for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Super Bowl. In 2023, the World Health Organization appointed her as goodwill ambassador for Arts and Health.
In May at the Metropolitan Opera, Fleming starred in The Hours, an opera based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and award-winning film. In 2023 Fleming received the GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Vocal Solo for her album Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, with Yannick Nézet-Seguin as pianist. The same year, Decca released a special double-length album of live recordings from Fleming’s iconic performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Renée Fleming: Greatest Moments at the Met. Her voice is featured on the soundtracks of Best Picture Oscar winners The Shape of Water and The Lord of the Rings.
Fleming’s new anthology, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, was published this spring. A prominent advocate for research at the intersection of arts, health and neuroscience, as artistic advisor to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Fleming launched the first ongoing collaboration between America’s national cultural center and its largest health research institute, the National Institutes of Health. She created her own program called Music and the Mind, which she has presented in more than 60 cities around the world.
Advisor for Special Projects at LA Opera, Fleming is also co-artistic director of the Aspen Opera Center and VocalArts at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Fleming’s other awards include the 2023 Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal and honorary doctorates from ten leading universities.
Learn more about Renée Fleming at reneefleming.com.
New Jersey Symphony
The Emmy and GRAMMY Award-winning New Jersey Symphony is redefining what it means to be a nationally leading, relevant orchestra in the 21st century. The Symphony is renewing its deeply rooted commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion by championing new, and often local, artists; engaging audiences for whom the inspiring depth and breadth of classical music will be a new experience; and incorporating the broadest possible representation in all aspects of our organization-all to better reflect and serve our vibrant communities.
Internationally renowned Chinese American conductor Xian Zhang began her tenure as the New Jersey Symphony’s current music director in 2016. Since her arrival, Zhang has revitalized programming with an industry-leading commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in mainstage concerts. Since 2021, Zhang has worked together with composer, violinist, educator and social-justice advocate Daniel Bernard Roumain, the orchestra's Resident Artistic Catalyst, to offer programming that connects with diverse communities in Newark and throughout New Jersey. In 2024, Allison Loggins-Hull will succeed DBR as the orchestra’s next Resident Artistic Partner.
In the 2024–25 season, the New Jersey Symphony will present Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene with Renée Fleming, Billy Childs’ Diaspora, Daniel Freiberg’s Latin American Chronicles, Allison Loggins-Hull’s Can You See?, Qasim Naqvi’s God Docks at Death Harbor and Gabriela Ortiz’s Kauyumari. Classical favorites on the season include Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, “Choral,” Gustav Holst’s The Planets—An HD Odyssey, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Igor Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird. Artistic partnerships include Paquito D’Rivera and his quintet, as part of the TD James Moody Jazz Festival; Nimbus Dance performing with The Firebird and God Docks at Death Harbor; Montclair State University Choruses performing on three programs; as well as Peking University Alumni Chorus and Starry Arts Children’s Chorus appearing on the Lunar New Year Celebration concert with Xian Zhang.
For more information about the New Jersey Symphony, visit njsymphony.org or email information@njsymphony.org. Tickets are available for purchase by phone 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476) or on the Orchestra's website.
Press contacts
Ali Harrison, New Jersey Symphony, Communications Manager
973.735.0969 | aharrison@njsymphony.org
Geoffrey Anderson, New Jersey Symphony, Vice President of Marketing & External Affairs
973.735.1713 | ganderson@njsymphony.org
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The New Jersey Symphony's programs are made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, along with many other foundations, corporations and individual donors.
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