Renee Fleming

Last night Dave and I enjoyed watching Renee Fleming perform Christmas music with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and orchestra on PBS. Fleming's performance was a treat; she obviously relished each song. The show also featured Claire Bloom reading the biblical Christmas story in wonderfully rich tones. It was a great show. I stayed up another hour to watch Fleming sing sacred songs and carols at the Mainz Cathedral in Germany on Great Performances.

I discovered Fleming when I heard her haunting performances of "Twilight and Shadow" and "The End of All Things" on The Return of the King movie soundtrack. At the time, I had no idea that she was a diva. She's a wildly popular soprano who travels all over the world singing a wide range of music in all kinds of venues.

And she's accomplished something I never thought possible in me: she's piqued an interest in opera.