RADAR
WHEN Renée Fleming (below) appears in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City this month, it will be as the Marschallin, the mature woman who loses her military lover to a younger rival. Ofstage, Fleming has said she’s about to do much the same to opera as the young oicer does to the Marschallin: When Der Rosenkavalier finishes its run, Fleming will say goodbye to an art form she has illuminated for 30 years. At only 58, and with the power in her voice far from gone, it’s a bold move.
Her farewell began last year in London, where Robert Carsen’s production of Der Rosenkavalier—set in 1911, during the final flare of the Habsburg Empire— opened to great acclaim in December. It concludes with the nine performances at the Met. After that, she will perform at concerts and benefits. But no opera.