Renée Fleming’s ‘Chicago Voices’ transforms the Civic Opera House with soaring melody
Photo: Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune
By Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune
Anyone who doubts that proposition probably was not at the Civic Opera House on Saturday evening, when opera star Renée Fleming and a stylistically far-reaching cast of singers staged a three-hour marathon aptly titled “Chicago Voices Concert.” More than just a gathering of musically wide-ranging performers, the event made tangible this city’s enormous impact on how America — and, arguably, the world — sings.
You didn’t have to be a Chicagoan to be struck by the caliber of these performers and the musical lineage that led up to them, the city’s musical history illuminated via several videos shown between songs.