Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...

Season 1, Episode 9: Renée Fleming

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Elvis' eclectic interview/performance show goes highbrow this week as he welcomes the internationally acclaimed opera star Renée Fleming to Spectacle. The famous soprano regales the audience with inside stories about the colorful and demanding life of a big-time opera diva. According to the Sundance website, she provides "detailed insight into the rigors, demands and sacrifices involved in taking the human voice to the unnatural (but exhilarating) levels required in opera". Ms. Fleming performs a versatile range of numbers : including a Puccini aria, a jazz piece with guitarist Bill Frisell and an old Appalachian folk song. Opera fan Rufus Wainwright even turns up to "sing something special for Renée!"