''Dark Hope'' is a 2010 album of

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

titles sung by

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

Renée Fleming Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano and actress, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nom ...

. The album was the idea of

Peter Mensch Peter Mensch (born March 28, 1953) is an American music manager. He started his career in music management at the age of 26, managing AC/DC. In 1982, Mensch formed the management company Q Prime with Cliff Burnstein. Their first client was Def ...

and Cliff Burnstein; after listening to Fleming's performance of "

In the Pines "In the Pines" (Roud 3421) is a traditional American folk song originating from two songs, "In the Pines" and "The Longest Train", both of whose authorship is unknown and date back to at least the 1870s. The songs originated in the Southern Appal ...

" on

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

's TV show ''

Spectacle In general, spectacle refers to an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates. Derived in Middle English from c. 1340 as "specially prepared or arranged display" it was borrowed from Old French ''spectacle'', itself a reflection of the ...

'', they approached Fleming and producer

David Kahne David Kahne is an American record producer, musician, composer, and former record company executive. Professional career Kahne started his musical career as a working musician and soon became Director of A&R for America's first punk and ne ...

. The aim was not to produce a typical

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Music Albums * ''Cross Over'' (album), a 1987 album by Dan Peek, or the title song * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'', an album by Intrigue * ''Crossover'', an album by ...

album, but a collection of songs sung without any hint of operatic vocal strength."Renée Fleming: Diva goes to the dark side"
by Peter Conrad, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' (28 March 2010)

Track listing

Credits

Performance credits

Rusty Anderson Rusty Anderson is an American musician best known for his work as lead guitarist for Paul McCartney's touring band since 2001. He has worked with an extensive list of other artists in addition to his own solo career. Career Anderson became a p ...

Nick Valensi Nicholas Valensi (born January 16, 1981) is an American musician, best known for his role as lead and rhythm guitarist in the American rock band The Strokes. Since 2001, the band has released six studio albums, some of which Valensi has also con ...

– guitar *

– bass, guitar, keyboards *

Will Lee William Lee (born William Lubovsky; August 6, 1908 – December 7, 1982) was an American actor who appeared in numerous television and film roles, but was best known for playing Mr. Hooper, the original store proprietor of the eponymous Hoope ...

– bass *

Shawn Pelton Shawn Pelton is an American drummer and percussionist. He has recorded with a wide range of artists and has been a first call player since moving to New York in the late 1980s. Pelton has recorded with artists such as Sheryl Crow, Shawn Colvin, N ...

– drums *Jesse Mills, Cyrus Beroukhin – violin * Dov Scheindlin, William Hakim – viola *Wendy Sutter –

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

*Alexis Pia Gerlach – cello *Amelia Ross, Sage Ross, Rachelle Fleming – background vocals *Mike Rossi – conductor

Technical credits

*Roy Hendrickson – engineer *

– arranger, programming, producer, engineer *Rebecca Meek – art direction

Charts

References

External links

Renée Fleming: ''Dark Hope''

"Opera Star Renée Fleming Takes on Arcade Fire, Death Cab for Cutie on 'Dark Hope'"
by Daniel Kreps, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' (25 February 2010) * * * {{Authority control 2010 albums Indie rock albums by American artists Decca Records albums 2010s covers albums Albums produced by David Kahne Renée Fleming albums