Renée Fleming Sings In Abu Dhabi
The Al Nahayan family, which rules Abu Dhabi, is believed to have a fortune of $150 billion. A few years ago, Fortune said that this city in the United Arab Emirates was the wealthiest per-capita in the world. So it’s no surprise that opera — which is often perceived, rightly and wrongly, as a rich man’s art form — has finally arrived there. In the person of the Super Bowl songstress herself: Renée Fleming. She performed at the Emirates Palace yesterday as part of the Abu Dhabi Festival. It was the usual line-up: “La Traviata,” “Manon,” “Porgy and Bess” — and “Annie Get Your Gun.” (Listen to her do “Anything You Can Do” here.) But what’s with the full-length gloves? Was there a cold wind blowing off the Gulf?
