“An Audience With…”: Renee Fleming, Bill Frisell, Christian McBride, & Dan Tepfer’s Return to Live Performance

Nestled away from a windy spring night, in the corner of Hudson Yards, the glittering new arts venue The Shed offered New York music lovers a long-awaited chance to catch an in-person live performance. Four-time Grammy winner and renowned soprano Renee Fleming, alongside guitarist Bill Frisell, 7-time Grammy-winning bassist Christian McBride, and pianist/singer Dan Tepfer,  joined creative forces to treat audiences to a captivating evening concert.

With a collection of personally curated, moving selections from Fleming’s past, the pieces highlighted each musician’s individual gifts and flair. From exhilarating piano riffs, jazzy guitar solos, spine-tingling bass melody, and Fleming’s crystal clear, soulful vocals, every layer of the harmony shone bright during its moment in the sun. While this concert stands alone as a sublime performance, its broader significance in “contributing to a reawakening of our city and bringing us together again in a communal space of creativity” was resoundingly felt by all in attendance. The selections performed painted a theme of homecoming and struggle, capturing the pain of the pandemic – but more importantly, the spirit of quiet, constant, and strong-willed recovery. This theme was felt even more deeply after learning of the artists’ struggles without the full experience of their craft, and that it was all of their first live performances in over a year.

A standout piece, Sandy Denny’s “Who Knows Where the Time Goes”, hauntingly delivered a story by a tragic artist from another time, yet fit well in today’s world post-pandemic. Interposed between lively renditions of “A Land of Make Believe” and the operatic “Barcarolle”, this piece emerged strikingly moving. The concert’s intimate yet lively energy, derived from combining favorites across genres, was felt most strongly during the performance of Joni Mitchell’s widely acclaimed classic, “Both Sides, Now.”

Fleming’s personal commentary in between selections to weave the story of the performance together added a personal touch to the show, making it feel more like a close gathering of friends than a formal concert with world-renowned musicians. After a year of virtual performances and attempts to feel connected from hundreds of miles apart, the atmosphere of intimate tenderness that Fleming, Frisell, McBride, and Tepfer created together was the perfect “homecoming,” as we welcome the return of live performance in New York City.

As expressed perfectly by The Shed’s Artistic Director Alex Poots, “nothing can replace the collective experience of witnessing live performance, together” and Wednesday nights proved exactly that.