{"id":1344,"date":"2026-06-08T16:33:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T16:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1344"},"modified":"2026-06-08T16:33:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T16:33:21","slug":"telluride-bluegrass-festival-has-a-rare-treat-in-the-lineup-opera-and-banjos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1344","title":{"rendered":"Telluride Bluegrass Festival has a rare treat in the lineup: opera and banjos"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After more than 50 years, it may seem impossible for an established event like the Telluride Bluegrass Festival to do things it has never done before. But this year, music fans will get to experience something new.<\/p>\n

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For the first time, Telluride Bluegrass Festival (June 18-21) will welcome an acclaimed opera singer to its stage.<\/p>\n

On June 19, soprano Ren\u00e9e Fleming will join banjo player B\u00e9la Fleck for a special performance of their new album, entitled \u201cThe Fiddle and The Drum.\u201d The album, which came out May 29, features a collection of Appalachian-rooted folk and bluegrass tunes reimagined by Fleming, Fleck and a cast of other notable musicians in the genre, including country legend Dolly Parton.<\/p>\n

Telluride Bluegrass Festival is one of just six places the duo plans to perform \u201cThe Fiddle and The Drum\u201d this year, and they\u2019ll be backed by other artists on the lineup, such as Sierra Hull, as part of the My Bluegrass Heart band. The festival will also see performances from Tedeschi Trucks Band, Shakey Graves, Larkin Poe and Gregory Alan Isakov, among many others, throughout the weekend of music. (See full lineup here.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fiddle and The Drum\u201d show will be a culmination of a project roughly two decades in the making. Fleming and Fleck first connected in the early 2000s, after the opera singer was inspired to revisit her love of folk music by the film \u201cO Brother, Where Art Thou?\u201d They recorded a few demos with some of the best players in the business, but ultimately put the project on hold as their touring schedules became increasingly busy.<\/p>\n

Still, the magic of the music stuck with Fleming. In 2023, she reached back out to Fleck in hopes they could further develop the concept. It is rare for classically trained opera singers to branch outside the genre, Fleming said, but it was a welcome change of pace.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in the middle of singing a really challenging opera at that time (of recording the demos) and somehow it was good for my voice to get away from some of the virtuosity of the repertoire I was singing then,\u201d Fleming said. \u201cAnd now it feels great. It\u2019s closer to where my speaking voice is and it\u2019s a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fleming and Fleck collaborated to determine the mix of folk classics and more modern songs they wanted to record. Naturally, themes about war, loss and love emerged to link the songs together.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOnce we embraced that theme, it just turned out to be extremely relevant and that we didn\u2019t see coming,\u201d Fleming said.<\/p>\n

The track list includes standards like \u201cThe Cuckoo\u201d and \u201cBlackest Crow\u201d alongside newer songs like \u201cThe Scarlet Tide,\u201d a tune written by T Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello. (Most people know it performed by Alison Krauss.)<\/p>\n

Parton is featured on an old Appalachian song called \u201cIn the Pines\u201d and Joni Mitchell fans will immediately recognize the title track, an anti-war anthem released in 1969 on an album by the same name. Though Mitchell originally sang \u201cThe Fiddle and The Drum\u201d a capella, Fleming is backed by musician Jerry Douglas on dobro, giving the tune a new kind of haunting and resonant aesthetic.<\/p>\n

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