“The Diva”
Andrew Lippa (b. 1964)

THE STORY

    When The Kennedy Center first re-opened for limited-audience live performances in September 2020, the operatic diva Renée Fleming and the pop diva Vanessa Williams were there to mark the occasion. For the concert, Broadway composer Andrew Lippa wrote a new song for the pair to premiere—appropriately, “The Diva.”
    With a lively rock beat, “The Diva” uses self-deprecating humor to make the case that world-famous divas are human, just like the rest of us. Yet, it also not-so-subtly reminds us of the ways that the life of the diva is extraordinary, working in quips like: “How many of you have a job where you’re reviewed in the paper the next morning?” (The performance, by all accounts, received rave reviews!)

INSTRUMENTATION

Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, electric bass, timpani, percussion, harp, piano, strings