Speculation is rife that “the people’s Diva” Renée Fleming will be retiring from the opera stage following her performances as the Marschallin in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera in New York this season.

“This ‘Rosenkavalier’ may well be her farewell to staged opera,” the New York Times reported cryptically in a feature titled (less cryptically) The Diva Departs: Renée Fleming’s Farewell to Opera published April 5. “She will sing her final performance on the afternoon of Saturday, May 13.” The article described the soprano as “changing her focus,” with plans to give concerts, record, explore new repertoire and focus on the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where she has been a creative consultant since 2010.

The same day as the New York Times piece was published, a story in Vanity Fair downplayed any talk of retirement. “The rumour has taken on a life of its own,” Fleming said. Rather, the article explains, Fleming will “continue to sing full-time” but will be moving away from stage roles to concentrate on concerts and explore new works and projects. Neither article makes it clear whether or not Der Rosenkavalier will actually be the soprano’s last...