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Chants of a diva

SHE is renowned for the full tone and sensuality of her voice and the versatility of her performances. Acclaimed as "the standard of soprano sound", Renee Fleming has performed at the world’s premier opera houses, and is known for championing new music as well as an amazing repertoire. Throwing light on her life, BBC World brings a special tribute Spirit of the Arts on September 30 at 7 p.m.

The programme showcases how Renee’s reputation as a risk taker has grown following appearances in the world premiers of Andre Previn’s version of A Streetcar Named Desire, and Conrad Susa’s The Dangerous Liaisons.

Her remarkable career has seen her being garnered with numerous awards including two Grammy’s, an honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music, and most recently the French Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur.

Watch the biography on Renee, the renowned American soprano known for singing sacred songs and arias in her delicately silken voice.

On the tiger’s trail

SHE’S out to save the big cats roaming in the jungles of India and Nepal. Latika Rana, who is the first person in 30 years to have got a Ph.D from Oxford University on the management of tigers in the wild, is no ordinary conservationist. She’s married to Nanda Shumshere Rana, one of the internationally acknowledged experts on tiger behaviour, considered to be among the best.

Meet Latika Rana in Tiger Princess on September 30 at 10 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel. The programme profiles the work of Latika’s complex and often surprising life where she divides her time between high society in Kathmandu and tigers. — NF

Now Star Wars series

Hollywood mogul George Lucas does not have the desire to make feature-length films on the famous Star Wars saga anymore, but wants it keep it alive in the TV genre. British actor Warwick Davis has revealed that Lucas has joined hands with director Rick Mcallum for making 100 TV episodes of the series.

"Their plan is for there to be more than a 100 episodes and that is a lot of telly," Contactmusic quoted him as saying.

The filming of this these episodes would begin in 2008, and it would be ready the same year, McCallum told BBC in March this year.

"Hopefully, if we can make it work and everybody’s excited and watches it we will keep on going," he said.

Star Wars is a series of sci-fi films created by Lucas during the 1970s.

The movie was so successful that it led to the making of five more feature films, three spin-off films, five television series and an extensive collection of licensed books, comics, video games etc. — ANI

Garfield is a star in China

When it comes to cartoons, the talking cat Garfield may not have been able to work his magic on domestic audiences in the US with his sequel, but it was a very different story on the other side of the world where he managed to break box office records for animated films in China.

Though Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties only managed to take in a paltry $28 million at the American box office, the tabby managed to rake in roughly a cool 80 million in foreign returns — hence earning the sequel more than $100 million worldwide, reports Zap2it.

That means that of all the animated films to be shown in China, it is Garfield and his antics that have taken him laughing all the way to the bank. Directed by Tim Hill, Garfield’s second flick, in which he takes on London, raked in 46.4 million yuan ($5.8 million), breaking animated record held by Disney’s The Lion King, which made 41 million yuan when it opened 12 years ago.

The Bill Murray-voiced flick, that opened to Chinese audience on Aug. 11, made 13.92 million yuan in its first weekend, six million yuan more than Ice Age 2 and also 3 million yuan more than Pixar’s Cars, reports the Beijing News. — ANI

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