Somewhere in the middle of her five encores, as the audience ovation made Benaroya Hall sound like a sports arena after a playoff victory, Renée Fleming stood drinking in the applause the way a sunflower receives the sunlight. She gazed out into the standing crowd and confessed, "I love this."

And she does: Few singers have ever relished their bond with their audiences, and worked harder to create that connection, than today's reigning soprano diva. Every note Fleming sang, every phrase she uttered, was designed not just to show off that spectacular voice but to communicate with her listeners.

That kind of sustained attention over the course of two hours is the sort of thing that drives audiences into raptures. A voice like Fleming's would capture the ear on any terms, but it's her interpretive skills that set her apart. The ability to spin out a phrase in Handel's "O Sleep, Why Dost Thou Leave Me?" so that time stands still; the knack to put across a story in miniature in Carlisle Floyd's "Ain't It a Pretty Night!" — these are Fleming's particular gifts. So is the way she can put a smile in her voice in the more light-hearted selections and a deep sorrow in Floyd's "The Trees on the Mountain," with its final, aching "Come back."

The opening set of Handel arias was an extremely accomplished nod to Fleming's most recent Handel CD, followed by the seldom-heard, late-romantic "Sieben frühe Lieder" ("Seven Early Songs") of Alban Berg. Next came a set of Americana: a strongly characterized aria ("I Can Smell the Sea Air") from André Previn's "A Streetcar Named Desire," the Floyd "Ain't It a Pretty Night!" and the heartbreakingly poignant "Letter from Sullivan Ballou," by John Kander, set to the last letter a Union soldier sent his wife before his death at the Battle of Bull Run. A set of six Schumann Lieder followed.

Several of the songs required extended high notes at the end, and here Fleming showed off her technique and support to splendid effect. She knows how to twist and turn a note for maximum emphasis and how to use her voice's edge as well as its creamy smoothness.

Fleming's ultra-supportive pianist partner, Hartmut Höll, was a magician in creating the rapt, shimmering atmosphere of such songs as Schumann's "Mondnacht."

Clad in a flesh-colored diamanté gown with an illusion bodice and sleeves, and delicate feathers adorning the body, Fleming looked ravishing. The encores, equally ravishing, were "Over the Rainbow," Strauss' "Caecilie" and "Morgen," Puccini's "O Mio Babbino Caro"(dedicated to the late Victoria de los Angeles) and Floyd's "The Trees on the Mountain."

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com