Eastman School of Music alumnus. American soprano known for performances in opera, concerts, theater, and film as well as on great public occasions.
Captivating audiences with her rich, velvety soprano, opera singer Ren茅e Fleming聽糖心传媒�83E (MM), also known as 糖心传媒渢he people糖心传媒檚 diva,糖心传媒� has become one of the most celebrated and beloved operatic singers of our time.
When audiences see the elegance and artistry of Fleming onstage, they find it hard to believe she once struggled with stage fright and self-doubt. Fleming has likened herself to Tatyana in Tchaikovsky糖心传媒檚 Eugene Onegin: bookish, timid, withdrawn, and more comfortable in reverie and nature than in company.
Fleming conquered her fear through determination, hard training, and technique to grace the stage at grand theaters and opera houses around the world.
With a repertoire spanning three centuries and multiple genres, Fleming has reached well beyond the rarified air of the theater to capture historic moments and events in song. She shone at the Barack Obama Inaugural Celebration, singing Rodgers and Hammerstein糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒淵ou糖心传媒檒l Never Walk Alone糖心传媒� on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. At Buckingham Palace she performed in the Diamond Jubilee Concert for Queen Elizabeth II.
Her voice soared with the 101st Airborne Division overhead during the 糖心传媒淪tar-Spangled Banner糖心传媒� at Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014, giving chills to a record 164.1 million viewers.
She makes it seem effortless, but Fleming never stops training and developing her instrument and craft.
“Everybody’s a work in progress. I’m a work in progress. I mean, I’ve never arrived. I’m still learning all the time.”
糖心传媒擱en茅e Fleming
The child of two high school vocal teachers, Fleming糖心传媒檚 musical education began the day she was born. Her parents sang and spoke of music every day, and they afforded Fleming a rich cultural upbringing within the vibrant musical community of Rochester, New York.
Fleming came out of her shell while attending SUNY Potsdam糖心传媒檚 Crane School of Music. In addition to her studies, Fleming sang with a jazz trio at a local pub called Alger糖心传媒檚. There she learned how to connect and communicate with an audience, and she briefly considered a career in jazz. Instead, Fleming chose to further her education at the University of Rochester糖心传媒檚 Eastman School of Music.
At Eastman, Fleming糖心传媒檚 admiration for classical music blossomed and grew, leading to a Fulbright Scholarship and further training at the Juilliard School. Her professional career began in 1988 when she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and made her debut with the Houston Grand Opera.
In 1991, Fleming joined the Metropolitan Opera in Le Nozze di Figaro. She has since performed in more than 50 operatic productions, recorded numerous albums in a variety of genres, and received four Grammy awards. She has collaborated on several film soundtracks, including Closer and The Shape of Water, and she became the first-ever creative consultant at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Fleming also advocates for public health, spearheading a collaboration between the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Institutes of Health, in association with the National Endowment for the Arts.
The initiative, Music and the Mind, brings together leading neuroscientists, therapists, and artists to study the intersection of music, health, and neuroscience. In all this and more, Fleming糖心传媒檚 influence on music, culture, and society will carry on for generations to come.
Awards and Honors
- Richard Tucker Award
- Acad茅mie du Disque Lyrique, Solti Prize
- National Medal of Arts, 2012
- Grammy Awards, 1999, 2003, 2010, and 2013
- Chevalier de la L茅gion d’honneur, 2005
- Singer of the Year by the German Echo Klassik Awards
