Renée Fleming

The radiant sound, sparkling stage presence, and outstanding artistry are just a few of the aspects that make Renée Fleming one of the most beloved and renowned singers in the world. She captivates audiences with the freshness and purity of her tone, as well as exceptional musical intelligence and grace. Her passionate commitment to creativity in art not only establishes her as a pioneer of new music but also as an advocate for neglected masterpieces. In the 2007–08 season, she thrilled opera audiences in New York, Chicago, and Vienna. At the Metropolitan Opera, she sang two of her signature roles: Violetta (La traviata) in November 2007 and Desdemona (Otello) in February 2008. La traviata was also on her program at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in January 2008, and in June, she appeared at the Vienna State Opera in a new production of Strauss’s Capriccio. In the gala concert opening the Met’s 2008–09 season, Renée Fleming will sing in September in fully staged excerpts from three different operas: Verdi’s La traviata (Act 2), Massenet’s Manon (Act 3), and Capriccio (final scene), before returning to Vienna for the revival of the Strauss opera. In November 2008, she will sing the title role in Lucrezia Borgia at the Washington National Opera under the baton of Plácido Domingo, and in December 2008, she will appear in Thaïs at the Met. As a globally celebrated and highly sought-after artist, Renée Fleming sang at the opening of the 2007–08 season in gala concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; she gave a solo concert for the 50th anniversary of the Dallas Opera. Another highlight was the vocal cycle Le Temps L’Horloge, composed for her by Henri Dutilleux, which she world-premiered in September with Seiji Ozawa at the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan. Later in the season, she also performed the work with James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York. In spring 2008, Renée Fleming sang Strauss’s Four Last Songs, among other songs and arias by the composer, in a concert with the Munich Philharmonic under the direction of Christian Thielemann — a program recorded for the present Decca CD. In November 2007, Decca released the DVD production of La traviata at the Los Angeles Opera, featuring Renée Fleming, Rolando Villazón, and Renato Bruson. Her performances in Eugene Onegin (at the Metropolitan Opera in New York) and Arabella (at the Zurich Opera House) have been filmed and available as Decca DVDs since 2007/2008. In autumn 2006, the CD Homage — The Age of the Diva was released, on which the two-time Grammy winner sings rarely heard works associated with legendary performers of the past. Renée Fleming has been nominated for a Grammy a total of nine times and boasts an astonishingly diverse discography: from the complete recording of Strauss’s Daphne to the film score for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to the jazz retrospective Haunted Heart. For Daphne, she received the Echo Klassik in 2006, and with the Classical Brits Awards, she was honored in 2004 in the category Outstanding Contribution to Music and in 2003 as Artist of the Year. In May 2007, the DVD production of Capriccio, with Renée Fleming in the title role, received the Prix Maria Callas Orphée d’Or from the Académie du Disque Lyric, which had already awarded her the very first Prix Solti Orphée d’Or in 1996. Renée Fleming has inspired many other prominent artists, such as Chuck Close and Robert Wilson, whose portraits of her were auctioned at the Metropolitan Opera’s 2007 fundraising event. Another portrait, this time by Francesco Clemente, was exhibited in spring 2007 as part of the Salzburg Easter Festival. She has received numerous official honors, including being appointed Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by the French government (2005) and, before that, Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2002), being granted honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music (2003), and an honorary doctorate from the Juilliard School (2003), where she also served as commencement speaker. Renée Fleming is a strong advocate for literacy and has participated in campaigns in the US by the Publishers Association (Get Caught Reading) and the READ poster campaign organized by magazine publishers for the Library Association. The New York Public Library named her a “Library Lion.” Her book The Inner Voice was published in 2004 by Viking Penguin and as a paperback by Penguin the following year; in 2005, the German edition followed from Henschel Verlag: Die Biografie meiner Stimme. This personal insight into a career and the work with the singing voice was also published in France by Éditions Fayard, in the UK by Virgin Books, and in Japan by Shunjusha. In addition to her stage and studio work, Renée Fleming has represented the watch brand Rolex in print advertising since 2001. Master chef Daniel Boulud created the dessert “La Diva Renée” (1999) in her honor, and the “Renée Fleming Iris” (2004) is named after her, which in turn has been recreated as porcelain art by the Boehm manufactory. In 2001, she was included in Mr. Blackwell’s famous list of best-dressed people, and her dresses are designed by Gianfranco Ferré, Issey Miyake, Bill Blass, Vivienne Westwood, Angel Sanchez, Oscar de la Renta, and John Galliano for Dior. Renée Fleming was born in Pennsylvania and grew up in Rochester, New York. She studied at the Juilliard School, earned degrees from the State University of New York at Potsdam and the Eastman School of Music, and received a Fulbright Scholarship. Early recognitions came in the form of the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, the Richard Tucker Award, and the George London Prize. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Hall Corporation and the Advisory Board of the White Nights Foundation of America.