From: Rochester, New York. LA Opera: Violetta in La Traviata (2006); Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (2014); Margaret Johnson in The Light in the Piazza (2019); The Brightness of Light (2022); and numerous recitals. She is LA Opera's Advisor for Special Projects.
Renée Fleming is one of the most highly acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world’s great opera houses and concert halls. Honored with five Grammy awards and the U.S. National Medal of Arts, she has sung for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Diamond Jubilee Concert for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. In 2014 she brought her voice to a vast new audience when she became the first classical artist ever to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. In 2023, she was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for Arts and Health by the World Health Organization. She was also named as one of the 2023 recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors.
Renée’s 2022/23 concert calendar included appearances in London, Vienna, Milan, Los Angeles and at Carnegie Hall. In November, she starred in the world premiere staging of The Hours, a new opera based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and award-winning film, at the Metropolitan Opera. In March, she portrayed Pat Nixon in a new production of Nixon in China at the Opéra de Paris. Renée stars in an upcoming series of IMAX films, Renée Fleming’s Cities That Sing, highlighting the music of great cultural capitals, with performances and visits to notable locations.
Renée has recorded everything from complete operas and song recitals to indie rock and jazz. In January, Decca released a special double-length album of live recordings from Renée’s iconic performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Renée Fleming: Greatest Moments at the Met. In February, Renée received the Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Solo for her album Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, with Yannick Nézet-Seguin as pianist. A collection of classical songs and specially commissioned world premieres, the album focuses on nature as both inspiration and victim of human activity. Known for bringing new audiences to classical music and opera, Renée has sung not only with Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli, but also with Elton John, Paul Simon, Sting, Josh Groban, and Joan Baez. Her voice is featured on the soundtracks of Best Picture Oscar winners The Shape of Water and The Lord of the Rings.
In recent years, Renée has become a leading advocate for research at the intersection of arts, health, and neuroscience. As Artistic Advisor to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, she launched the first ongoing collaboration between America’s national cultural center and the National Institutes of Health. She has presented her program Music and the Mind in more than 50 cities around the world, and launched Music and Mind LIVE, a weekly web show that amassed nearly 700,000 views, from 70 countries. She is a founding advisor for major initiatives in this field, including the Sound Health Network at the University of California San Francisco and the NeuroArts Blueprint at Johns Hopkins University.
In addition to being Advisor for Special Projects at LA Opera, Renée leads SongStudio at Carnegie Hall and is Co-Director of the Aspen Opera Center and VocalARTS at the Aspen Music Festival. Renée’s other awards include the 2023 Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum, the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, Germany’s Cross of the Order of Merit, and France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.
