Voice Masterclass: Renée Fleming
The masterclass with Ms. Fleming is co-presented by New England Conservatory and Boston University College of Fine Arts and features voice majors from both institutions.
Renée Fleming is one of the most acclaimed singers of our time. In 2013, President Obama awarded her America's highest honor for an artist, the National Medal of Arts. She brought her voice to a vast new audience in 2014, as the only classical artist ever to sing the US National Anthem at the Super Bowl. Winner of the 2013 Grammy Award (her fourth) for Best Classical Vocal Solo, Renée has sung for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Diamond Jubilee Concert for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. In 2008 Renée became the first woman in the 125-year history of the Metropolitan Opera to solo headline an opening night gala.
Renée earned a Tony Award nomination for her performance in the 2018 Broadway production of Carousel. Her current and upcoming tour schedule includes concerts in New York, Chicago, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, Hong Kong, and Beijing. She is heard on the soundtracks of the 2018 Best Picture Oscar winner The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and she provided the singing voice of Roxane, played by Julianne Moore, in the film of the best-selling novel Bel Canto. This summer, Renée will make her London musical theater debut in The Light in the Piazza at Royal Festival Hall.
In September, Decca released Renée’s latest album, Renée Fleming: Broadway, featuring a collection of great musical theater songs from the 1920’s to the present day. Renée has recorded everything from complete operas and song recitals to indie rock and jazz; and her album Signatures was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for the National Recording Registry, as an “aural treasure worthy of preservation as part of America’s patrimony.” Known for bringing new audiences to classical music and opera, Renée has sung not only with Plácido Domingo and Andrea Bocelli, but also with Elton John, Sting, Josh Groban, and Joan Baez. She has hosted an array of television and radio broadcasts, including the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series, and Live from Lincoln Center.
In her role as Artistic Advisor to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Renée launched a collaboration with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, with participation by the National Endowment of the Arts, focused on the science connecting music, health, and the brain. Over the past year, she has given more than 20 presentations with scientists and practitioners across North America on this subject.
In 2010, Renée was named the first-ever Creative Consultant at Lyric Opera of Chicago. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Hall, the Board of Sing for Hope, and the Artistic Advisory Board of the Polyphony Foundation. She is a spokesperson for the American Musical Therapy Association. Renée’s memoir The Inner Voice, published in 2004, is currently in its 16th printing. Among her awards are the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, Germany’s Cross of the Order of Merit, France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, and Honorary Membership in the Royal Academy of Music. www.reneefleming.com
This masterclass is made possible by the support of the Ruth S. Morse Visiting Scholar Fund in Voice.