Renée Fleming
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Renée Fleming (b. February 14, 1959), is an accomplished American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming possesses a flexible full lyric soprano voice supported by a formidable and solid technique that provides ringing freedom and apparent ease near the extreme top of its range. Although lyrical in nature, Fleming's voice has a substantial amount of solidity and power which allows her to sing a variety of roles from the bel canto, lyric, and lighter spinto repertoires. Her linguistic proficiency, too, serves as an asset -- she has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English; indeed, she speaks fluent German and French, along with limited Italian.
Fleming is generally considered one of the world's leading classical sopranos; she regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide. In 2008 she was awarded the Swedish Polar Prize for her services in music.
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[edit] Background
A daughter of two music teachers, Fleming was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania and grew up in Rochester, New York. She has a brother and sister, both also devoted to the study of music.
Fleming's first major break came in 1988 (at age 29) when she sang the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro at the Houston Grand Opera. In 1989, she made debuts with the New York City Opera and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 1991, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut. In 1997, Fleming sang her first Manon at the Opéra Bastille, receiving glowing reviews.
As a youngster, Fleming enjoyed popular music and admired the talent of Joni Mitchell among others. In addition to the standard operatic repertoire, she performs new music, Broadway show tunes, and other popular genres.
Fleming has originated the roles of Rosina, Mme de Tourvel, and Blanche DuBois in the world premières of, respectively, John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles with the Metropolitan Opera, Conrad Susa's The Dangerous Liaisons with the San Francisco Opera, and André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire (also in San Francisco).
[edit] Education
She studied at the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam. While at SUNY-Potsdam, she took up singing with a jazz trio in an off-campus bar called Alger's. The jazz saxophonist Illinois Jacquet invited her on tour with his big band, but she chose instead to continue with graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music and Juilliard.
[edit] Popular recordings
Fleming has released a number of popular music recordings on the Polygram and Decca labels. She also appears on the soundtrack of the 2003 film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in which she sings in Sindarin. Her voice, along with those of Isabel Bayrakdarian and Sheila Chandra are considered musically representative of [Arwen], and by extension the Elves. Her singing can be heard when Arwen sees a vision of her child (cue: Twilight & Shadow), when Gollum first holds the ring (cue: The End of All Things), when the eagles carry Frodo and Sam off Mt. Doom (cue: 'The Eagles' from The End of All Things), and when Arwen is revealed at Aragorn's coronation (cue: 'Arwen Revealed' from The Return of The King). Renee Fleming also recorded the duet "O soave fanciulla" with Michael Bolton.
[edit] TV, radio and record guest appearances
Fleming is gifted with a notable sense of humor. She appeared on the children's show Sesame Street singing a lively rendition of "Caro nome" from Rigoletto, replacing the traditional Italian text with lyrics intended to aid children learning to count.
She has performed several times on Garrison Keillor's popular public radio program A Prairie Home Companion.
Fleming appeared as a "Special Guest Vocalist" on Joe Jackson's 1994 album Night Music on the song "Lullaby."
[edit] Partial discography
- Strauss Four Last Songs RCA 1996
- Mozart Arias Decca 1996
- Schubert Lieder Decca 1997
- Signatures Opera arias By Mozart, Verdi, Britten, Strauss, w. Georg Solti, Decca 1997
- Elijah (Mendelssohn) Decca 1997
- The Beautiful Voice Decca 1998
- I Want Magic American Opera Arias, Decca 1998
- Star Crossed Lovers Duets with Plácido Domingo, Decca 1999
- Strauss Heroines Decca 1999
- Renée Fleming Decca 2001
- Night Songs Lieder by Debussy, Fauré, Marx, Strauss, Rachmaninov, Decca 2001
- Bel Canto Arias by Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini, Decca 2002
- Under the Stars Broadway Duets with Bryn Terfel, Decca 2003
- By Request Decca 2003
- Handel Arias Decca 2003/2004
- Requiem (Verdi) Philips 2004
- Haunted Heart Decca 2005
- Sacred Songs Decca 2005
- Homage - The Age of the Diva Decca 2006
[edit] References
- Fleming, Renee. The Inner Voice: the Making of a Singer. Paperback ed. New York: Penguin Group, 2004.
