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Mad About Music
Sunday, October 03, 2004
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Renee Fleming (Andrew Eccles/Decca)
Renée Fleming
Met opera superstar Renée Fleming, who will perform at the opening of Carnegie Hall on Wednesday, October 6th, talks about music she loves to sing (Bellini, Massenet, Strauss) or just listen to (Satie, Crumb) and reveals why she tries to avoid "diva behavior"; that forgetting some of her lines "happens to me all the time"; how the opera stage enables her to become uninhibited; how she copes if the audience boos; and even offers a theory on why the legendary Maria Callas lost her voice.
Erik Satie Gymnopédie No.3. Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Piano. Decca 289470290.
Jules Massenet Manon . “Je marche sur tous les chemins…” ("Gavotte"). Renée Fleming, Soprano. English Chamber Orchestra. Jeffrey Tate. Decca 000102402.
George Crumb Ancient Voices of Children, for Mezzo Soprano &Boy Soprano, Oboe, Mandolin, Harp, Electric Piano & Percussionists . [Excerpt] “Todas las tardes en Granada, todas las tardes se muere un niño”. Contemporary Chamber Ensemble. Arthur Weisberg. Jan DeGaetani, Mezzo. Michael Dash, Boy Soprano. Nonesuch 79149.
Vincenzo Bellini La sonnambula . [Excerpt] “Ah! …se una volta sola” and “Ah! non credea mirarti”. Renée Fleming, Soprano. Orchestra of St. Luke's. Patrick Summers. Florence Maggio Musicale Chorus. Decca 467101.
Brad Mehldau "When it Rains" Brad Mehldau, Piano. Warner Brothers 48114.
Richard Strauss Four Last Songs, No. 3 , Beim Schlafengehn Renée Fleming, Soprano. Houston Symphony Orchestra. Christoph Eschenbach. RCA Victor Red Seal 68539.
Kaplan Opera star and lover of all kinds of music, Renée Fleming, on today's edition of “Mad About Music.”
[Theme Music]
Kaplan At a time of so few genuine stars on the opera stage, she is the real thing. Vogue magazine said it better than I can: “A sumptuous voice, a fool-proof technique, a rigorous musical intelligence, a capacious memory, a knack for languages, an attractive stage presence and a willingness to take on demanding new roles." At the same time, that writer described my guest as resembling a high-school marching band's drum major, a nice, perky, pretty girl, you know, the girl next door. Some combination. Renée Fleming, welcome to “Mad About Music.”
Fleming Thank you.
Kaplan Now, usually, stardom is accompanied by the emergence of a so-called diva personality. The impossible to work with prima donna. Now, you have made a point, I think, of avoiding that. I don't know if it's just in your nature, but you certainly have all the trappings, though, that are associated with divas. You're on the best-dressed list; the famous chef Daniel Boulud has named a chocolate dessert after you like, “Diva Renée"; you're on the Rolex advertising campaign; a flower – an iris – has been named for you; your name Renée, partly because of three letter “e's”, shows up in the crossword puzzle a lot; even a terrorist thriller author wrote a book, Bel Canto , its principal character is based on an opera diva. She says, like you. So, here's Vogue magazine, on the other side, who says you're just the perky, next-door girl, with no presumptions. So, where do you fit into those descriptions?
Fleming Well, I think that the word “diva” is of course much maligned right now, and it doesn't even really belong to us anymore. American culture has taken it over for other uses; but for me, I never really had it in me to become the temperamental scandal-causing negative side of that word. You know, I can be difficult, don't get me wrong, and I can be demanding. But, usually, I'm reasonable, it's not terribly unreasonable, and it's certainly not capricious. I try to reserve the use of the whole concept for what I do on stage.
Kaplan Now audiences go so crazy for you when you're singing that I think it's fair that we do talk about the nightmare – being booed, which I know happened at La Scala, and how does a singer live with that?
Fleming You know, one becomes accustomed to it, it's kind of a way of life in certain theaters and in certain houses, and singers can also develop a thick skin, just as we may have to develop a thick skin in regards to reviews, of booing. Another thing that has always amazed me, is if you go to a baseball game, if you go to Shea stadium or Yankee stadium, the insults and the screaming and yelling that comes from the gallery, even from fans. I always think, gosh, these guys, how do they just – do they ignore it? How does this just roll off their backs? So, it really depends on what's normal for any given theater or any given sport, you know. Opera has been called a “blood sport” as well. For me, it was difficult, because I wasn't used to it!
Kaplan All right, well, we'll return to Renée Fleming, as a singer, but also, as you know, “Mad About Music” is about people who love music as listeners. So, let's turn to you as a music lover, and go to the first selection on your list, which I see is by Erik Satie.
Fleming So this is the famous Gymnopédie by Erik Satie, as played by my dear friend and colleague, Jean-Yves Thibaudet. And Jean-Ives has done a really special recording, because it's the complete works, the piano works of Satie, who is arguably one of our undiscovered treasures and a composer that we don't know all that well; and Jean-Yves, I think, has provided a wonderful service for the music world in choosing to highlight his music, and not to mention the fact that he plays it so exquisitely. And I always say that the simplest pieces are the most difficult, and one can certainly hear that in this piece.
[Music]
Kaplan Erik Satie, Gymnopédie for Piano, performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, a selection of my guest on today's edition of “Mad About Music,” soprano Renée Fleming. Now, your collaboration with Thibaudet also shows up in a movie, the “Bride of the Wind,” the story of Alma Mahler's life, in which you play the role of a famous singer of the day, singing one of Alma's songs. How did you feel about Alma's music?
Fleming Well, I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, first of all, the body of music that we know about is very small. It's a very few songs, and it's only song literature, but they're beautiful and some of them are really quite accomplished. And when one thinks that she wrote them at a very young age, and then was purportedly asked not to write any more by Mahler, you know, “there will be only one composer in the family.” One wishes perhaps that she had the opportunity to develop her talent more. Who knows? Maybe she wasn't really that interested in it to begin with, but the talent is definitely there.
Kaplan Now recently, you took on new roles in Traviata , Daphne and Capriccio . I'm wondering if there are any significant roles left for you that you haven't performed?
Fleming Well, I'm singing a new production of Rodalinda, also, at the Met next season. So, that's three new roles just this year, and that's keeping me very busy, the two Strauss roles in particular are very demanding. And the answer to that question is not really. I can safely say at this very moment that I am thrilled and happy with the repertoire I've already sung and will be singing this season. And that anything after that is icing on the cake. But Violetta was the only role about which I could say before last year, gosh, I really need to do that one. I need to get that under my belt.
Kaplan Speaking of roles, I wonder if you ever thought about roles you might sing that you'll never sing because the relationship between the soprano and the tenor, of course, is the famous ones in opera. What would you sing if you were a tenor?
Fleming If I were a tenor, that's a good question! I actually love de Grieux's aria in Manon , I think that's a great, great aria. Really, it's about tenors, it's about all that beautiful music. I'd want to sing Tristan, I'd want to sing some of these great heroic roles. I would definitely want to sing Otello, even though he's a mess in the end! Just for the final scene, alone! Ach, it's so moving. You know, I was supposed to be dead, and I never could stop crying through that scene, because I was so moved by Placido, and later, Ben Heppner, it's just great, great music.
Kaplan All right, well then, let's turn to the music that you do sing and I see that Massenet shows up on your list next.
Fleming So this is the "Gavotte" from Massenet's Manon , and Manon is arguably one of my top three or four favorite roles. She has everything – musically, dramatically, in terms of her trajectory as a human being, as a character and also, in the demands – the musical and vocal demands of the role fit me like a glove. I love to sing her. And the "Gavotte" is charming and fun. It's her at her most decadent because she says, you know, the moral of the story is basically, have a wonderful time because we're only young once. And she's given up love to have fun. Given up love for glamour, for the high life, for money, you know, all of the things, the secret pleasures that we would never admit to desiring.
[Music]
Kaplan The well-known "Gavotte" from Massenet's Manon , sung by my guest on today's edition of “Mad About Music,” soprano Renée Fleming, with the English Chamber Orchestra led by Jeffrey Tate. You can learn more about Renée Fleming or hear any of our prior shows by logging onto our website at WNYC.org, and then just click on “Mad About Music.” When we return, we'll explore the backstage, the unknown world of opera.
[Station Break]
Kaplan This is Gilbert Kaplan with my guest, soprano Renée Fleming on today's edition of “Mad About Music.” Let's talk a bit about the backstage world of opera that most listeners never get in touch with. For example, the relationship with the conductor. Who decides what the tempo is going to be?
Fleming My favorite relationship is with the conductor. It's a musical collaboration that is the most exciting to me. So, who decides the tempo? If I can, I allow the conductor to decide it. If it's difficult, or if I think it would suit my voice better to try something different, I'll make a suggestion and most conductors are willing to be flexible.
Kaplan Now, as a lyric soprano, your voice is a voice that's more easily covered than say a dramatic soprano on the stage. Can you tell from the stage if you are getting out over the orchestra, and if you can tell, is there some way to signal the conductor that this is trouble?
Fleming That's an interesting question. No one's ever asked me that! The answer is, I can't really tell. We have no idea. Sometimes it's obvious, you see a conductor waving his arms absolutely wildly in a very loud place, in a thick orchestration, and then you can bet that we're being covered. Then we have a good idea that things are going badly.
Kaplan Now I recall several times being backstage after a performance and hearing a singer – quite a famous singer at times – come up to the conductor and apologize for forgetting lines. How often does that happen, and does it happen to you?
Fleming Oh, it happens to me all the time! It's one of – it's my Achilles heel. I worry about that all the time, about text. First of all, we're singing – I'm singing 90% of the time in a foreign language. And that's more difficult to retain, anyway. And particularly if I'm singing in French, for example, in Paris, and I'm more nervous about it, and then I begin second-guessing what my next phrase is, and that's when things go wrong. So, yes, that's definitely a worry of mine.
Kaplan All right then, let's jump back into the world of Renée Fleming, the listener again. And I see your next selection is George Crumb, an American composer who came to the fore in the 1960s, and I know that you are, as a singer, also very interested in contemporary music. So, tell us about the George Crumb piece.
Fleming Well, this was one of the first pieces I fell absolutely madly in love with. I was a student, and I ultimately did study with Jan DeGaetani, that was another reason I chose this piece because she had a huge influence on me as an artist, and I just listened to this piece, once I discovered it, over and over and over again, and I've always loved new music, even as a kid. I was very drawn to Stravinsky and to – if I'd go to an orchestral concert that was the kind of thing I really loved. I loved the idea that the unexpected was continually occurring and that form wasn't as obvious, and it just appealed to me. And this piece I've loved always as well. This is Ancient Voices of Children with Jan DeGaetani.
[Music]
Kaplan An excerpt from George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children, performed by the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, led by Arthur Weisberg with soloists including Jan DeGaetani, a strong influence on my guest today on “Mad About Music,” soprano Renée Fleming. Now, another popular form of music you participated in is, you are on the sound track of “The Lord of The Rings.” How did that come about, and what did you actually do there?
Fleming Well, that was an incredibly interesting experience. Howard Shore is a terrific film composer. He wrote music for the trilogy that's of epic proportion, 12 hours of music he wrote for these three films. And I recorded for about 20 hours and they wanted a very medieval, pure, vibratoless, almost toneless sound, without any connecting of pitches, without any dynamic change, and so it was kind of an interesting challenge, and the music is very beautiful. And of course I got to sing in Elvish! But the interesting thing is that I followed that not too long afterward with the recording of Handel arias, which will be released in the fall. And I started those recordings, and I realized that the “Lord of The Rings” sessions had prepared me perfectly for tuning into a Baroque style. So it was perfect preparation for that.
Kaplan Well, you won't be insulted by what I'm about to say because in a way it's a measure of the success, but I wonder how many people watching that actually recall singing in the sound track. It is blended in so very beautifully, that in a way, that's its success.
Fleming It's very blended in, one would have to either know about it, you also have to be very patient, because our musical credits occur after ten minutes of credits!
Kaplan All right, well, you want singing credits – let's return to singing and I see your next selection comes from Bellini.
Fleming This is one of my favorite bel canto arias, “Ah! non credea mirarti,” from Bellini's La sonnambula . This is a role I've actually only sung once in concert, and it was really technically a rehearsal, because I was the understudy. But I love this role, I love this music, I've always adored this aria, and bel canto was a personal, a very personal project for me, it was repertoire that I felt strongly about wanting to sing, against really anyone's beliefs that I could do it, because I've never been particularly known for bel canto, although, in truth, in the very beginning of my career, I sang a lot of this repertoire. So the thing I adore about this piece is the recitative. And that's the thing I felt strongly that I could bring to this repertoire is a real – you know, note-by-note expressive quality to the recitative, which is the part that pushes the story forward. The aria is also plaintive and very beautiful, and then there's a cabaletta, a coloratura cabaletta at the end when she wakes up and has a happy – lives happily ever after. That's why I chose this piece, for the drama really in the recitative – she's sleepwalking, and she's dreaming and she's fantasizing, and it has to have that kind of otherworldly quality. This is “Ah! non credea mirarti,” beginning with the recitative, from La sonnambula .
[Music]
Kaplan An excerpt from Bellini's La sonnambula sung by my guest on “Mad About Music” today, Renée Fleming, with the Orchestra of Saint Luke's, with the Florence Maggio Musicale Chorus, conducted by Patrick Summers. When we return, we'll discuss how singing jazz has affected Renée Fleming's opera performances and discuss the works she will sing when she opens Carnegie Hall's season this Wednesday.
[Station Break]
Kaplan This is Gilbert Kaplan with soprano Renée Fleming. Now I've noticed over the years that many classical performers and opera musicians just love jazz. But you would be an extreme example in that you also sing jazz, right?
Fleming Well, I did. I sang jazz, you could say professionally, for two and a half years with a trio, every weekend in a club in the small town where I attended undergraduate school in Potsdam, Potsdam State University, which was a fantastic training for me. There was a need for me to loosen up, to become less inhibited, just to begin to enjoy performing, which I never really had; and over that period of time, jazz helped me a lot.
Kaplan Do you find that jazz, in any way, informs your interpretations of opera, by which I mean, jazz of course is the ultimate improvisational singing, it's not mapped out. Does that give you the sense that when you're singing something, which is mapped out, you can do it with a greater sense of freedom?
Fleming I think that's a way that one could perhaps describe my style of singing, is that I do bring these elements of my jazz background a little bit to it, and it has to do with bending a phrase, it has to do with maybe not singing something strictly in time, you know, it's the kind of thing I sort of can't resist doing.
Kaplan Well, talking about jazz is a perfect transition to the next part of our show, which we call the “Wildcard,” where guests have an opportunity to pick music from outside the classical or opera repertoire, and I noticed that your choice is jazz with an artist, Brad Mehldau. Now, there's an interesting connection to “Mad About Music” in this particular composer, because Robert Harth, who recently passed away, the head of Carnegie Hall, was a guest on our show and he mentioned that he went down to the Village Vanguard one night, because he's a fan of Brad Mehldau, and who did he run into but you? And he asked you what you were doing there, it turns out you're a fan and I gather that from out of that moment, came the idea that why not commission him to do a work for you, which you will sing at Carnegie Hall in some future season? So tell us about your "Wildcard".
Fleming That's right. Brad, I really adore his playing and his musicianship. He's a very serious musician, and he is writing a series of songs for me, which we will premiere at Carnegie Hall in 05, so I'm thrilled about that, and we're already collaborating. This is from; I think it's his newest record, called “Largo". So this is the cut entitled “When It Rains,” from Brad Mehldau's “Largo”.
[Music]
Kaplan “When It Rains,” by jazz composer Brad Mehldau, the “Wildcard” selection of my guest on today's edition of “Mad About Music,” soprano Renée Fleming. Now over the years, you've drawn inspiration and received advice from some wonderful singers. And somewhere along the line, I think you took the message from the aria you sung before, that singers must take advantage of youth while they still have it. But by the time Maria Callas was your age, it is said she really lost her voice. Do you worry about that, and when it will happen, how it will happen?
Fleming Oh, I worry about it every day, and have for years. The voice is a very fragile instrument. So, yes, it's something I worry about all the time. In fact, I had a whole year, you know, my inquiry for the whole year was – this was many years ago – was asking everyone I met, so what happened to Maria Callas? What happened to Maria Callas? I really wanted to know.
Kaplan And what did happen to her?
Fleming Well, no one really knows, but my theory is that – we all know that she had, you know, she was on an emotional roller coaster – but she lost so much weight so quickly. My theory is that she never reworked her support system in her body, because one of the advantages to carrying a lot of extra weight is that it creates a support system without trying. I mean, I noticed when I was pregnant, it was incredibly easy to sing. One couldn't breathe, towards the end but you know, one has to have muscles to do all of that otherwise, and a kind of a technique that supports that. So, I think that was one problem, and you could see that in her videos later on in her career, the way she kind of held her forearm across her solar plexus to try and – pushing on that, to try and create some sort of outside thing. I also suspect that one can injury the ligaments and things supporting the vocal chords, just as one can have a skiing injury, and stretch something, because that's what the voice sounds like when it goes badly. It sounds like it's been stretched out of proportion.
Kaplan Well, the roles for which you are today most famous are many, but certainly the composer, I think, would have to be Strauss, and I've taken a little liberty of sort of encouraging you to let me select one work of Strauss, because you didn't, curiously, of the music you picked to play of your own today, you didn't include Strauss. So, I hope you won't mind if I include one of his Four Last Songs , which I am pleased to see you will sing for the opening of Carnegie Hall next season. You know, when former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath was a guest on “Mad About Music” he selected the final song, At Sunset , and described it as one of the most moving songs one knows and that the orchestra playing after the voice ceases “Finally”, he said, “we sense music describing the diminishing of life, a feeling that this is the end of all we've been expected to try to do in the world.” What do these songs mean to you?
Fleming Well, and the other thing about the end of Im Abendrot is that the sound of the birds makes it undeniably a positive end, which I love. It's so beautiful. The connection between the view of the sunset and also the ending of life. Strauss makes it perfectly in these pieces. And also through the seasons of life, from summer to autumn. Beim Schlafengehn is of course everyone's favorite because of its soaring, soaring violin solo. So there's no doubt that this is a beautiful depiction of something that's not sad but peaceful.
[Music]
Kaplan Beim Schlafengehn , “Upon Going to Sleep”, one of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs sung by Renée Fleming, my guest today on “Mad About Music” with the Houston Symphony Orchestra led by Christoph Eschenbach. These two artists, this time with the Philadelphia Orchestra, will open the season at Carnegie Hall this Wednesday, on October 6 th . Now as we close, I would like to ask you a personal question. But of course we've been talking very personally anyhow, but this is more personal. You have said so often throughout your career in interviews that you always regarded yourself as the quintessential “good girl”. But then I read recently that by now, you say it is really the erotic aspect of music that attracts you. Quote, "My real taste, my real sensibility, lies in the music I feel is sexy.”
Fleming Well, you know what it is? You'll find this in a lot of actors will make statements about how kind of quiet and nerdy they were, and there's always in secret that, the wild secretary who takes off her glasses and lets her hair down, in a lot of us who perform. So, I think in every performer and in many performers, there is this dual personality, the one who wants to come out and the one who is inhibited, and that's why we go onstage, so we can actually lose that for a little while, and become someone else.
Kaplan Well, as you know, being uninhibited on the opera stage often includes some nudity and no one makes a big deal about it. I wonder, what was your reaction to Janet Jackson's performance at the Super Bowl?
Fleming Oh, it was inappropriate. It was silly and inappropriate, and I think we're all tired of – we, the audience – are getting a little bit tired of everyone trying to be more outrageous than the other for a piece of television time. Unfortunately, you know, it's sort of the "dumbing down" of American culture, is what I see it as. I hope that the public at large and the public in general is going to want to be a little more challenged sometime soon.
Kaplan Well, you have challenged us today, I must say, and you've been a wonderfully exciting guest, revealing so many aspects of your musical and your personal feelings. This is Gilbert Kaplan with Renée Fleming on today's edition of “Mad About Music.”
[Credits]
About Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming's vocal artistry is acclaimed worldwide as the “gold standard of soprano sound.” The two-time Grammy Award winner's sensuous voice, interpretive skills and stylistic versatility are sought after on stage and in recordings. A champion of new music as well as the standard repertoire, the American soprano performs throughout the world's most distinguished venues with today's foremost orchestras and conductors. Recognized as a risk-taker in her field, Ms. Fleming has created many roles for the operatic stage and has premiered numerous songs written for her, earning her the respect of her colleagues and praise from the press as one of the great artists of our day.
Renée Fleming's 2004-2005 season is marked by a notable milestone, the November release of her first book, “The Inner Voice.” Also this fall, Decca releases her latest recording, a CD of Handel arias. Highlights of her 2004 summer season included her first-ever production of Capriccio with the Paris Opera at the Palais Garnier and appearances at music festivals including Tanglewood, the Hollywood Bowl, Ravinia and Lucerne . Engagements of special note this season include her role debut of Handel's Rodelinda in the Metropolitan Opera's company premiere of this work (December 2004/January 2005); and three performances at Carnegie Hall – at the 114 th Opening Night Gala with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Christoph Eschenbach on October 6 (which will be taped for a nationwide PBS telecast), in solo recital on February 21, 2005, and in duo-recital at Zankel Hall at Carnegie on May 15, 2005 with jazz pianist Brad Mehldau (featuring the world premiere of Mehldau's new work written especially for Ms. Fleming and commissioned by Carnegie). Ms. Fleming performs at numerous galas throughout North America, including the opening night galas of the San Francisco Opera, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of Nova Scotia, Virginia, Charlotte and Toronto, as well as at the 50 th anniversary galas for both the Lyric Opera of Chicago (October) and the Houston Grand Opera (April). In early 2005, Ms. Fleming commences a three month, 12-city recital tour that includes January performances at Santa Barbara's Arlington Theatre, Los Angeles' Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Seattle's Benaroya Hall, Vancouver's Orpheum Theatre, Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall and the Mondavi Center in Davis, California; at Washington, DC's Kennedy Center, Boston's Symphony Hall, New York's Carnegie Hall and St. Paul's Ordway Music Theatre in February; and in April at Fort Worth's Bass Performance Hall and Austin's University of Texas Performing Arts Center. Internationally, Ms. Fleming can be heard in performances in Spain with the Orquesta Teatro Real at Madrid's Teatro Real and Barcelona's Palau de la Musica and with the Gulbenkian Foundation Orchestra at Lisbon's Coliseu dos Recreios in October, and in April with the Berlin Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado. Summer 2005 engagements include a performance with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican for André Previn's 75 th Birthday Gala, a concert version of Thais with Thomas Hampson and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra at Vienna 's Konzerthaus, and performances of Otello with the Royal Opera at Covent Garden .
A celebrated artist in the recording arena with numerous award-winning discs to her credit, including two Grammys and eight Grammy nominations, Ms. Fleming has been an exclusive recording artist with Decca since 1995. Her fall 2004 release is a collection of arias entitled Renée Fleming: Handel . Recent CDs include “Renée Fleming By Request,” a collection of selected works from her recording catalog plus a few new additions, and the Grammy Award winning “ Bel Canto, ” a collection of works by Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, which also received the 2003 Edison Vocal Soloist Award and a 2003 Echo award. Additionally, Ms. Fleming can be heard in three tracks on the Warner Bros. Records original 2003 movie soundtrack to “ The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King .”
An avid reader since childhood, Ms. Fleming is an advocate for Literacy. This fall 2004, the 125 year-old American Library Association (ALA), the oldest, largest, and most influential non-profit library association in the world, features Ms. Fleming in their 2004-2005 READ poster campaign. In November, Ms. Fleming is honored by The New York Public Library as a “Library Lion,” an annual award given to individuals in recognition of their contributions through their work. On November 8, 2004 , Ms. Fleming's first book, “The Inner Voice,” published by Viking Penguin, makes its debut; an intimate account of her career and the creative process, Ms. Fleming shares personal experiences learned throughout the course of her career.
Ms. Fleming's achievements within the classical music industry have been recognized with many honors, the most recent being awarded the 2004 Classical Brits Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music . In 2003, she was bestowed with Honorary Membership by the Royal Academy of Music; she received the 2003 Female Artist of the Year from the Classical Brits Awards, and an honorary doctorate from The Juilliard School (where she was also the commencement speaker). Among earlier awards are the Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Republic of France (summer 2002); the 2000 Gift of Music Award from the Orchestra of St. Luke's, given to individuals who have made a significant contribution to the world of classical music; the 1997 Musical America Vocalist of the Year, and in 1996, the first Solti Prize of l'Académie du Disque Lyrique for her outstanding recording artistry.
Outside of the classical music world, Ms. Fleming's excellence has been acknowledged as well, from appearing in advertising campaigns to serving as an inspiration for award-winning novelists. In May 2004, at Pacifica Flora, Japan 's international horticultural exhibition, the “Renée Fleming” iris was unveiled, and can also be seen at the Friendship Garden in Rochester , New York . She has represented Rolex's timepieces since 2001. People Magazine named her one of the “25 Most Intriguing People” of 2000, and in 1999, master chef Daniel Boulud paid homage to her with the creation of “La Diva Renée,” placing her in a legendary pantheon. The novelist Ann Patchett referred to her as the inspiration for the main character in her best-selling book , Bel Canto (2002) . Couturier Gianfranco Ferre has designed Ms. Fleming's stage gowns since 1998, and Issey Miyake and Oscar de la Renta have created gowns for her as well.
Renée Fleming studied at The Juilliard School and holds degrees from the State University of New York at Potsdam and the Eastman School of Music. Early recognition in Ms. Fleming's career includes the 1988 Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, the Richard Tucker Award, the George London Prize, the Grand Prix at the International Singing Competition in Belgium , and a Fulbright Scholarship to Germany.
Jules Massenet Manon . “Je marche sur tous les chemins…” ("Gavotte"). Renée Fleming, Soprano. English Chamber Orchestra. Jeffrey Tate. Decca 000102402.
George Crumb Ancient Voices of Children, for Mezzo Soprano &Boy Soprano, Oboe, Mandolin, Harp, Electric Piano & Percussionists . [Excerpt] “Todas las tardes en Granada, todas las tardes se muere un niño”. Contemporary Chamber Ensemble. Arthur Weisberg. Jan DeGaetani, Mezzo. Michael Dash, Boy Soprano. Nonesuch 79149.
Vincenzo Bellini La sonnambula . [Excerpt] “Ah! …se una volta sola” and “Ah! non credea mirarti”. Renée Fleming, Soprano. Orchestra of St. Luke's. Patrick Summers. Florence Maggio Musicale Chorus. Decca 467101.
Brad Mehldau "When it Rains" Brad Mehldau, Piano. Warner Brothers 48114.
Richard Strauss Four Last Songs, No. 3 , Beim Schlafengehn Renée Fleming, Soprano. Houston Symphony Orchestra. Christoph Eschenbach. RCA Victor Red Seal 68539.
Kaplan Opera star and lover of all kinds of music, Renée Fleming, on today's edition of “Mad About Music.”
[Theme Music]
Kaplan At a time of so few genuine stars on the opera stage, she is the real thing. Vogue magazine said it better than I can: “A sumptuous voice, a fool-proof technique, a rigorous musical intelligence, a capacious memory, a knack for languages, an attractive stage presence and a willingness to take on demanding new roles." At the same time, that writer described my guest as resembling a high-school marching band's drum major, a nice, perky, pretty girl, you know, the girl next door. Some combination. Renée Fleming, welcome to “Mad About Music.”
Fleming Thank you.
Kaplan Now, usually, stardom is accompanied by the emergence of a so-called diva personality. The impossible to work with prima donna. Now, you have made a point, I think, of avoiding that. I don't know if it's just in your nature, but you certainly have all the trappings, though, that are associated with divas. You're on the best-dressed list; the famous chef Daniel Boulud has named a chocolate dessert after you like, “Diva Renée"; you're on the Rolex advertising campaign; a flower – an iris – has been named for you; your name Renée, partly because of three letter “e's”, shows up in the crossword puzzle a lot; even a terrorist thriller author wrote a book, Bel Canto , its principal character is based on an opera diva. She says, like you. So, here's Vogue magazine, on the other side, who says you're just the perky, next-door girl, with no presumptions. So, where do you fit into those descriptions?
Fleming Well, I think that the word “diva” is of course much maligned right now, and it doesn't even really belong to us anymore. American culture has taken it over for other uses; but for me, I never really had it in me to become the temperamental scandal-causing negative side of that word. You know, I can be difficult, don't get me wrong, and I can be demanding. But, usually, I'm reasonable, it's not terribly unreasonable, and it's certainly not capricious. I try to reserve the use of the whole concept for what I do on stage.
Kaplan Now audiences go so crazy for you when you're singing that I think it's fair that we do talk about the nightmare – being booed, which I know happened at La Scala, and how does a singer live with that?
Fleming You know, one becomes accustomed to it, it's kind of a way of life in certain theaters and in certain houses, and singers can also develop a thick skin, just as we may have to develop a thick skin in regards to reviews, of booing. Another thing that has always amazed me, is if you go to a baseball game, if you go to Shea stadium or Yankee stadium, the insults and the screaming and yelling that comes from the gallery, even from fans. I always think, gosh, these guys, how do they just – do they ignore it? How does this just roll off their backs? So, it really depends on what's normal for any given theater or any given sport, you know. Opera has been called a “blood sport” as well. For me, it was difficult, because I wasn't used to it!
Kaplan All right, well, we'll return to Renée Fleming, as a singer, but also, as you know, “Mad About Music” is about people who love music as listeners. So, let's turn to you as a music lover, and go to the first selection on your list, which I see is by Erik Satie.
Fleming So this is the famous Gymnopédie by Erik Satie, as played by my dear friend and colleague, Jean-Yves Thibaudet. And Jean-Ives has done a really special recording, because it's the complete works, the piano works of Satie, who is arguably one of our undiscovered treasures and a composer that we don't know all that well; and Jean-Yves, I think, has provided a wonderful service for the music world in choosing to highlight his music, and not to mention the fact that he plays it so exquisitely. And I always say that the simplest pieces are the most difficult, and one can certainly hear that in this piece.
[Music]
Kaplan Erik Satie, Gymnopédie for Piano, performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, a selection of my guest on today's edition of “Mad About Music,” soprano Renée Fleming. Now, your collaboration with Thibaudet also shows up in a movie, the “Bride of the Wind,” the story of Alma Mahler's life, in which you play the role of a famous singer of the day, singing one of Alma's songs. How did you feel about Alma's music?
Fleming Well, I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, first of all, the body of music that we know about is very small. It's a very few songs, and it's only song literature, but they're beautiful and some of them are really quite accomplished. And when one thinks that she wrote them at a very young age, and then was purportedly asked not to write any more by Mahler, you know, “there will be only one composer in the family.” One wishes perhaps that she had the opportunity to develop her talent more. Who knows? Maybe she wasn't really that interested in it to begin with, but the talent is definitely there.
Kaplan Now recently, you took on new roles in Traviata , Daphne and Capriccio . I'm wondering if there are any significant roles left for you that you haven't performed?
Fleming Well, I'm singing a new production of Rodalinda, also, at the Met next season. So, that's three new roles just this year, and that's keeping me very busy, the two Strauss roles in particular are very demanding. And the answer to that question is not really. I can safely say at this very moment that I am thrilled and happy with the repertoire I've already sung and will be singing this season. And that anything after that is icing on the cake. But Violetta was the only role about which I could say before last year, gosh, I really need to do that one. I need to get that under my belt.
Kaplan Speaking of roles, I wonder if you ever thought about roles you might sing that you'll never sing because the relationship between the soprano and the tenor, of course, is the famous ones in opera. What would you sing if you were a tenor?
Fleming If I were a tenor, that's a good question! I actually love de Grieux's aria in Manon , I think that's a great, great aria. Really, it's about tenors, it's about all that beautiful music. I'd want to sing Tristan, I'd want to sing some of these great heroic roles. I would definitely want to sing Otello, even though he's a mess in the end! Just for the final scene, alone! Ach, it's so moving. You know, I was supposed to be dead, and I never could stop crying through that scene, because I was so moved by Placido, and later, Ben Heppner, it's just great, great music.
Kaplan All right, well then, let's turn to the music that you do sing and I see that Massenet shows up on your list next.
Fleming So this is the "Gavotte" from Massenet's Manon , and Manon is arguably one of my top three or four favorite roles. She has everything – musically, dramatically, in terms of her trajectory as a human being, as a character and also, in the demands – the musical and vocal demands of the role fit me like a glove. I love to sing her. And the "Gavotte" is charming and fun. It's her at her most decadent because she says, you know, the moral of the story is basically, have a wonderful time because we're only young once. And she's given up love to have fun. Given up love for glamour, for the high life, for money, you know, all of the things, the secret pleasures that we would never admit to desiring.
[Music]
Kaplan The well-known "Gavotte" from Massenet's Manon , sung by my guest on today's edition of “Mad About Music,” soprano Renée Fleming, with the English Chamber Orchestra led by Jeffrey Tate. You can learn more about Renée Fleming or hear any of our prior shows by logging onto our website at WNYC.org, and then just click on “Mad About Music.” When we return, we'll explore the backstage, the unknown world of opera.
[Station Break]
Kaplan This is Gilbert Kaplan with my guest, soprano Renée Fleming on today's edition of “Mad About Music.” Let's talk a bit about the backstage world of opera that most listeners never get in touch with. For example, the relationship with the conductor. Who decides what the tempo is going to be?
Fleming My favorite relationship is with the conductor. It's a musical collaboration that is the most exciting to me. So, who decides the tempo? If I can, I allow the conductor to decide it. If it's difficult, or if I think it would suit my voice better to try something different, I'll make a suggestion and most conductors are willing to be flexible.
Kaplan Now, as a lyric soprano, your voice is a voice that's more easily covered than say a dramatic soprano on the stage. Can you tell from the stage if you are getting out over the orchestra, and if you can tell, is there some way to signal the conductor that this is trouble?
Fleming That's an interesting question. No one's ever asked me that! The answer is, I can't really tell. We have no idea. Sometimes it's obvious, you see a conductor waving his arms absolutely wildly in a very loud place, in a thick orchestration, and then you can bet that we're being covered. Then we have a good idea that things are going badly.
Kaplan Now I recall several times being backstage after a performance and hearing a singer – quite a famous singer at times – come up to the conductor and apologize for forgetting lines. How often does that happen, and does it happen to you?
Fleming Oh, it happens to me all the time! It's one of – it's my Achilles heel. I worry about that all the time, about text. First of all, we're singing – I'm singing 90% of the time in a foreign language. And that's more difficult to retain, anyway. And particularly if I'm singing in French, for example, in Paris, and I'm more nervous about it, and then I begin second-guessing what my next phrase is, and that's when things go wrong. So, yes, that's definitely a worry of mine.
Kaplan All right then, let's jump back into the world of Renée Fleming, the listener again. And I see your next selection is George Crumb, an American composer who came to the fore in the 1960s, and I know that you are, as a singer, also very interested in contemporary music. So, tell us about the George Crumb piece.
Fleming Well, this was one of the first pieces I fell absolutely madly in love with. I was a student, and I ultimately did study with Jan DeGaetani, that was another reason I chose this piece because she had a huge influence on me as an artist, and I just listened to this piece, once I discovered it, over and over and over again, and I've always loved new music, even as a kid. I was very drawn to Stravinsky and to – if I'd go to an orchestral concert that was the kind of thing I really loved. I loved the idea that the unexpected was continually occurring and that form wasn't as obvious, and it just appealed to me. And this piece I've loved always as well. This is Ancient Voices of Children with Jan DeGaetani.
[Music]
Kaplan An excerpt from George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children, performed by the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, led by Arthur Weisberg with soloists including Jan DeGaetani, a strong influence on my guest today on “Mad About Music,” soprano Renée Fleming. Now, another popular form of music you participated in is, you are on the sound track of “The Lord of The Rings.” How did that come about, and what did you actually do there?
Fleming Well, that was an incredibly interesting experience. Howard Shore is a terrific film composer. He wrote music for the trilogy that's of epic proportion, 12 hours of music he wrote for these three films. And I recorded for about 20 hours and they wanted a very medieval, pure, vibratoless, almost toneless sound, without any connecting of pitches, without any dynamic change, and so it was kind of an interesting challenge, and the music is very beautiful. And of course I got to sing in Elvish! But the interesting thing is that I followed that not too long afterward with the recording of Handel arias, which will be released in the fall. And I started those recordings, and I realized that the “Lord of The Rings” sessions had prepared me perfectly for tuning into a Baroque style. So it was perfect preparation for that.
Kaplan Well, you won't be insulted by what I'm about to say because in a way it's a measure of the success, but I wonder how many people watching that actually recall singing in the sound track. It is blended in so very beautifully, that in a way, that's its success.
Fleming It's very blended in, one would have to either know about it, you also have to be very patient, because our musical credits occur after ten minutes of credits!
Kaplan All right, well, you want singing credits – let's return to singing and I see your next selection comes from Bellini.
Fleming This is one of my favorite bel canto arias, “Ah! non credea mirarti,” from Bellini's La sonnambula . This is a role I've actually only sung once in concert, and it was really technically a rehearsal, because I was the understudy. But I love this role, I love this music, I've always adored this aria, and bel canto was a personal, a very personal project for me, it was repertoire that I felt strongly about wanting to sing, against really anyone's beliefs that I could do it, because I've never been particularly known for bel canto, although, in truth, in the very beginning of my career, I sang a lot of this repertoire. So the thing I adore about this piece is the recitative. And that's the thing I felt strongly that I could bring to this repertoire is a real – you know, note-by-note expressive quality to the recitative, which is the part that pushes the story forward. The aria is also plaintive and very beautiful, and then there's a cabaletta, a coloratura cabaletta at the end when she wakes up and has a happy – lives happily ever after. That's why I chose this piece, for the drama really in the recitative – she's sleepwalking, and she's dreaming and she's fantasizing, and it has to have that kind of otherworldly quality. This is “Ah! non credea mirarti,” beginning with the recitative, from La sonnambula .
[Music]
Kaplan An excerpt from Bellini's La sonnambula sung by my guest on “Mad About Music” today, Renée Fleming, with the Orchestra of Saint Luke's, with the Florence Maggio Musicale Chorus, conducted by Patrick Summers. When we return, we'll discuss how singing jazz has affected Renée Fleming's opera performances and discuss the works she will sing when she opens Carnegie Hall's season this Wednesday.
[Station Break]
Kaplan This is Gilbert Kaplan with soprano Renée Fleming. Now I've noticed over the years that many classical performers and opera musicians just love jazz. But you would be an extreme example in that you also sing jazz, right?
Fleming Well, I did. I sang jazz, you could say professionally, for two and a half years with a trio, every weekend in a club in the small town where I attended undergraduate school in Potsdam, Potsdam State University, which was a fantastic training for me. There was a need for me to loosen up, to become less inhibited, just to begin to enjoy performing, which I never really had; and over that period of time, jazz helped me a lot.
Kaplan Do you find that jazz, in any way, informs your interpretations of opera, by which I mean, jazz of course is the ultimate improvisational singing, it's not mapped out. Does that give you the sense that when you're singing something, which is mapped out, you can do it with a greater sense of freedom?
Fleming I think that's a way that one could perhaps describe my style of singing, is that I do bring these elements of my jazz background a little bit to it, and it has to do with bending a phrase, it has to do with maybe not singing something strictly in time, you know, it's the kind of thing I sort of can't resist doing.
Kaplan Well, talking about jazz is a perfect transition to the next part of our show, which we call the “Wildcard,” where guests have an opportunity to pick music from outside the classical or opera repertoire, and I noticed that your choice is jazz with an artist, Brad Mehldau. Now, there's an interesting connection to “Mad About Music” in this particular composer, because Robert Harth, who recently passed away, the head of Carnegie Hall, was a guest on our show and he mentioned that he went down to the Village Vanguard one night, because he's a fan of Brad Mehldau, and who did he run into but you? And he asked you what you were doing there, it turns out you're a fan and I gather that from out of that moment, came the idea that why not commission him to do a work for you, which you will sing at Carnegie Hall in some future season? So tell us about your "Wildcard".
Fleming That's right. Brad, I really adore his playing and his musicianship. He's a very serious musician, and he is writing a series of songs for me, which we will premiere at Carnegie Hall in 05, so I'm thrilled about that, and we're already collaborating. This is from; I think it's his newest record, called “Largo". So this is the cut entitled “When It Rains,” from Brad Mehldau's “Largo”.
[Music]
Kaplan “When It Rains,” by jazz composer Brad Mehldau, the “Wildcard” selection of my guest on today's edition of “Mad About Music,” soprano Renée Fleming. Now over the years, you've drawn inspiration and received advice from some wonderful singers. And somewhere along the line, I think you took the message from the aria you sung before, that singers must take advantage of youth while they still have it. But by the time Maria Callas was your age, it is said she really lost her voice. Do you worry about that, and when it will happen, how it will happen?
Fleming Oh, I worry about it every day, and have for years. The voice is a very fragile instrument. So, yes, it's something I worry about all the time. In fact, I had a whole year, you know, my inquiry for the whole year was – this was many years ago – was asking everyone I met, so what happened to Maria Callas? What happened to Maria Callas? I really wanted to know.
Kaplan And what did happen to her?
Fleming Well, no one really knows, but my theory is that – we all know that she had, you know, she was on an emotional roller coaster – but she lost so much weight so quickly. My theory is that she never reworked her support system in her body, because one of the advantages to carrying a lot of extra weight is that it creates a support system without trying. I mean, I noticed when I was pregnant, it was incredibly easy to sing. One couldn't breathe, towards the end but you know, one has to have muscles to do all of that otherwise, and a kind of a technique that supports that. So, I think that was one problem, and you could see that in her videos later on in her career, the way she kind of held her forearm across her solar plexus to try and – pushing on that, to try and create some sort of outside thing. I also suspect that one can injury the ligaments and things supporting the vocal chords, just as one can have a skiing injury, and stretch something, because that's what the voice sounds like when it goes badly. It sounds like it's been stretched out of proportion.
Kaplan Well, the roles for which you are today most famous are many, but certainly the composer, I think, would have to be Strauss, and I've taken a little liberty of sort of encouraging you to let me select one work of Strauss, because you didn't, curiously, of the music you picked to play of your own today, you didn't include Strauss. So, I hope you won't mind if I include one of his Four Last Songs , which I am pleased to see you will sing for the opening of Carnegie Hall next season. You know, when former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath was a guest on “Mad About Music” he selected the final song, At Sunset , and described it as one of the most moving songs one knows and that the orchestra playing after the voice ceases “Finally”, he said, “we sense music describing the diminishing of life, a feeling that this is the end of all we've been expected to try to do in the world.” What do these songs mean to you?
Fleming Well, and the other thing about the end of Im Abendrot is that the sound of the birds makes it undeniably a positive end, which I love. It's so beautiful. The connection between the view of the sunset and also the ending of life. Strauss makes it perfectly in these pieces. And also through the seasons of life, from summer to autumn. Beim Schlafengehn is of course everyone's favorite because of its soaring, soaring violin solo. So there's no doubt that this is a beautiful depiction of something that's not sad but peaceful.
[Music]
Kaplan Beim Schlafengehn , “Upon Going to Sleep”, one of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs sung by Renée Fleming, my guest today on “Mad About Music” with the Houston Symphony Orchestra led by Christoph Eschenbach. These two artists, this time with the Philadelphia Orchestra, will open the season at Carnegie Hall this Wednesday, on October 6 th . Now as we close, I would like to ask you a personal question. But of course we've been talking very personally anyhow, but this is more personal. You have said so often throughout your career in interviews that you always regarded yourself as the quintessential “good girl”. But then I read recently that by now, you say it is really the erotic aspect of music that attracts you. Quote, "My real taste, my real sensibility, lies in the music I feel is sexy.”
Fleming Well, you know what it is? You'll find this in a lot of actors will make statements about how kind of quiet and nerdy they were, and there's always in secret that, the wild secretary who takes off her glasses and lets her hair down, in a lot of us who perform. So, I think in every performer and in many performers, there is this dual personality, the one who wants to come out and the one who is inhibited, and that's why we go onstage, so we can actually lose that for a little while, and become someone else.
Kaplan Well, as you know, being uninhibited on the opera stage often includes some nudity and no one makes a big deal about it. I wonder, what was your reaction to Janet Jackson's performance at the Super Bowl?
Fleming Oh, it was inappropriate. It was silly and inappropriate, and I think we're all tired of – we, the audience – are getting a little bit tired of everyone trying to be more outrageous than the other for a piece of television time. Unfortunately, you know, it's sort of the "dumbing down" of American culture, is what I see it as. I hope that the public at large and the public in general is going to want to be a little more challenged sometime soon.
Kaplan Well, you have challenged us today, I must say, and you've been a wonderfully exciting guest, revealing so many aspects of your musical and your personal feelings. This is Gilbert Kaplan with Renée Fleming on today's edition of “Mad About Music.”
[Credits]
About Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming's vocal artistry is acclaimed worldwide as the “gold standard of soprano sound.” The two-time Grammy Award winner's sensuous voice, interpretive skills and stylistic versatility are sought after on stage and in recordings. A champion of new music as well as the standard repertoire, the American soprano performs throughout the world's most distinguished venues with today's foremost orchestras and conductors. Recognized as a risk-taker in her field, Ms. Fleming has created many roles for the operatic stage and has premiered numerous songs written for her, earning her the respect of her colleagues and praise from the press as one of the great artists of our day.
Renée Fleming's 2004-2005 season is marked by a notable milestone, the November release of her first book, “The Inner Voice.” Also this fall, Decca releases her latest recording, a CD of Handel arias. Highlights of her 2004 summer season included her first-ever production of Capriccio with the Paris Opera at the Palais Garnier and appearances at music festivals including Tanglewood, the Hollywood Bowl, Ravinia and Lucerne . Engagements of special note this season include her role debut of Handel's Rodelinda in the Metropolitan Opera's company premiere of this work (December 2004/January 2005); and three performances at Carnegie Hall – at the 114 th Opening Night Gala with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Christoph Eschenbach on October 6 (which will be taped for a nationwide PBS telecast), in solo recital on February 21, 2005, and in duo-recital at Zankel Hall at Carnegie on May 15, 2005 with jazz pianist Brad Mehldau (featuring the world premiere of Mehldau's new work written especially for Ms. Fleming and commissioned by Carnegie). Ms. Fleming performs at numerous galas throughout North America, including the opening night galas of the San Francisco Opera, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of Nova Scotia, Virginia, Charlotte and Toronto, as well as at the 50 th anniversary galas for both the Lyric Opera of Chicago (October) and the Houston Grand Opera (April). In early 2005, Ms. Fleming commences a three month, 12-city recital tour that includes January performances at Santa Barbara's Arlington Theatre, Los Angeles' Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Seattle's Benaroya Hall, Vancouver's Orpheum Theatre, Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall and the Mondavi Center in Davis, California; at Washington, DC's Kennedy Center, Boston's Symphony Hall, New York's Carnegie Hall and St. Paul's Ordway Music Theatre in February; and in April at Fort Worth's Bass Performance Hall and Austin's University of Texas Performing Arts Center. Internationally, Ms. Fleming can be heard in performances in Spain with the Orquesta Teatro Real at Madrid's Teatro Real and Barcelona's Palau de la Musica and with the Gulbenkian Foundation Orchestra at Lisbon's Coliseu dos Recreios in October, and in April with the Berlin Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado. Summer 2005 engagements include a performance with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican for André Previn's 75 th Birthday Gala, a concert version of Thais with Thomas Hampson and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra at Vienna 's Konzerthaus, and performances of Otello with the Royal Opera at Covent Garden .
A celebrated artist in the recording arena with numerous award-winning discs to her credit, including two Grammys and eight Grammy nominations, Ms. Fleming has been an exclusive recording artist with Decca since 1995. Her fall 2004 release is a collection of arias entitled Renée Fleming: Handel . Recent CDs include “Renée Fleming By Request,” a collection of selected works from her recording catalog plus a few new additions, and the Grammy Award winning “ Bel Canto, ” a collection of works by Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, which also received the 2003 Edison Vocal Soloist Award and a 2003 Echo award. Additionally, Ms. Fleming can be heard in three tracks on the Warner Bros. Records original 2003 movie soundtrack to “ The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King .”
An avid reader since childhood, Ms. Fleming is an advocate for Literacy. This fall 2004, the 125 year-old American Library Association (ALA), the oldest, largest, and most influential non-profit library association in the world, features Ms. Fleming in their 2004-2005 READ poster campaign. In November, Ms. Fleming is honored by The New York Public Library as a “Library Lion,” an annual award given to individuals in recognition of their contributions through their work. On November 8, 2004 , Ms. Fleming's first book, “The Inner Voice,” published by Viking Penguin, makes its debut; an intimate account of her career and the creative process, Ms. Fleming shares personal experiences learned throughout the course of her career.
Ms. Fleming's achievements within the classical music industry have been recognized with many honors, the most recent being awarded the 2004 Classical Brits Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music . In 2003, she was bestowed with Honorary Membership by the Royal Academy of Music; she received the 2003 Female Artist of the Year from the Classical Brits Awards, and an honorary doctorate from The Juilliard School (where she was also the commencement speaker). Among earlier awards are the Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Republic of France (summer 2002); the 2000 Gift of Music Award from the Orchestra of St. Luke's, given to individuals who have made a significant contribution to the world of classical music; the 1997 Musical America Vocalist of the Year, and in 1996, the first Solti Prize of l'Académie du Disque Lyrique for her outstanding recording artistry.
Outside of the classical music world, Ms. Fleming's excellence has been acknowledged as well, from appearing in advertising campaigns to serving as an inspiration for award-winning novelists. In May 2004, at Pacifica Flora, Japan 's international horticultural exhibition, the “Renée Fleming” iris was unveiled, and can also be seen at the Friendship Garden in Rochester , New York . She has represented Rolex's timepieces since 2001. People Magazine named her one of the “25 Most Intriguing People” of 2000, and in 1999, master chef Daniel Boulud paid homage to her with the creation of “La Diva Renée,” placing her in a legendary pantheon. The novelist Ann Patchett referred to her as the inspiration for the main character in her best-selling book , Bel Canto (2002) . Couturier Gianfranco Ferre has designed Ms. Fleming's stage gowns since 1998, and Issey Miyake and Oscar de la Renta have created gowns for her as well.
Renée Fleming studied at The Juilliard School and holds degrees from the State University of New York at Potsdam and the Eastman School of Music. Early recognition in Ms. Fleming's career includes the 1988 Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, the Richard Tucker Award, the George London Prize, the Grand Prix at the International Singing Competition in Belgium , and a Fulbright Scholarship to Germany.