5x Grammy Award-winning soprano
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. A 2023 Kennedy Center Honoree, winner of 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 for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace to the Super Bowl. A groundbreaking distinction came in 2008 when she became the first woman in the 125-year history of the Metropolitan Opera to solo headline an opening night gala. In 2023, the World Health Organization appointed her as a Goodwill Ambassador for Arts and Health, and this year, she became an inaugural member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Arts and Culture Council.
Renée’s latest recital and concert program, Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene, inspired by her 2023 Grammy-winning album, includes an original film created by National Geographic to reflect the musical selections. In 2024 at the Metropolitan Opera, she reprised her role in The Hours, an opera based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and award-winning film. In 2023, she portrayed Pat Nixon in a new production of Nixon in China at the Opéra de Paris.
Renée’s anthology, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, was published in 2024. A prominent advocate for research at the intersection of arts, health and neuroscience, as artistic advisor to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Renée launched the first ongoing collaboration between America’s national cultural center and its largest health research institute, the National Institutes of Health. She created her own program called Music and the Mind, which she has presented in more than 50 cities around the world. She is now an 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.
Renée has recorded everything from complete operas and song recitals to indie rock and jazz. In 2023, Decca released a special double-length album of live recordings from Renée’s greatest performances at the Metropolitan Opera. That same year, Renée received the Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Solo for her album Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, with Yannick Nézet-Seguin as pianist. 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. Renée’s voice is featured on the soundtracks of Best Picture Oscar-winners The Shape of Water and The Lord of the Rings.
Co-artistic director of the Aspen Opera Center and VocalARTS at the Aspen Music Festival, Renée is also advisor for special projects at LA Opera. Renée’s other awards include the 2023 Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, Germany’s Cross of the Order of Merit, Sweden’s Polar Music Prize and honorary doctorates from 10 major universities.
