Renée Fleming
Encyclopedia
Renée Fleming is an American soprano
specializing in opera
and lied
er. Fleming has a full lyric soprano
voice.
Fleming has performed coloratura
, lyric
, and lighter spinto
soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also speaks fluent German and French, along with limited Italian. Her signature roles include Countess Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro
, Desdemona in Verdi's Otello
, Violetta in Verdi's La traviata
, the title role in Dvořák's Rusalka
, the title role in Massenet's Manon
, the title role in Massenet's Thaïs
, the Marschallin in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier
, and the title role in Arabella
.
A Richard Tucker Award winner, she regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide. In 2008 she was awarded the Swedish Polar Music Prize
for her services in music.
Conductor Sir Georg Solti
said of Fleming, "In my long life, I have met maybe two sopranos with this quality of singing; the other was Renata Tebaldi
."
, and grew up in Rochester, New York
.
She studied with Patricia Misslin
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
in Rochester, New York with voice teacher John Maloy.
She won a Fulbright Scholarship
, which enabled her to work in Europe with Arleen Augér
and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
. This was followed by further studies at the Juilliard School
, which she sang jazz gigs to pay for. While at Juilliard she sang in roles with the Juilliard Opera Center, appearing as Musetta in Puccini's La bohème
and the Wife in Menotti
's Tamu-Tamu, among others.
in the world premiere of Eliot Feld
's ballet
Adieu, which she again performed in 1987 and 1989 at the Joyce Theater
. In 1986 she sang her first major operatic role, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail
, at the Salzburg Landestheater. Two years later she portrayed Thalie, Clarine and La Folie in Jean-Philippe Rameau's Platée
with the Piccolo Teatro Dell Opera
.
Fleming's first major break came in 1988 when she won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions
at age 29. That same year she sang the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro
in her debut with Houston Grand Opera
. She reprised the role the following year in her debut at the Spoleto Festival. Also in 1989, Fleming made her debut with the New York City Opera
as Mimi in La Bohème and her debut with the Royal Opera
at Covent Garden
as Dirce in Cherubini's Médée
. She also was awarded a Richard Tucker Career Grant and won the George London Competition.
In 1990 she was once again honored by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation
but this time with the highly coveted Richard Tucker Award. That same year she made her debut with Seattle Opera
in her first portrayal of the title role in Rusalka
, a role that she has since recorded and reprised at many of the world's great opera houses. She also sang for the 50th anniversary of the American Ballet Theatre
in their production of Eliot Feld's Les Noces and returned to the New York City Opera to sing both the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro and Micaela in Bizet's Carmen
. In addition, she sang the title role in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia
with the Opera Orchestra of New York
.
In 1991, Fleming made her Metropolitan Opera
and San Francisco Opera
debut portraying Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. Fleming was originally not scheduled to make her Met debut until the next season, but ended up making it earlier than expected by stepping in to replace Felicity Lott
who had become ill. She returned to the Met later that year to sing Rosina in the world premiere of John Corigliano
's The Ghosts of Versailles
. That same year she made her Carnegie Hall
debut performing music by Ravel
with the New York City Opera Orchestra, sang Rusalka with Houston Grand Opera, and made her debut at the Tanglewood Music Festival
as Ilia in Mozart's Idomeneo
with Seiji Ozawa
and the Boston Symphony Orchestra
.
In 1992, Fleming made her debut with Grand Théâtre de Genève
as Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte
. She also sang the role of Anna in Boieldieu's La dame blanche
at Carnegie Hall with the Opera Orchestra of New York
and the role of Fortuna in Mozart's Il sogno di Scipione
at Alice Tully Hall
, as part of Lincoln Center's Festival of Mozart Operas in Concert.
In 1993, Fleming sang the role of Alaide in Bellini's La straniera
with the Opera Orchestra of New York, made her debut at the Rossini Opera Festival
in the title role of Rossini's Armida
, and her debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago
in the title role of Carlisle Floyd's Susannah
. She also gave her New York City solo recital debut at Alice Tully Hall to great acclaim. She also sang her first Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute
at the Metropolitan Opera and performed Berg's Three Excerpts from Wozzeck and Lulu Suite with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and James Levine
. She also sang the world premiere of Joan Tower
's Fanfare with Pinchas Zukerman
and the Aspen Chamber Symphony and the world premiere of John Kander
's Letter From Sullivan Ballou at the Richard Tucker Awards ceremony.
In 1994, Fleming sang her first Desdemona in Verdi's Otello and her first Ellen Orford in Britten's Peter Grimes
with the Metropolitan Opera. She also made her debut at the Glyndebourne Festival
as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro. She also performed the role of Madame de Tourvel in the world premiere of Conrad Susa's The Dangerous Liaisons
and sang the role of Salome in Massenet's Hérodiade
with the San Francisco Opera
.
In 1995 Fleming portrayed the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier
with Houston Grand Opera
, sang Hérodiade with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall, and sang Rusalka with the San Francisco Opera. She also sang Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Solti at Royal Festival Hall
and gave a lauded recital at the Morgan Library. She further signed an exclusive recording contract with the London/Decca label, making her the first American singer in 31 years to do so (Marilyn Horne
was the last).
In 1996, Fleming sang the title role in Rossini's Armida and the role of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at the Met and performed the soprano solos in the Verdi Requiem with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. She also sang her first Marguerite in Gounod's Faust
with Chicago Lyric Opera and sang the role of Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni
with the Paris Opera
at the reopening of the Palais Garnier
with Sir Georg Solti
. She was also chosen by Solti to be the first recipient of the Solti Prize, to be given to an outstanding younger singer. The award is given by the Académie du disque lyrique in a ceremony equivalent to the Grammy Award
s. Fleming also made debut at the Bayreuth Festival
as Eva in Wagner's Meistersinger
. Her other performances that year included recitals at the Edinburgh International Festival
and at Alice Tully Hall
.
In 1997, Fleming portrayed the Marschallin in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier and her first Manon at the Opéra Bastille
, receiving glowing reviews. She reprised the role at the Metropolitan Opera along with singing Marguerite in Faust and Rusalka. She also performed in concert twice with the New York Philharmonic
, first under the baton of Zubin Mehta
performing a selection of opera arias, and second singing Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate
and three songs of Richard Strauss
with Kurt Masur
. She also performed at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
and performed Samuel Barber
's Knoxville: Summer of 1915
with the Orchestra of St. Luke's
under André Previn
. She gave several recitals as well at such notable places as the Salzburg Festival
.
In 1998, Fleming sang the title role in Richard Strauss' Arabella
with Houston Grand Opera and the Countess with Lyric Opera of Chicago. She sang the title role in Carlisle Floyd
's Susannah
and Countess Almaviva in a landmark production of Le nozze di Figaro at the Met; the Mozart production also starred Cecilia Bartoli
, Susanne Mentzer
, Dwayne Croft
, Danielle de Niese
, and Bryn Terfel
and was broadcast on PBS
' Great Performances
. She made her Carnegie Hall recital debut. She sang Richard Strauss's Death and Transfiguration and Four Last Songs
with Claudio Abbado
and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra
at the Salzburg Festival.
She originated the roles of Blanche DuBois in the world première André Previn
's A Streetcar Named Desire
with the San Francisco Opera
. Fleming also performed Strauss' Four Last Songs with the Berlin Philharmonic. In what Fleming has described as "the worst night of her operatic life" she was roundly booed on the opening night of Lucrezia Borgia by Donizetti in July, 1998 at La Scala.
In 1999, Fleming appeared at the Bavarian State Opera
as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. She returned to Carnegie Hall to great success with a concert of German lieder. She also performed in recital with André Previn
and made her debut at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival. She also won a Grammy Award
for her CD 'The Beautiful Voice. She also performed the title role in Handel's Alcina
with Les Arts Florissants
and conductor William Christie
and with the Lyric Opera of Chicago
. She also sang the title role in Charpentier's Louise
with San Francisco Opera
and Théâtre du Capitole
. Fleming closed out the year by performing for President Bill Clinton
at the White House
for a Christmas celebration.
with the Opera Orchestra of New York. She also appeared as Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival
and the Met. She performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke's
, under Mark Elder
as part of the PBS series Live From Lincoln Center and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
in Haydn's Creation under James Levine.
In 2001, Fleming sang Desdemona in Otello with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Manon with the Paris Opera, the Marschallin with both the San Francisco Opera and the Met, and Arabella at both the Bavarian State Opera and the Met. She also sang Verdi's Requiem twice, once with the London Symphony Orchestra and once with the New York Philharmonic. Fleming also sang at World Trade Center site
shortly after the September 11 attacks.
In 2002, Fleming provided the vocals for Howard Shore
's soundtrack for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
soundtrack. Her singing can be found in the songs "The End of All Things", "Twilight and Shadow" and "The Return of the King" (Original Soundtrack) and "The Grace Of Undómiel", "Mount Doom", "The Eagles" and "The Fellowship Reunited" (The Complete Recordings). She also sang in several concerts in the United Kingdom with Bryn Terfel and gave the most extensive recital tour of her career, singing in dozens of recitals with accompianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet
throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia. In addition, she portrayed the role of Rusalka with Opéra Bastille
and Imogene in Il pirata
with Théâtre du Châtelet
.
In 2003, Fleming sang Imogene in at the Met, the title role in Massenet's Thaïs with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Rusalka at Covent Garden, and Violetta in La traviata
with both Houston Grand Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. She also reprised the role of Blanche in Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire at the Barbican Centre
in London.
In 2004, Fleming portrayed the title role in Handel's Rodelinda, and reprised the roles of Rusalka and Violetta at the Met. She also sang her first Gräfin (Countess) in Capriccio
at the Palais Garnier
and performed in concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
, the Philadelphia Orchestra
, the Boston Symphony Orchestra
, the Los Angeles Philharmonic
, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
among others. She also gave recitals in Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, and the United States and performed in several concerts with Elton John
at Radio City Music Hall
.
In 2005, Fleming sang the title role in Massenet's Manon at the Met, Desdemona in Verdi's Otello at Covent Garden, and Thaïs in Vienna. She also performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra
, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
, the New Jersey Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
among several other ensembles.
In 2006, Fleming performed a solo concert at the Lyric Opera of Chicago with Sir Andrew Davis
, sang Violetta in Verdi's La traviata
with Los Angeles Opera
, and returned to the Met to sing Manon and Rodelinda. She also sang Violetta again in the Metropolitan Opera's touring production to Japan and gave several recitals and concerts throughout the United States, Italy, Russia, and Sweden. She also sang in the Vienna Philharmonic's concert celebrating Mozart's 250th Birthday which was broadcast live internationally.
In 2007, Fleming sang Violetta with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin
at the Metropolitan Opera, Arabella with Zurich Opera
, and Thaïs at the Théâtre du Châtelet
, Royal Opera
, Vienna State Opera
, and the Liceu
. She also performed with over a dozen orchestras including the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra
,the National Symphony Orchestra
, the Vancouver Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony
, the China Philharmonic Orchestra
, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic
among others, and performed at numerous music festivals including the Salzburg Festival and the Lincoln Center Festival. She also gave recitals throughout Southeast Asia, Germany, and Switzerland.
In 2008, Fleming sang Violetta and Desdemona at the Metropolitan Opera, the Gräfin in Capriccio at the Vienna State Opera
, Tatyana at the Tanglewood Music Festival
, and Lucrezia Borgia at the Washington National Opera
.
In 2009, Fleming created the complete version of Le temps l'horloge
, the latest work of famous French composer Henri Dutilleux
. She sang Violetta at Covent Garden and Thaïs and Rusalka at the Metropolitan Opera, the Marschallin at the Baden-Baden Festival
, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
and the Metropolitan Opera. She sang a variety of short pieces at Napa Valley's Festival del Sole
in California.
During the 2009/2010 Metropolitan Opera season Fleming sang the Marschallin and in Mary Zimmerman
's new production, the first at the Met, of Rossini's Armida
, a role and production she will return to during the Met's 2010/2011 Season along with the Gräfin in Richard Strauss's Capriccio.
In an April 15, 2010, Wall Street Journal
article, Fleming talked about her view of the battle between opera traditionalists and those who want to reinterpret the standards, siding – with some reservations – with the latter. "I'm not a reactionary. I've loved some of [these productions] when they've been well thought out", she said. "I have no problem with edgy, as long as it's not vulgar or disrespectful of the piece." Still, she said her "classic" image meant that she was unlikely to be asked to perform in such productions. In the same Wall Street Journal interview, Fleming explained her increasing preference for performing in concerts, rather than opera productions, and said, having learned more than 50 operas, that she is unlikely to learn many more.
Fleming appeared on Good Morning America
on June 8, 2010, performing a cover of Muse
's "Endlessly" from their album Absolution.
At the Last Night of the BBC Proms in 2010, Fleming performed songs by Richard Strauss
, Dvořák
and Smetana
.
On November 11, 2010, the Charlie Haden
Quartet West released the jazz CD Sophisticated Ladies in which Fleming was a guest vocalist on the song "A Love Like This" by Ned Washington
and Victor Young
.
On December 9, 2010, the Board of Directors of Lyric Opera of Chicago announced that Fleming has been named Creative Consultant, a first in the company’s history.
..
label. In 2000 she was a guest artist alongside the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber
and the violinist Gil Shaham
on the album Two Worlds by Dave Grusin
and Lee Ritenour
. She recorded a jazz album in 2005 entitled Haunted Heart. She appears on the soundtrack of the 2003 film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
in which she sings in the imagined language Sindarin
. Renée Fleming recorded the duet "O soave fanciulla" with Michael Bolton
. Her album Dark Hope
, released in June 2010, features covers of songs by Leonard Cohen
, Band of Horses
, Jefferson Airplane
and others.
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."
On November 18, 2005, Fleming appeared as guest on the BBC Radio 4
radio programme Desert Island Discs
; her favourite was Joni Mitchell's 1971 song "River".
Fleming performed "I'll Be Home For Christmas" on ABC's The View on December 18, 2008.
She performed on January 18, 2009, at We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial
, singing the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic "You'll Never Walk Alone
" with the combined choirs of the United States Naval Academy
.
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
specializing in opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and lied
Lied
is a German word literally meaning "song", usually used to describe romantic songs setting German poems of reasonably high literary aspirations, especially during the nineteenth century, beginning with Carl Loewe, Heinrich Marschner, and Franz Schubert and culminating with Hugo Wolf...
er. Fleming has a full lyric soprano
Lyric soprano
A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre which can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and other sympathetic characters in opera. Lyric sopranos have...
voice.
Fleming has performed coloratura
Coloratura
Coloratura has several meanings. The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare . When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and...
, lyric
Lyric soprano
A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre which can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and other sympathetic characters in opera. Lyric sopranos have...
, and lighter spinto
Spinto
Spinto is a vocal term used to characterize a soprano or tenor voice of a weight between lyric and dramatic that is capable of handling large musical climaxes in opera at moderate intervals...
soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also speaks fluent German and French, along with limited Italian. Her signature roles include Countess Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
, Desdemona in Verdi's Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
, Violetta in Verdi's La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, the title role in Dvořák's Rusalka
Rusalka (opera)
Rusalka is an opera by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová. Rusalka is one of the most successful Czech operas, and represents a cornerstone of the repertoire of Czech opera houses...
, the title role in Massenet's Manon
Manon
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
, the title role in Massenet's Thaïs
Thaïs (opera)
Thaïs is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet based on the novel Thaïs by Anatole France. It was first performed at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on 16 March 1894, starring the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, for whom Massenet had written the title role...
, the Marschallin in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
, and the title role in Arabella
Arabella
Arabella is a lyric comedy or opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. It was first performed on 1 July 1933, at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater....
.
A Richard Tucker Award winner, she regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide. In 2008 she was awarded the Swedish Polar Music Prize
Polar Music Prize
The Polar Music Prize is a Swedish international music award founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, possibly best known to be the manager of the Swedish pop group ABBA, with a donation to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music....
for her services in music.
Conductor Sir Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
said of Fleming, "In my long life, I have met maybe two sopranos with this quality of singing; the other was Renata Tebaldi
Renata Tebaldi
Renata Tebaldi was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period...
."
Early life and education
A daughter of two music teachers, Fleming was born in Indiana, PennsylvaniaIndiana, Pennsylvania
Indiana is a borough in and the county seat of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 14,895 at the 2000 census.The borough and the region as a whole promotes itself as the "Christmas Tree Capital of the World" because the national Christmas Tree Grower's Association was...
, and grew up in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
.
She studied with Patricia Misslin
Patricia Misslin
Patricia Misslin is a renowned and respected American voice teacher and singer.Misslin obtained a B.M. and M.M. from Boston University and has studied with Anna Hamlin, Ludwig Bergman, Polyna Stoska, Fausto Cleva, and Felix Wolfes...
at the Crane School of Music
Crane School of Music
The Crane School of Music is located in Potsdam, New York, and is one of three schools which make up the State University of New York at Potsdam....
at the State University of New York at Potsdam
State University of New York at Potsdam
The State University of New York at Potsdam, also known as SUNY Potsdam, or, colloquially, Potsdam, is a public university located in the Village of Potsdam in St. Lawrence County, New York. Founded in 1816, it is among the 50 oldest colleges in the United States...
. While at SUNY Potsdam, she took up singing with a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
trio in an off-campus bar called Alger's. The jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
Illinois Jacquet
Illinois Jacquet
Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo....
invited her on tour with his big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
, but she chose instead to continue with graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
in Rochester, New York with voice teacher John Maloy.
She won a Fulbright Scholarship
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
, which enabled her to work in Europe with Arleen Augér
Arleen Auger
Joyce Arleen Auger was an American soprano singer, admired for her coloratura voice and interpretations of works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Monteverdi, Gluck, and Mozart.-Biography:...
and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, DBE was a German-born Austrian/British soprano opera singer and recitalist. She was among the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century, much admired for her performances of Mozart, Schubert, Strauss, and Wolf.-Early life:Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike...
. This was followed by further studies at the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
, which she sang jazz gigs to pay for. While at Juilliard she sang in roles with the Juilliard Opera Center, appearing as Musetta in Puccini's La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
and the Wife in Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
's Tamu-Tamu, among others.
1980s to 1990s
Fleming first began performing professionally in smaller concerts and with small opera companies while still a graduate student at Juilliard. She sang frequently in the Musica Viva concert series sponsored by the New York Unitarian Church of All Souls during the 1980s. In 1984 she sang nine songs by Hugo WolfHugo Wolf
Hugo Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in...
in the world premiere of Eliot Feld
Eliot Feld
Eliot Feld is an American modern ballet choreographer, performer and director.-Life and career:Feld was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Alice , a travel agent, and Benjamin Noah Feld, an attorney...
's ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
Adieu, which she again performed in 1987 and 1989 at the Joyce Theater
Joyce Theater
The Joyce Theater is a 472-seat dance performance venue located in the Chelsea area of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The Joyce Theater Foundation, the organization founded in 1982 that operates the theater, also owns the Joyce SoHo dance center located in a former firehouse on Mercer...
. In 1986 she sang her first major operatic role, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
, at the Salzburg Landestheater. Two years later she portrayed Thalie, Clarine and La Folie in Jean-Philippe Rameau's Platée
Platée
Platée is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Jean-Philippe Rameau with a libretto by Adrien-Joseph Le Valois d'Orville. Rameau bought the rights to the libretto Platée ou Junon Jalouse by Jacques Autreau and had d'Orville modify it...
with the Piccolo Teatro Dell Opera
Piccolo Teatro Dell Opera
Piccolo Teatro Dell Opera was a small professional opera company located in New York City. Founded in 1984 by Barbara Elliott, the company's goal was to foster an interest in opera in today's culture and provide performance opportunities for young professional singers just starting out in their...
.
Fleming's first major break came in 1988 when she won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is an annual singing competition sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera. Established in 1954, its purpose is to discover, assist, promote, and develop young opera singers. The competition is held in four stages: Districts, Regional, Semi-Final, and...
at age 29. That same year she sang the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
in her debut with Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
. She reprised the role the following year in her debut at the Spoleto Festival. Also in 1989, Fleming made her debut with the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
as Mimi in La Bohème and her debut with the Royal Opera
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
at Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
as Dirce in Cherubini's Médée
Médée (Cherubini)
Médée is a French language opéra-comique by Luigi Cherubini.The libretto by François-Benoît Hoffmann was based on Euripides' tragedy of Medea and Pierre Corneille's play Médée....
. She also was awarded a Richard Tucker Career Grant and won the George London Competition.
In 1990 she was once again honored by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation
Richard Tucker Music Foundation
The Richard Tucker Music Foundation, founded in 1975, is a "non-profit cultural organization dedicated to perpetuating the artistic legacy of the great American tenor through the support and advancement of the careers of talented American opera singers by bringing opera into the community...
but this time with the highly coveted Richard Tucker Award. That same year she made her debut with Seattle Opera
Seattle Opera
The Seattle Opera is an opera company located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as the company's first general director through 1983, Seattle Opera's season runs from August to late May, with five or six operas offered and with eight to ten performances each, often...
in her first portrayal of the title role in Rusalka
Rusalka (opera)
Rusalka is an opera by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová. Rusalka is one of the most successful Czech operas, and represents a cornerstone of the repertoire of Czech opera houses...
, a role that she has since recorded and reprised at many of the world's great opera houses. She also sang for the 50th anniversary of the American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre , based in New York City, was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century. It continues as a leading dance company in the world today...
in their production of Eliot Feld's Les Noces and returned to the New York City Opera to sing both the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro and Micaela in Bizet's Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
. In addition, she sang the title role in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia (opera)
Lucrezia Borgia is a melodramma, or opera, in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after the play by Victor Hugo, in its turn after the legend of Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia was first performed on 26 December 1833 at La Scala, Milan with...
with the Opera Orchestra of New York
Opera Orchestra of New York
The Opera Orchestra of New York specializes in the performance of opera in concert form. It is particularly known for its work in presenting rarely performed repertory...
.
In 1991, Fleming made her Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
and San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
debut portraying Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. Fleming was originally not scheduled to make her Met debut until the next season, but ended up making it earlier than expected by stepping in to replace Felicity Lott
Felicity Lott
Dame Felicity Ann Emwhyla Lott, DBE, FRCM is an English soprano.-Education:From her earliest years she was musical, having started studying piano at age 5. She also played violin and began singing lessons at 12. She is an alumna of Royal Holloway, University of London, obtaining a BA in French and...
who had become ill. She returned to the Met later that year to sing Rosina in the world premiere of John Corigliano
John Corigliano
John Corigliano is an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music. He is a distinguished professor of music at Lehman College in the City University of New York.-Biography:...
's The Ghosts of Versailles
The Ghosts of Versailles
The Ghosts of Versailles is an opera in two acts, with music by John Corigliano to an English libretto by William M. Hoffman. The Metropolitan Opera had commissioned the work from Corigliano in 1980 in celebration of its 100th anniversary, with the premiere scheduled for 1983...
. That same year she made her Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
debut performing music by Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
with the New York City Opera Orchestra, sang Rusalka with Houston Grand Opera, and made her debut at the Tanglewood Music Festival
Tanglewood Music Festival
The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts....
as Ilia in Mozart's Idomeneo
Idomeneo
Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, which had been set to music by André Campra as Idoménée in 1712...
with Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa
is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
and the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
.
In 1992, Fleming made her debut with Grand Théâtre de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland.As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, officially opened in 1876, partly destroyed by fire in 1951 and reopened in...
as Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
. She also sang the role of Anna in Boieldieu's La dame blanche
La Dame blanche
La dame blanche is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer François-Adrien Boieldieu. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and is based on episodes from no less than five of the works by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, including his novels The Monastery, Guy Mannering, and The...
at Carnegie Hall with the Opera Orchestra of New York
Opera Orchestra of New York
The Opera Orchestra of New York specializes in the performance of opera in concert form. It is particularly known for its work in presenting rarely performed repertory...
and the role of Fortuna in Mozart's Il sogno di Scipione
Il sogno di Scipione
Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126, is a dramatic serenade in one act composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, which is based on the book Somnium Scipionis by Cicero. Mozart had originally composed the work at the age of 15 for his patron, Prince-Archbishop Sigismund von...
at Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. It is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assisted in the construction of the hall...
, as part of Lincoln Center's Festival of Mozart Operas in Concert.
In 1993, Fleming sang the role of Alaide in Bellini's La straniera
La straniera
La straniera is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini, from a libretto by Felice Romani, based on L'étrangère by Charles-Victor Prévot, vicomte d'Arlincourt...
with the Opera Orchestra of New York, made her debut at the Rossini Opera Festival
Rossini Opera Festival
The Rossini Opera Festival is an opera festival held in August of each year in Pesaro, Italy, the birthplace of the opera composer Gioachino Rossini....
in the title role of Rossini's Armida
Armida (Rossini)
Armida is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, based on scenes from Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso.-Performance history:...
, and her debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
in the title role of Carlisle Floyd's Susannah
Susannah
Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending...
. She also gave her New York City solo recital debut at Alice Tully Hall to great acclaim. She also sang her first Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
at the Metropolitan Opera and performed Berg's Three Excerpts from Wozzeck and Lulu Suite with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and James Levine
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...
. She also sang the world premiere of Joan Tower
Joan Tower
Joan Tower is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded by the New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time", her bold and energetic compositions have been performed in concert halls around the world...
's Fanfare with Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman is a world-renowned violinist, violist, and conductor. He is considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and his ongoing 45-year career has seen him perform with the world's best-known orchestras and record over 100 works...
and the Aspen Chamber Symphony and the world premiere of John Kander
John Kander
John Harold Kander is the American composer of a number of musicals as part of the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb.-Life and career:Kander was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Bernice and Harold S. Kander...
's Letter From Sullivan Ballou at the Richard Tucker Awards ceremony.
In 1994, Fleming sang her first Desdemona in Verdi's Otello and her first Ellen Orford in Britten's Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough...
with the Metropolitan Opera. She also made her debut at the Glyndebourne Festival
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro. She also performed the role of Madame de Tourvel in the world premiere of Conrad Susa's The Dangerous Liaisons
The Dangerous Liaisons
The Dangerous Liaisons is an opera in two acts and eight scenes, with music by Conrad Susa to an English libretto by Philip Littell. It is based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The opera received its first performance by the San Francisco Opera on 10 September...
and sang the role of Salome in Massenet's Hérodiade
Hérodiade
Hérodiade is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont, based on the novella Hérodias by Gustave Flaubert...
with the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
.
In 1995 Fleming portrayed the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
with Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
, sang Hérodiade with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall, and sang Rusalka with the San Francisco Opera. She also sang Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Solti at Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
and gave a lauded recital at the Morgan Library. She further signed an exclusive recording contract with the London/Decca label, making her the first American singer in 31 years to do so (Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
was the last).
In 1996, Fleming sang the title role in Rossini's Armida and the role of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at the Met and performed the soprano solos in the Verdi Requiem with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. She also sang her first Marguerite in Gounod's Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
with Chicago Lyric Opera and sang the role of Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
with the Paris Opera
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
at the reopening of the Palais Garnier
Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
with Sir Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
. She was also chosen by Solti to be the first recipient of the Solti Prize, to be given to an outstanding younger singer. The award is given by the Académie du disque lyrique in a ceremony equivalent to the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s. Fleming also made debut at the Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
as Eva in Wagner's Meistersinger
Meistersinger
A Meistersinger was a member of a German guild for lyric poetry, composition and unaccompanied art song of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The Meistersingers were drawn from middle class males for the most part.-Guilds:...
. Her other performances that year included recitals at the Edinburgh International Festival
Edinburgh International Festival
The Edinburgh International Festival is a festival of performing arts that takes place in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, over three weeks from around the middle of August. By invitation from the Festival Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of music , theatre, opera...
and at Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. It is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assisted in the construction of the hall...
.
In 1997, Fleming portrayed the Marschallin in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier and her first Manon at the Opéra Bastille
Opéra Bastille
L'Opéra Bastille ' is a modern opera house in Paris, France. It is the home base of the Opéra national de Paris and was designed to replace the Palais Garnier, which is nowadays mainly used for ballet performances....
, receiving glowing reviews. She reprised the role at the Metropolitan Opera along with singing Marguerite in Faust and Rusalka. She also performed in concert twice with the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
, first under the baton of Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
performing a selection of opera arias, and second singing Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate
Exsultate, jubilate
Exsultate, jubilate K. 165, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was written in 1773.This religious solo motet was composed at the time Mozart was visiting Milan....
and three songs of Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
with Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur is a German conductor, particularly noted for his interpretation of German Romantic music.- Biography :Masur was born in Brieg, Lower Silesia, Germany and studied piano, composition and conducting in Leipzig, Saxony. Masur has been married three times...
. She also performed at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
and performed Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber
Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
's Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Knoxville: Summer of 1915 is a 1947 work for voice and orchestra by Samuel Barber. The text is taken from a 1938 short prose piece by James Agee...
with the Orchestra of St. Luke's
Orchestra of St. Luke's
The Orchestra of St. Luke's is an American chamber orchestra based in New York City.It was founded in the summer of 1979 at the Caramoor International Music Festival in Katonah, New York....
under André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
. She gave several recitals as well at such notable places as the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
.
In 1998, Fleming sang the title role in Richard Strauss' Arabella
Arabella
Arabella is a lyric comedy or opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. It was first performed on 1 July 1933, at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater....
with Houston Grand Opera and the Countess with Lyric Opera of Chicago. She sang the title role in Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd is an American opera composer. The son of a Methodist minister, he based many of his works on themes from the South...
's Susannah
Susannah
Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending...
and Countess Almaviva in a landmark production of Le nozze di Figaro at the Met; the Mozart production also starred Cecilia Bartoli
Cecilia Bartoli
Cecilia Bartoli is an Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano opera singer and recitalist. She is best-known for her interpretation of the music of Mozart and Rossini, as well as for her performances of lesser-known Baroque and classical music...
, Susanne Mentzer
Susanne Mentzer
Susanne Mentzer is an operatic mezzo-soprano. She is best known for singing trouser roles, such as Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Idamante in Mozart's Idomeneo, Octavian in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier and the composer in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as other music of...
, Dwayne Croft
Dwayne Croft
Dwayne Croft is an American baritone who has sung in more than 300 performances in 25 roles at the Metropolitan Opera.He won the Richard Tucker Award in 1996....
, Danielle de Niese
Danielle de Niese
Danielle de Niese is a lyric soprano. After success as a young child in singing competitions in Australia, she moved to the USA where she developed an operatic career...
, and Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel Jones CBE is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner....
and was broadcast on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
' Great Performances
Great Performances
Great Performances, a television series devoted to the performing arts, has been telecast on Public Broadcasting Service public television since 1972...
. She made her Carnegie Hall recital debut. She sang Richard Strauss's Death and Transfiguration and Four Last Songs
Four Last Songs
The Four Last Songs for soprano and orchestra were the final completed works of Richard Strauss, composed in 1948 when the composer was 84. Strauss did not live to hear the premiere, given at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 22 May 1950 by the soprano Kirsten Flagstad accompanied by the...
with Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...
and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra
Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra
Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester is a youth orchestra based in Vienna, Austria, founded in 1986 by conductor Claudio Abbado.-History:...
at the Salzburg Festival.
She originated the roles of Blanche DuBois in the world première André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
's A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (opera)
A Streetcar Named Desire is an opera composed by André Previn with a libretto by Philip Littell in 1995. It is based on the play by Tennessee Williams and received its premiere at the San Francisco Opera during the 1998-99 season.-Cast:...
with the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
. Fleming also performed Strauss' Four Last Songs with the Berlin Philharmonic. In what Fleming has described as "the worst night of her operatic life" she was roundly booed on the opening night of Lucrezia Borgia by Donizetti in July, 1998 at La Scala.
In 1999, Fleming appeared at the Bavarian State Opera
Bavarian State Opera
The Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany.Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra.- History:The opera company which was founded under Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy has been in existence since 1653...
as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. She returned to Carnegie Hall to great success with a concert of German lieder. She also performed in recital with André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
and made her debut at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival. She also won a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for her CD 'The Beautiful Voice. She also performed the title role in Handel's Alcina
Alcina
Alcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after, during his travels in Italy...
with Les Arts Florissants
Les Arts Florissants (ensemble)
Les Arts Florissants is a Baroque musical ensemble in residence at the Théâtre de Caen in Caen, France. The organization was founded by conductor William Christie in 1979. The ensemble derives its name from the 1685 opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. The organization consists of a chamber orchestra...
and conductor William Christie
William Christie (musician)
William Lincoln Christie is an American-born French conductor and harpsichordist. He is noted as a specialist in baroque repertoire and as the founder of the ensemble Les Arts Florissants....
and with the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
. She also sang the title role in Charpentier's Louise
Louise (opera)
Louise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....
with San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
and Théâtre du Capitole
Théâtre du Capitole
The Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse is an opera house and ballet company located within the main administration buildings, the Capitole, of the city of Toulouse in south-west France....
. Fleming closed out the year by performing for President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
for a Christmas celebration.
2000s
In 2000, Fleming appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and at Covent Garden as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and sang the title role in Donizetti's Lucrezia BorgiaLucrezia Borgia (opera)
Lucrezia Borgia is a melodramma, or opera, in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after the play by Victor Hugo, in its turn after the legend of Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia was first performed on 26 December 1833 at La Scala, Milan with...
with the Opera Orchestra of New York. She also appeared as Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
and the Met. She performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke's
Orchestra of St. Luke's
The Orchestra of St. Luke's is an American chamber orchestra based in New York City.It was founded in the summer of 1979 at the Caramoor International Music Festival in Katonah, New York....
, under Mark Elder
Mark Elder
Sir Mark Philip Elder, CBE is a British conductor. He is the music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England.-Biography:Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, England, the son of a dentist...
as part of the PBS series Live From Lincoln Center and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
in Haydn's Creation under James Levine.
In 2001, Fleming sang Desdemona in Otello with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Manon with the Paris Opera, the Marschallin with both the San Francisco Opera and the Met, and Arabella at both the Bavarian State Opera and the Met. She also sang Verdi's Requiem twice, once with the London Symphony Orchestra and once with the New York Philharmonic. Fleming also sang at World Trade Center site
World Trade Center site
The World Trade Center site , also known as "Ground Zero" after the September 11 attacks, sits on in Lower Manhattan in New York City...
shortly after the September 11 attacks.
In 2002, Fleming provided the vocals for Howard Shore
Howard Shore
Howard Leslie Shore is a Canadian composer, notable for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he won three Academy Awards. He is also a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg,...
's soundtrack for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy-drama film directed by Peter Jackson that is based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings...
soundtrack. Her singing can be found in the songs "The End of All Things", "Twilight and Shadow" and "The Return of the King" (Original Soundtrack) and "The Grace Of Undómiel", "Mount Doom", "The Eagles" and "The Fellowship Reunited" (The Complete Recordings). She also sang in several concerts in the United Kingdom with Bryn Terfel and gave the most extensive recital tour of her career, singing in dozens of recitals with accompianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet
Jean-Yves Thibaudet
-Early life:Jean-Yves Thibaudet was born in Lyon, France, to non-professional musical parents. His father played the violin, and his mother, of German origin and a somewhat accomplished pianist herself, introduced the instrument to Jean-Yves....
throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia. In addition, she portrayed the role of Rusalka with Opéra Bastille
Opéra Bastille
L'Opéra Bastille ' is a modern opera house in Paris, France. It is the home base of the Opéra national de Paris and was designed to replace the Palais Garnier, which is nowadays mainly used for ballet performances....
and Imogene in Il pirata
Il pirata
Il pirata is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani from a French translation of the tragic play Bertram, or The Castle of St Aldobrando by Charles Maturin...
with Théâtre du Châtelet
Théâtre du Châtelet
The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...
.
In 2003, Fleming sang Imogene in at the Met, the title role in Massenet's Thaïs with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Rusalka at Covent Garden, and Violetta in La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
with both Houston Grand Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. She also reprised the role of Blanche in Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire at the Barbican Centre
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
in London.
In 2004, Fleming portrayed the title role in Handel's Rodelinda, and reprised the roles of Rusalka and Violetta at the Met. She also sang her first Gräfin (Countess) in Capriccio
Capriccio (opera)
Capriccio is the final opera by German composer Richard Strauss, subtitled "A Conversation Piece for Music". The opera received its premiere performance at the Nationaltheater München on October 28, 1942. Clemens Krauss and Strauss himself wrote the German libretto...
at the Palais Garnier
Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
and performed in concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
, the Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
, the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
, the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...
among others. She also gave recitals in Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, and the United States and performed in several concerts with Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
at Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
.
In 2005, Fleming sang the title role in Massenet's Manon at the Met, Desdemona in Verdi's Otello at Covent Garden, and Thaïs in Vienna. She also performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is a professional American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland.In September 2007, Maestra Marin Alsop led her inaugural concerts as the Orchestra’s twelfth music director, making her the first woman to head a major American orchestra.The BSO Board...
, the New Jersey Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...
among several other ensembles.
In 2006, Fleming performed a solo concert at the Lyric Opera of Chicago with Sir Andrew Davis
Andrew Davis (conductor)
Sir Andrew Frank Davis CBE is a British conductor.Born in Ashridge, Hertfordshire to Robert J. Davis and his wife Florence J. née Badminton, Davis grew up in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and in Watford. Davis attended Watford Boys' Grammar School, where he studied classics in his sixth form years...
, sang Violetta in Verdi's La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
with Los Angeles Opera
Los Angeles Opera
The Los Angeles Opera is an opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center.-Current leadership:...
, and returned to the Met to sing Manon and Rodelinda. She also sang Violetta again in the Metropolitan Opera's touring production to Japan and gave several recitals and concerts throughout the United States, Italy, Russia, and Sweden. She also sang in the Vienna Philharmonic's concert celebrating Mozart's 250th Birthday which was broadcast live internationally.
In 2007, Fleming sang Violetta with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
at the Metropolitan Opera, Arabella with Zurich Opera
Zurich Opera
Oper Zürich is an opera company based in Zurich, Switzerland. The company gives performances in the Opernhaus Zürich which has been the company’s home for fifty years.-History:...
, and Thaïs at the Théâtre du Châtelet
Théâtre du Châtelet
The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...
, Royal Opera
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
, Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
, and the Liceu
Liceu
The Gran Teatre del Liceu , or simply Liceu in Catalan and Liceo in Spanish, is an opera house on La Rambla in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain...
. She also performed with over a dozen orchestras including the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra
Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra
The Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra is the main orchestra in the principality of Monaco...
,the National Symphony Orchestra
National Symphony Orchestra
The National Symphony Orchestra , founded in 1931, is an American symphony orchestra that performs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.-History:...
, the Vancouver Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
, the China Philharmonic Orchestra
China Philharmonic Orchestra
The China Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra founded in Beijing, China on May 25, 2000, based on the previous "China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra"...
, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
among others, and performed at numerous music festivals including the Salzburg Festival and the Lincoln Center Festival. She also gave recitals throughout Southeast Asia, Germany, and Switzerland.
In 2008, Fleming sang Violetta and Desdemona at the Metropolitan Opera, the Gräfin in Capriccio at the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
, Tatyana at the Tanglewood Music Festival
Tanglewood Music Festival
The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts....
, and Lucrezia Borgia at the Washington National Opera
Washington National Opera
The Washington National Opera is an opera company in Washington, D.C., USA. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performances are now given in the Opera House of the John F...
.
In 2009, Fleming created the complete version of Le temps l'horloge
Le Temps L'Horloge
Le temps l'horloge is a work for soprano and orchestra, written by French composer Henri Dutilleux, who composed the three songs in this cycle between 2006 and 2007...
, the latest work of famous French composer Henri Dutilleux
Henri Dutilleux
Henri Dutilleux is one of the most important French composers of the second half of the 20th century, producing work in the tradition of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Albert Roussel, but in a style distinctly his own...
. She sang Violetta at Covent Garden and Thaïs and Rusalka at the Metropolitan Opera, the Marschallin at the Baden-Baden Festival
Festspiel Baden-Baden
The Festspiel Baden-Baden ' is a series of festivals presented by the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden in Baden-Baden, Germany. The programme is structured around four annual festival periods dispersed throughout the year...
, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is a theatre at 15 avenue Montaigne. Despite its name, the theatre is not on the Champs-Élysées but nearby in another part of the 8th arrondissement of Paris....
and the Metropolitan Opera. She sang a variety of short pieces at Napa Valley's Festival del Sole
Festival del Sole
The Festival del Sole is an annual music, food, wine, and art festival held in California's Napa Valley. Founded in 2006 by Rick Walker, an arts manager and Grammy-award winning music producer, the festival attracts over 10,000 attendees annually...
in California.
During the 2009/2010 Metropolitan Opera season Fleming sang the Marschallin and in Mary Zimmerman
Mary Zimmerman
Mary Zimmerman is an American theatre director and playwright, born in Lincoln, Nebraska.-Career:Zimmerman is a member of the Lookingglass Theatre Company and is an Artistic Associate of the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. She received her BS, MA and PhD from Northwestern University, where...
's new production, the first at the Met, of Rossini's Armida
Armida (Rossini)
Armida is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, based on scenes from Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso.-Performance history:...
, a role and production she will return to during the Met's 2010/2011 Season along with the Gräfin in Richard Strauss's Capriccio.
In an April 15, 2010, Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
article, Fleming talked about her view of the battle between opera traditionalists and those who want to reinterpret the standards, siding – with some reservations – with the latter. "I'm not a reactionary. I've loved some of [these productions] when they've been well thought out", she said. "I have no problem with edgy, as long as it's not vulgar or disrespectful of the piece." Still, she said her "classic" image meant that she was unlikely to be asked to perform in such productions. In the same Wall Street Journal interview, Fleming explained her increasing preference for performing in concerts, rather than opera productions, and said, having learned more than 50 operas, that she is unlikely to learn many more.
Fleming appeared on Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
on June 8, 2010, performing a cover of Muse
Muse (band)
Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...
's "Endlessly" from their album Absolution.
At the Last Night of the BBC Proms in 2010, Fleming performed songs by Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
, Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
and Smetana
Bedrich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
.
On November 11, 2010, the Charlie Haden
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
Quartet West released the jazz CD Sophisticated Ladies in which Fleming was a guest vocalist on the song "A Love Like This" by Ned Washington
Ned Washington
Ned Washington was an American lyricist.-Biography:Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards from 1940 to 1962...
and Victor Young
Victor Young
Victor Young was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. He was born in Chicago.-Biography:...
.
On December 9, 2010, the Board of Directors of Lyric Opera of Chicago announced that Fleming has been named Creative Consultant, a first in the company’s history.
Personal life
Fleming married actor Rick Ross in 1989, and they have two daughters together; Amelia, born in 1993, and Sage, born in 1995. The couple divorced in 2000, and Fleming has raised their children as a single mother. On September 3, 2011 Fleming married corporate lawyer Tim Jessell, whom she met on a blind date set up by author Ann PatchettAnn Patchett
Ann Patchett is an American author. She received the Orange Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2002 for her novel Bel Canto. Patchett's other novels include Run, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, and The Magician's Assistant, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize...
..
Popular recordings
Fleming has released a number of music recordings on the DeccaDecca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
label. In 2000 she was a guest artist alongside the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber is a British solo cellist who has been described as the "doyen of British cellists".-Early life:Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer William Lloyd Webber and his wife Jean Johnstone . He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber...
and the violinist Gil Shaham
Gil Shaham
-Biography:Gil Shaham was born in Urbana, Illinois, while his parents, Israeli scientists, were on an academic fellowship at the University of Illinois. His father Jacob was an astrophysicist, and his mother, Meira Diskin, was a cytogeneticist. His sister is the pianist Orli Shaham. He is a...
on the album Two Worlds by Dave Grusin
Dave Grusin
David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys...
and Lee Ritenour
Lee Ritenour
Lee Mack Ritenour is an American jazz guitarist who has recorded over 42 albums, appeared on over 3000 sessions, and has charted over 30 instrumental and vocal contemporary jazz hits since 1976. One of his most popular songs was the smash hit, “Is It You” in 1981. Ritenour is considered to be a...
. She recorded a jazz album in 2005 entitled Haunted Heart. She appears on the soundtrack of the 2003 film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy-drama film directed by Peter Jackson that is based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings...
in which she sings in the imagined language Sindarin
Sindarin
Sindarin is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called the Eledhrim or Edhellim in Sindarin....
. Renée Fleming recorded the duet "O soave fanciulla" with Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton originally performed in the hard rock and heavy metal genres from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, both on his early solo albums and those recorded as the frontman of the band Blackjack...
. Her album Dark Hope
Dark Hope
Dark Hope is a 2010 album of indie rock titles sung by operatic soprano Renée Fleming.The album was the idea of Peter Mensch and Cliff Burnstein; after listening to Fleming's performance of "In the Pines" on Elvis Costello's TV show Spectacle, they approached Fleming and producer David Kahne...
, released in June 2010, features covers of songs by Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
, Band of Horses
Band of Horses
Band of Horses, originally briefly known as Horses, are an American rock band formed in 2004 in Seattle by Ben Bridwell. They have released three studio albums, the most recent and most successful of which is 2010's Grammy nominated Infinite Arms...
, Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
and others.
TV, radio and record guest appearances
Fleming has a notable sense of humor. She appeared on the children's show Sesame StreetSesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
singing a lively rendition of "Caro nome" from Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
, replacing the traditional Italian text with lyrics intended to aid children learning to count.
She has performed several times on Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor
Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...
's popular public radio
Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...
program A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...
.
Fleming appeared as a "Special Guest Vocalist" on Joe Jackson's
Joe Jackson (musician)
Joe Jackson is an English musician and singer-songwriter now living in Berlin, whose five Grammy Award nominations span from 1979 to 2001...
1994 album Night Music
Night Music (album)
Night Music is an 1994 album by Joe Jackson.With Night Music and the subsequent effort, Heaven and Hell , his retirement from the mainstream seemed permanent. Night Music attempted to fuse his pop and classical tastes, including instrumentals and guest vocals by Máire Brennan of Clannad, but it did...
on the song "Lullaby."
On November 18, 2005, Fleming appeared as guest on the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
radio programme Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme , and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio...
; her favourite was Joni Mitchell's 1971 song "River".
Fleming performed "I'll Be Home For Christmas" on ABC's The View on December 18, 2008.
She performed on January 18, 2009, at We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial was a public celebration of the then forthcoming inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States at the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on January 18, 2009. By some estimates the...
, singing the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic "You'll Never Walk Alone
You'll Never Walk Alone
You'll Never Walk Alone is a song from the musical Carousel, a pop standard and football club anthem, for example that of Liverpool F.C.You'll Never Walk Alone may also refer to:* You'll Never Walk Alone , studio album...
" with the combined choirs of the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
.
Repertory
| Year (debut) | Role | Composer | Opera | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Laurie Moss | Aaron Copland Aaron Copland Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"... |
The Tender Land The Tender Land The Tender Land is an opera with music by Aaron Copland and libretto by Horace Everett, a pseudonym for Erik Johns. The opera tells of a farm family in the Midwest of the United States. Copland was inspired to write this opera after viewing the Depression-era photographs of Walker Evans and... |
Crane School of Music Crane School of Music The Crane School of Music is located in Potsdam, New York, and is one of three schools which make up the State University of New York at Potsdam.... – SUNY Potsdam |
| 1979 | Alison | Gustav Holst Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets.... |
The Wandering Scholar The Wandering Scholar The Wandering Scholar, Op.50 is a chamber opera in one act by the English composer Gustav Holst. The libretto, by Clifford Bax, is based on the book The Wandering Scholars by Helen Waddell.... |
Crane School of Music – SUNY Potsdam |
| 1980 | Elsie Maynard | Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S... |
The Yeomen of the Guard The Yeomen of the Guard The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888, and ran for 423 performances... |
Crane School of Music – SUNY Potsdam |
| 1981 | Zerlina | Mozart | Don Giovanni Don Giovanni Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787... |
Eastman School of Music Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester... |
| 1982 | Anne Sexton | Conrad Susa | Transformations Transformations (opera) Transformations is a chamber opera in two acts by the American composer Conrad Susa with a libretto of ten poems by Anne Sexton from her 1971 book Transformations, a collection of confessional poetry based on stories by the Brothers Grimm... |
Aspen Music Festival and School Aspen Music Festival and School The Aspen Music Festival and School, founded in 1949, is an internationally renowned classical music festival that presents music in an intimate, small-town setting... |
| 1983 | Countess Almaviva | Mozart | The Marriage of Figaro The Marriage of Figaro Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by... |
Aspen Music Festival and School |
| 1983 | Musetta | Puccini | La bohème La bohème La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger... |
Juilliard Opera Center |
| 1986 | Konstanze | Mozart | Die Entführung aus dem Serail Die Entführung aus dem Serail Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie... |
Salzburg Landestheater |
| 1986 | Frasquita | Bizet | Carmen Carmen Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin... |
Virginia Opera Virginia Opera Virginia Opera is an opera company based in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Organized in 1974 by a group of Norfolk, Virginia community volunteers, Virginia Opera presented its first productions in 1975 and in the intervening four decades has become known and respected nationwide for the... |
| 1986 | Belle Fezziwig & Laundress, Martha Cratchit, Rosie |
Thea Musgrave Thea Musgrave Thea Musgrave CBE is a Scottish composer of opera and classical music.-Biography:Born in Barnton, Edinburgh, Thea Musgrave studied at the University of Edinburgh and in Paris as a pupil of Nadia Boulanger... |
A Christman Carol | Virginia Opera |
| 1987 | the Wife | Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular... |
Tamu-Tamu | Juilliard Opera Center |
| 1988 | Thalie, Clarine, La Folie | Jean-Philippe Rameau | Platée Platée Platée is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Jean-Philippe Rameau with a libretto by Adrien-Joseph Le Valois d'Orville. Rameau bought the rights to the libretto Platée ou Junon Jalouse by Jacques Autreau and had d'Orville modify it... |
Piccolo Teatro Dell Opera Piccolo Teatro Dell Opera Piccolo Teatro Dell Opera was a small professional opera company located in New York City. Founded in 1984 by Barbara Elliott, the company's goal was to foster an interest in opera in today's culture and provide performance opportunities for young professional singers just starting out in their... |
| 1988 | Pamina | Mozart | The Magic Flute The Magic Flute The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue.... |
Virginia Opera |
| 1989 | Mimì | Puccini | La bohème | New York City Opera New York City Opera The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and... |
| 1989 | Dircé | Cherubini | Médée Médée (Cherubini) Médée is a French language opéra-comique by Luigi Cherubini.The libretto by François-Benoît Hoffmann was based on Euripides' tragedy of Medea and Pierre Corneille's play Médée.... |
Royal Opera House Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The... , Covent Garden |
| 1989 | Imogene | Bellini | Il pirata Il pirata Il pirata is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani from a French translation of the tragic play Bertram, or The Castle of St Aldobrando by Charles Maturin... |
Opera Orchestra of New York |
| 1990 | Rusalka | Dvořák | Rusalka Rusalka (opera) Rusalka is an opera by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová. Rusalka is one of the most successful Czech operas, and represents a cornerstone of the repertoire of Czech opera houses... |
Seattle Opera Seattle Opera The Seattle Opera is an opera company located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as the company's first general director through 1983, Seattle Opera's season runs from August to late May, with five or six operas offered and with eight to ten performances each, often... |
| 1990 | Micaëla | Bizet | Carmen | New York City Opera |
| 1990 | Lucrezia Borgia | Donizetti | Lucrezia Borgia Lucrezia Borgia (opera) Lucrezia Borgia is a melodramma, or opera, in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after the play by Victor Hugo, in its turn after the legend of Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia was first performed on 26 December 1833 at La Scala, Milan with... |
Opera Orchestra of New York |
| 1990 | Maria Padilla | Donizetti | Maria Padilla Maria Padilla Maria Padilla is a melodramma, or opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Gaetano Rossi and the composer wrote the Italian libretto after François Ancelot's play. It premiered on December 26, 1841 at La Scala, Milan... |
Opera Omaha Opera Omaha Opera Omaha is an opera company in Omaha, Nebraska. It is well known for premiering Wakonda's Dream, a contemporary opera about Native Americans set in the Niobrara.... |
| 1991 | Rosina | Corigliano | The Ghosts of Versailles The Ghosts of Versailles The Ghosts of Versailles is an opera in two acts, with music by John Corigliano to an English libretto by William M. Hoffman. The Metropolitan Opera had commissioned the work from Corigliano in 1980 in celebration of its 100th anniversary, with the premiere scheduled for 1983... |
Metropolitan Opera Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager... |
| 1991 | Ilia | Mozart | Idomeneo Idomeneo Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, which had been set to music by André Campra as Idoménée in 1712... |
Tanglewood Music Festival Tanglewood Music Festival The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts.... |
| 1991 | Amina | Bellini | La sonnambula La sonnambula La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.The first... |
Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park.... |
| 1991 | Thaïs | Massenet | Thaïs Thaïs (opera) Thaïs is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet based on the novel Thaïs by Anatole France. It was first performed at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on 16 March 1894, starring the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, for whom Massenet had written the title role... |
Washington Concert Opera |
| 1991 | Sandrina | Mozart | La finta giardiniera La finta giardiniera La finta giardiniera , K. 196, is an Italian opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart wrote it in Munich in January 1775 when he was 18 years old and it received its first performance on January 13 at the Salvatortheater in Munich... |
Paris, Salle Pleyel Salle Pleyel The Salle Pleyel is a concert hall in Paris, France. The resident ensembles are the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.-History and Design:... |
| 1992 | La Contessa di Folleville | Rossini | Il viaggio a Reims Il viaggio a Reims Il viaggio a Reims, ossia L'albergo del giglio d'oro is an operatic dramma giocoso, originally performed in three acts, by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Balocchi, based in part on Corinne, ou L'Italie by Mme de Staël.Rossini's last opera in the Italian language Il viaggio a... |
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden |
| 1992 | Fiordiligi | Mozart | Così fan tutte Così fan tutte Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte.... |
Grand Théâtre de Genève Grand Théâtre de Genève Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland.As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, officially opened in 1876, partly destroyed by fire in 1951 and reopened in... |
| 1992 | Anna | Boieldieu | La dame blanche La Dame blanche La dame blanche is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer François-Adrien Boieldieu. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and is based on episodes from no less than five of the works by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, including his novels The Monastery, Guy Mannering, and The... |
Carnegie Hall |
| 1992 | Fortuna | Mozart | Il sogno di Scipione Il sogno di Scipione Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126, is a dramatic serenade in one act composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, which is based on the book Somnium Scipionis by Cicero. Mozart had originally composed the work at the age of 15 for his patron, Prince-Archbishop Sigismund von... |
Alice Tully Hall Alice Tully Hall Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. It is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assisted in the construction of the hall... , Lincoln Center |
| 1992 | Tatyana | Tchaikovsky | Eugene Onegin Eugene Onegin (opera) Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin.... |
Dallas Opera Dallas Opera The Dallas Opera is an opera company located in Dallas, Texas . The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic Opera by Laurence Kelly and Nicolà Rescigno, both of whom had been active with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the first as administrator, the second as artistic director.-The company's... |
| 1993 | Armida | Rossini | Armida Armida (Rossini) Armida is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, based on scenes from Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso.-Performance history:... |
Pesaro, Rossini Festival |
| 1993 | Donna Elvira | Mozart | Don Giovanni | La Scala La Scala La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala... |
| 1993 | Alaide | Bellini | La straniera La straniera La straniera is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini, from a libretto by Felice Romani, based on L'étrangère by Charles-Victor Prévot, vicomte d'Arlincourt... |
Carnegie Hall |
| 1993 | Susannah | Floyd | Susannah Susannah Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending... |
Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma... |
| 1993 | Lulu | Alban Berg | Symphonic Pieces from Lulu Lulu (opera) Lulu is an opera by the composer Alban Berg. The libretto was adapted by Berg himself from Frank Wedekind's plays Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora .-Composition history:... |
Metropolitan Concert/Gala at Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| 1993 | Jenůfa | Leoš Janáček | Jenůfa Jenufa Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904... |
Dallas Opera |
| 1994 | Desdemona | Verdi | Otello Otello Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887.... |
Metropolitan Opera |
| 1994 | Ellen Orford | Britten | Peter Grimes Peter Grimes Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough... |
Metropolitan Opera |
| 1994 | Madame de Tourvel | Conrad Susa | The Dangerous Liaisons The Dangerous Liaisons The Dangerous Liaisons is an opera in two acts and eight scenes, with music by Conrad Susa to an English libretto by Philip Littell. It is based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The opera received its first performance by the San Francisco Opera on 10 September... |
San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America... |
| 1994 | Salome | Massenet | Hérodiade Hérodiade Hérodiade is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont, based on the novella Hérodias by Gustave Flaubert... |
San Francisco Opera |
| 1994 | Rosmonda Clifford | Donizetti | Rosmonda d'Inghilterra Rosmonda d'Inghilterra Rosmonda d'Inghilterra is a melodramma or opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The Italian libretto was written by Felice Romani originally for Coccia's Rosmunda... |
London |
| 1995 | Marschallin | R. Strauss | Der Rosenkavalier Der Rosenkavalier Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac... |
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell... |
| 1995 | Amelia | Verdi | Simone Boccanegra Simone Boccanegra Simone Boccanegra was the first doge of Genoa. His story was popularized by Antonio García Gutiérrez's 1843 play Simón Bocanegra and Giuseppe Verdi's 1857 opera Simon Boccanegra. Note the spellings.... |
Royal Opera at Covent Garden |
| 1996 | Marguerite | Gounod | Faust Faust (opera) Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1... |
Lyric Opera of Chicago |
| 1996 | Donna Anna | Mozart | Don Giovanni | Opéra national de Paris |
| 1996 | Eva | Wagner | Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is among the longest operas still commonly performed today, usually taking around four and a half hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich, on June 21,... |
Bayreuth Festival Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented... |
| 1997 | Manon | Massenet | Manon Manon Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost... |
Opéra Bastille Opéra Bastille L'Opéra Bastille ' is a modern opera house in Paris, France. It is the home base of the Opéra national de Paris and was designed to replace the Palais Garnier, which is nowadays mainly used for ballet performances.... |
| 1998 | Arabella | R. Strauss | Arabella Arabella Arabella is a lyric comedy or opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. It was first performed on 1 July 1933, at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater.... |
Houston Grand Opera |
| 1998 | Blanche DuBois | André Previn | A Streetcar Named Desire A Streetcar Named Desire (opera) A Streetcar Named Desire is an opera composed by André Previn with a libretto by Philip Littell in 1995. It is based on the play by Tennessee Williams and received its premiere at the San Francisco Opera during the 1998-99 season.-Cast:... |
San Francisco Opera |
| 1998 | Gabriel / Eva | Joseph Haydn | Die Schöpfung | Tanglewood Music Festival |
| 1999 | Alcina | Handel | Alcina Alcina Alcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after, during his travels in Italy... |
Opéra national de Paris |
| 1999 | Louise | Charpentier | Louise Louise (opera) Louise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists.... |
San Francisco Opera |
| 2003 | Violetta | Verdi | La traviata La traviata La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman... |
Houston Grand Opera |
| 2004 | Rodelinda | Handel | Rodelinda | Metropolitan Opera |
| 2004 | Gräfin | R. Strauss | Capriccio Capriccio (opera) Capriccio is the final opera by German composer Richard Strauss, subtitled "A Conversation Piece for Music". The opera received its premiere performance at the Nationaltheater München on October 28, 1942. Clemens Krauss and Strauss himself wrote the German libretto... |
Palais Garnier Palais Garnier The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier... |
| 2005 | Daphne | R. Strauss | Daphne Daphne (opera) Daphne is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss, his 13th opera, subtitled "A Bucolic Tragedy in One Act". The German libretto was by Joseph Gregor. The opera is based loosely on a myth from Ovid's Metamorphoses, and also includes elements taken from The Bacchae by Euripides... |
University of Michigan |
| 2010 | Hanna Glawari | Lehár | The Merry Widow The Merry Widow The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,... |
Semperoper Semperoper The Semperoper is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden and the concert hall of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden . It is located near the Elbe River in the historic center of Dresden, Germany.The opera house was originally built by the architect Gottfried Semper in 1841... |
CD
- Donizetti: Rosmonda d'InghilterraRosmonda d'InghilterraRosmonda d'Inghilterra is a melodramma or opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The Italian libretto was written by Felice Romani originally for Coccia's Rosmunda...
Opera RaraOpera RaraOpera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The...
1994 - Strauss Four Last SongsFour Last SongsThe Four Last Songs for soprano and orchestra were the final completed works of Richard Strauss, composed in 1948 when the composer was 84. Strauss did not live to hear the premiere, given at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 22 May 1950 by the soprano Kirsten Flagstad accompanied by the...
RCA 1996 - Visions of Love – Mozart Arias Decca 1996
- Schubert Lieder Decca 1997
- Signatures Opera arias By Mozart, Verdi, Britten, Strauss, w. Georg Solti, Decca 1997
- Elijah (Mendelssohn)Elijah (oratorio)Elijah, in German: Elias, is an oratorio written by Felix Mendelssohn in 1846 for the Birmingham Festival. It depicts various events in the life of the Biblical prophet Elijah, taken from the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings in the Old Testament....
Decca 1997 - RusalkaRusalka (opera)Rusalka is an opera by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová. Rusalka is one of the most successful Czech operas, and represents a cornerstone of the repertoire of Czech opera houses...
(1997) - A Streetcar Named DesireA Streetcar Named Desire (opera)A Streetcar Named Desire is an opera composed by André Previn with a libretto by Philip Littell in 1995. It is based on the play by Tennessee Williams and received its premiere at the San Francisco Opera during the 1998-99 season.-Cast:...
(1997) - The Beautiful Voice Decca 1998
- I Want Magic American Opera Arias, Decca 1998
- Star Crossed Lovers Duets with Plácido DomingoPlácido DomingoPlácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, Decca 1999 - Strauss Heroines Decca 1999
- Requiem (Verdi)Requiem (Verdi)The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May...
with Andrea BocelliAndrea BocelliAndrea Bocelli, is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident....
, Olga BorodinaOlga BorodinaOlga Vladimirovna Borodina is a leading dramatic mezzo-soprano, known for her roles in Russian operas at her home company, the Mariinsky Theatre, and for her international performing and recording career in a varied repertoire.Borodina made her debut in Samson and Delilah at the Royal Opera House...
and Ildebrando D'ArcangeloIldebrando D'ArcangeloIldebrando D'Arcangelo is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer.-Biography:A Native of Pescara, Abruzzo, D'Arcangelo began his studies in 1985 at the conservatory of Luisa D'Annunzio in Pescara, under Maria Vittoria Romano, honing his skills under Paride Venturi in Bologna.From 1989 to 1991 he...
, conducted by Valery GergievValery GergievValery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.- Early life :Gergiev,...
, Philips 2001 - Renée Fleming Decca 2001
- Night Songs Lieder by Debussy, Fauré, Marx, Strauss, Rachmaninov, Decca 2001
- ThaïsThaïs (opera)Thaïs is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet based on the novel Thaïs by Anatole France. It was first performed at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on 16 March 1894, starring the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, for whom Massenet had written the title role...
(2001) - ManonManonManon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
(2001) - Bel Canto Arias by Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini, Decca 2002
- Under the Stars Broadway Duets with Bryn Terfel, Decca 2003
- By Request Decca 2003
- Mozart: Così fan tutteCosì fan tutteCosì fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
Decca - Handel: AlcinaAlcinaAlcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after, during his travels in Italy...
Erato - Rossini: ArmidaArmida (Rossini)Armida is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, based on scenes from Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso.-Performance history:...
Sony (live) - Mozart: Don GiovanniDon GiovanniDon Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
Decca - Massenet: HérodiadeHérodiadeHérodiade is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont, based on the novella Hérodias by Gustave Flaubert...
Sont (live) - 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
- Strauss: DaphneDaphneDaphne was a female minor nature deity. Pursued by Apollo, she fled and was chased. Daphne begged the gods for help, who then transformed her into Laurel.-Overview:...
Decca - Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss Decca 2008
- Verismo – Arias of Puccini, Mascagni, Cilea, Giordano, Leoncavallo Decca 2009
- Dark HopeDark HopeDark Hope is a 2010 album of indie rock titles sung by operatic soprano Renée Fleming.The album was the idea of Peter Mensch and Cliff Burnstein; after listening to Fleming's performance of "In the Pines" on Elvis Costello's TV show Spectacle, they approached Fleming and producer David Kahne...
Decca Records 2010
DVD
- Tchaikovsky: Eugene OneginEugene Onegin (opera)Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
Decca 2007 - Strauss, R: ArabellaArabellaArabella is a lyric comedy or opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. It was first performed on 1 July 1933, at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater....
Decca 2008 - Verdi: La traviataLa traviataLa traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
Decca - Mozart: Don GiovanniDon GiovanniDon Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
- Mozart: The Marriage of FigaroThe Marriage of FigaroLe nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
- Massenet: ManonManonManon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
- Rossini: ArmidaArmidaThe story of Armida, a Saracen sorceress and Rinaldo, a soldier in the First Crusade, was created by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso. In his epic Gerusalemme liberata, Rinaldo is a fierce and determined warrior who is also honorable and handsome...
Decca - Strauss, R: ArabellaArabellaArabella is a lyric comedy or opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. It was first performed on 1 July 1933, at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater....
Decca - Strauss, R: Der RosenkavalierDer RosenkavalierDer Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
Decca - Strauss, R: CapriccioCapriccio (opera)Capriccio is the final opera by German composer Richard Strauss, subtitled "A Conversation Piece for Music". The opera received its premiere performance at the Nationaltheater München on October 28, 1942. Clemens Krauss and Strauss himself wrote the German libretto...
Decca - Verdi: OtelloOtelloOtello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
- Dvořák: RusalkaRusalkaIn Slavic mythology, a rusalka was a female ghost, water nymph, succubus, or mermaid-like demon that dwelled in a waterway....
Decca - Massenet: ThaïsThaïs (opera)Thaïs is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet based on the novel Thaïs by Anatole France. It was first performed at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on 16 March 1894, starring the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, for whom Massenet had written the title role...
Decca - Metropolitan Opera: The Audition (documentary)
Sources
- Fleming, Renée. The Inner Voice: the Making of a Singer. Paperback ed. New York: Penguin Group, 2004. ISBN 9780143035947
External links
- Interview with Renée Fleming at MusicalCriticism.com
- Renée Fleming – Fansite
- Renée Fleming Fansite with interview and performance videos
- [ Allmusic pop music entry – Renée Fleming]
- [ Allmusic classical music entry: Renée Fleming]
- NPR interview: Renée Fleming
- Renée Fleming Topic at The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- Classical Archives Interview