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Renée Fleming (b. February 14 1959), is an American soprano who sings principally opera and lieder. Fleming possesses a flexible full lyric soprano voice supported by a formidable and solid technique that provides ringing freedom and apparent ease near the extreme top of its range. Although lyrical in nature, Fleming's voice has a substantial amount of solidity and power which allows her to sing a variety of roles from the bel canto, lyric, and lighter spinto repertoires. Her linguistic proficiency, too, serves as an asset -- she has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English; indeed, she speaks fluent German and French, along with limited Italian.

Fleming is generally considered one of the world's leading classical sopranos; she regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide.

Background

Fleming was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Rochester, New York. Both her parents are voice teachers. She also has a brother and sister who both study music.

Fleming's first major break came in 1988 when she sang the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro at the Houston Grand Opera. In 1989, she made debuts with the New York City Opera and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 1991, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut. In 1997, Fleming sang her first Manon at the Opéra Bastille to glowing reviews.

As a youngster, Fleming enjoyed popular music and admired the talent of Joni Mitchell among others. In addition to the standard operatic repertoire, she performs new music, Broadway show tunes, and other popular genres.

Fleming has originated the roles of Rosina, Mme de Tourvel, and Blanche DuBois in the world premières of, respectively, John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles with the Metropolitan Opera, Conrad Susa's The Dangerous Liaisons with the San Francisco Opera, and André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire (also in San Francisco).

Education

She studied music education 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 University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music and Juilliard.

Popular music recordings

Fleming has released a number of popular music recordings on the Polygram and Decca labels. She also appears on the soundtrack of the 2003 film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in which she sings in Sindarin. Her singing can be heard when Arwen sees a vision of her child, when Gollum first holds the ring, when the eagles carry Frodo and Sam off Mt. Doom, and when Arwen is revealed at Aragorn's coronation. Renee Fleming also recorded the duet "O soave fanciulla" with Michael Bolton.

Fleming also has a notable sense of humor. She appeared on the children's show Sesame Street singing a lively rendition of "Caro nome" from Rigoletto, replacing the traditional Italian text with lyrics intended to aid children learning to count.

She has performed several times on Garrison Keillor's popular public radio program A Prairie Home Companion.

Fleming appeared as a "Special Guest Vocalist" on Joe Jackson's 1994 album Night Music on the song "Lullaby."

Partial discography

Strauss Four Last Songs RCA 1996
Mozart Arias Decca 1996
Schubert Lieder Decca 1997
Signatures Opera arias By Mozart, Verdi, Britten, Strauss, w. Georg Solti, Decca 1997
Elijah (Mendelssohn) Decca 1997
The Beautiful Voice Decca 1998
I Want Magic American Opera Arias, Decca 1998
Star Crossed Lovers Duets with Plácido Domingo, Decca 1999
Strauss Heroines Decca 1999
Renée Fleming Decca 2001
Night Songs Lieder by Debussy, Fauré, Marx, Strauss, Rachmaninov, Decca 2001
Bel Canto Arias by Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini, Decca 2002
Under the Stars Broadway Duets with Bryn Terfel, Decca 2003
By Request Decca 2003
Handel Arias Decca 2003/2004
Requiem (Verdi) Philips 2004
Haunted Heart Decca 2005
Sacred Songs Decca 2005
Homage - The Age of the Diva Decca 2006

References

Fleming, Renee. The Inner Voice: the Making of a Singer. Paperback ed. New York: Penguin Group, 2004.

External links

Renée Fleming's official website

Yahoo group pg.-- Renee Fleming

Renée Fleming - Her home on the web

All Music Guide pop. music entry-- Renée Fleming

All Music Guide classical music entry-- Renée Fleming

NPR interview-- Renee Fleming

Video of Renee Fleming in the Letter Scene of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin

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 <!-- please do not add an infobox, per [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Opera#Infoboxes]]-->
 [[Image:Renee Fleming.jpg|210px|thumb]]
-'''Renée Fleming''' (b. [[February 14]] [[1959]]), is an American [[soprano]] who sings principally [[opera]] and [[lieder]]. Fleming possesses a flexible, full lyric soprano voice that's supported by a formidable and solid technique complete with ease and ringing freedom at the extreme top of its range. That top range allows Fleming to ascend to the E-flat above the soprano high C and beyond, however she rarely sings these notes in performances. Although lyrical in nature, Fleming's voice has a substantial amount of solidity and power which allows her to sing a variety of roles ranging from that of the [[bel canto]], lyric and lighter spinto repertoires. Fleming is one of the world's leading classical sopranos and she performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide.
+'''Renée Fleming''' (b. [[February 14]] [[1959]]), is an American [[soprano]] who sings principally [[opera]] and [[lieder]]. Fleming possesses a flexible full lyric soprano voice supported by a formidable and solid technique that provides ringing freedom and apparent ease near the extreme top of its range. Although lyrical in nature, Fleming's voice has a substantial amount of solidity and power which allows her to sing a variety of roles from the [[bel canto]], lyric, and lighter [[spinto]] repertoires. Her linguistic proficiency, too, serves as an asset -- she has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English; indeed, she speaks fluent German and French, along with limited Italian.
+Fleming is generally considered one of the world's leading classical sopranos; she regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide.
 == Background ==
@@ Line 11: / Line 13: @@
 As a youngster, Fleming enjoyed popular music and admired the talent of [[Joni Mitchell]] among others. In addition to the [[list of famous operas|standard operatic repertoire]], she performs new music, Broadway show tunes, and other popular genres.
-Fleming has originated the roles of Rosina, Mme de Tourvel, and Blanche DuBois in, respectively, the world premières of [[John Corigliano]]'s ''[[The Ghosts of Versailles]]'' with the [[Metropolitan Opera]], [[Conrad Susa]]'s ''[[The Dangerous Liaisons]]'' with the [[San Francisco Opera]], and [[André Previn]]'s ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (opera)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'', also in San Francisco.
+Fleming has originated the roles of Rosina, Mme de Tourvel, and Blanche DuBois in the world premières of, respectively, [[John Corigliano]]'s ''[[The Ghosts of Versailles]]'' with the [[Metropolitan Opera]], [[Conrad Susa]]'s ''[[The Dangerous Liaisons]]'' with the [[San Francisco Opera]], and [[André Previn]]'s ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (opera)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' (also in San Francisco).
 == Education ==
@@ Line 19: / Line 21: @@
 == Popular music recordings ==
-Fleming has released a number of popular music recordings on the [[Polygram]] and [[Decca Records|Decca]] labels. She also appears on the soundtrack of the [[2003]] film ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (film)|The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King]]'' in which she sings in [[Sindarin]]. She is singing when Arwen sees a vision of her child, when Gollum first holds the ring, when the eagles carry Frodo and Sam off Mt. Doom, and when Arwen is revealed at Aragorn's coronation. Renee Fleming also recorded "O Soave Fanciulla"; a duet with [[Michael Bolton]].
+Fleming has released a number of popular music recordings on the [[Polygram]] and [[Decca Records|Decca]] labels. She also appears on the soundtrack of the [[2003]] film ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (film)|The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King]]'' in which she sings in [[Sindarin]]. Her singing can be heard when Arwen sees a vision of her child, when Gollum first holds the ring, when the eagles carry Frodo and Sam off Mt. Doom, and when Arwen is revealed at Aragorn's coronation. Renee Fleming also recorded the duet "O soave fanciulla" with [[Michael Bolton]].
+Fleming also has a notable sense of humor.  She appeared on the children's show ''[[Sesame Street]]'' singing a lively rendition of "Caro nome" from Rigoletto, replacing the traditional Italian text with lyrics intended to aid children learning to count.
-Fleming also has a notable sense of humor.  She appeared on the children's show "Sesame Street" where she sang a very lively rendition of "Caro nome" from Rigoletto, replacing the traditional words with some intended to help children learn to count forwards to and backwards from five. She has also appeared several times on [[Garrison Keillor]]'s popular [[Public broadcasting|public radio]] program ''[[A Prairie Home Companion]].'' Fleming speaks fluent German and French along with limited Italian.
+She has performed several times on [[Garrison Keillor]]'s popular [[Public broadcasting|public radio]] program ''[[A Prairie Home Companion]].''
-Fleming appeared as a "Special Guest Vocalist" on [[Joe Jackson (musician) |Joe Jackson's]] [[1994]] album [[Night Music (album) |Night Music]] on the song "Lullaby".
+Fleming appeared as a "Special Guest Vocalist" on [[Joe Jackson (musician) |Joe Jackson's]] [[1994]] album [[Night Music (album) |Night Music]] on the song "Lullaby."
 == Partial discography ==