Renée Fleming

Renée Fleming is one of the most highly-acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world’s greatest opera houses and concert halls. Honored with five Grammy Awards and the U.S. National Medal of Arts, she has sung for many momentous occasions, from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Diamond Jubilee concert for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. In 2014 she brought her voice to a vast new audience when she became the first classical artist ever to sing the U.S. national anthem at the Super Bowl. A Kennedy Center honoree in 2023, she was also appointed by the World Health Organization as a goodwill ambassador for arts and health the same year.

Known for bringing new audiences to classical music and opera, Fleming has sung not only with Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli, but also with Elton John, Paul Simon, Sting, Josh Groban, and Joan Baez. She has recorded everything from complete operas and song recitals to indie rock and jazz, and she has hosted a wide variety of television and radio broadcasts, including the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series and Live from Lincoln Center. She earned a Tony Award nomination for her performance in Carousel on Broadway, and her voice is featured on the soundtracks of best picture Oscar winners The Shape of Water and The Lord of the Rings.

Fleming is known as a leading advocate for research at the intersection of arts, health, and neuroscience. As artistic advisor to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, she launched the first ongoing collaboration between America’s national cultural center and the National Institutes of Health. She has presented her own program Music and Mind in more than 50 cities around the world, earning Research!America’s 2020 Isadore Rosenfeld Award for impact on public opinion. During the pandemic, she created Music and Mind LIVE, a weekly web show amassing nearly 700,000 views, from 70 countries. She is a founding advisor for major initiatives including the Sound Health Network at the University of California San Francisco and the NeuroArts Blueprint, a project of Johns Hopkins University and the Aspen Institute. Fleming’s new anthology, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, was published spring 2024. Fleming’s memoir The Inner Voice was published by Viking Penguin in 2004 and has since been published in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Poland, Russia, and China.

In addition to her work with the Kennedy Center, Fleming has held artistic and consultancy roles for major arts institutions including the Aspen Music Festival and School, Carnegie Hall, LA Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Other awards include the 2023 Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum, the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, the Polar Music Prize, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and France’s Légion d’honneur. She holds honorary doctorates from eight leading universities.