Renee Fleming |
Renee Fleming
Renee Fleming was born February 14, 1959 in Indiana, Pennsylvania, USA and grew up in Rochester, New York. Her parents were music and singing teachers. She attended the State University of New York at Potsdam, graduating in 1981 with a degree in music education. However, she did not consider her future career to be in opera.
Even while studying at the university, she performed in a jazz group at a local bar. Her voice and abilities attracted famed Illinois jazz saxophonist Jacquet, who invited her to tour with his big band. Instead, Rene went to graduate school at the Eastman School (conservatory) of music, and then from 1983 to 1987 studied at the Juilliard School (the largest American institution of higher education in the field of art) in New York.
In 1984, she received a Fulbright Education Grant and went to Germany to study operatic singing, one of her teachers being the legendary Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Fleming returned to New York in 1985 and completed her studies at the Juilliard School.
While still a student, Renée Fleming began her professional career in small opera companies and minor roles. In 1986, at the Theater of the Federal State (Salzburg, Austria), she sang her first major role – Constanza from the opera Abduction from the Seraglio by Mozart. The role of Constanza is one of the most difficult in the soprano repertoire, and Fleming admitted to herself that she still needed to work on both vocal technique and artistry. Two years later, in 1988, she won several vocal competitions at once: the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions competition for young performers, the George London Prize and the Eleanor McCollum competition in Houston. In the same year, the singer made her debut in the role of the Countess from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro in Houston, and the following year at the New York Opera and on the stage of Covent Garden as Mimi in La bohème.
The first performance at the Metropolitan Opera was planned for 1992, but unexpectedly fell on March 1991, when Felicity Lott fell ill, and Fleming replaced her in the role of the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro. And although she was recognized as a bright soprano, there was no stardom in her – this came later, when she became the “Gold Standard of the soprano”. And before that, there was a lot of work, rehearsals, diverse roles of the entire operatic spectrum, tours around the world, recordings, ups and downs.
She was not afraid of risk and accepted challenges, one of which was in 1997 the role of Manon Lescaut in Jules Massenet at the Opéra Bastille in Paris. The French are reverent about their heritage, but the impeccable execution of the party brought her a triumph. What happened to the French didn’t happen to the Italians… Fleming was booed at the premiere of Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia at La Scala in 1998, although at her first performance at that theater in 1993, she was very warmly received as Donna Elvira in “Don Giovanni” by Mozart. Fleming calls a 1998 performance in Milan his “worst night of operatic life”.
Today Renee Fleming is one of the most popular singers of our time. The combination of vocal mastery and beauty of timbre, stylistic versatility and dramatic charisma make any performance of her a great event. She brilliantly performs such diverse parts as Verdi’s Desdemona and Handel’s Alcina. Thanks to her sense of humor, openness and ease of communication, Fleming is constantly invited to participate in various television and radio programs.
The singer’s discography and DVD includes about 50 albums, including jazz ones. Three of her albums have been Grammy Award-winning, the last being Verismo (2010, a collection of arias from operas by Puccini, Mascagni, Cilea, Giordano and Leoncavallo).
Renee Fleming’s work schedule is scheduled for several years ahead. By her own admission, today she is more inclined towards solo concert activity than opera.
