Renee Fleming
Renee Fleming
Renée Flemingis an American opera singer and soprano whose repertoire encompasses Richard Strauss, Mozart, Handel, bel canto, lieder, French opera and chansons, jazz and indie rock. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice. She has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano operatic 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...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionOpera Singer
Date of Birth14 February 1959
CountryUnited States of America
Renee Fleming quotes about
Some of my first teachers were incredibly tough. You could never sing more than three words without being stopped and having to do it over 20 times. I loved that - that sort of process of dissecting and trying to figure out and master this incredibly mysterious instrument.
When a human being without amplification makes a sound that is high and loud, it is almost unworldly.
Among the important realizations I had in my own days in the practice room was that if any one route to any one phrase didn't work after days of trying, then the exact opposite route should at least be explored, as well as every alternative in between, as counterintuitive as that often seemed.
I haven't really been able to transfer into that extraordinarily other worldly creature, other than I hope on stage.
The more you put into it, the more you and the audience will get out of it.
I don't want to record anything unless it can be great and genuinely interesting.
A lot of bad behavior in singers is caused by nerves.
I enjoy the more floaty, exposed, elegant singing.
I don't like to sing loud.
I want to keep my voice young, with nothing heavy.
We are unique, each human voice, not because we are completely self-generated, but because of who we choose to assemble the countless factors that made us.
In a way, being an opera singer is like being a very romantic sixteen-year-old who falls in love with great passion and conviction every month.
The reason that some singers go on to become great artists has very little to do with their voices, but rather with the fact that they have used their instruments as tools for detailed communication.
So much can be gained from watching other singers, seeing what they do and what they don't do, seeing how they look when they breathe, how wide they open their mouths for a high note.