Renée Fleming

Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. 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 has also sung and recorded lieder, chansons, jazz, musical theatre, and indie rock. She 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 title role in Richard Strauss's Arabella, the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, and the Countess in Capriccio. A National Medal of Arts, Richard Tucker Award, and Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal winner, she regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide. She is the only classical singer ever to have performed the U.S. National Anthem at the Super Bowl. In 2010, she took the title of 'Creative Consultant' to the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the first person to hold such a title with the company. 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."