Renee Fleming

Golden voice enchants Moscow

Renee Fleming’s soprano is described as golden. Her talent has won her an international following, as she is warmly welcomed on the greatest opera stages, likes Covent Garden and La Scala.

Fleming was born into a middle-class family in Pennsylvania. The daughter of two music teachers, she had to work hard until she finally found that rich seam of gold in her voice.

“I don't think my voice was really recognisable for a long time, because I was tense, and I didn't know how to sing and I didn't know how to open up and allow it to come out,” she said.

Fleming sang a wide range of operatic parts, from the Countess in Mozart’s 'Marriage of Figaro' to Blanche in Andre Previn’s version of 'Streetcar Named Desire'.

She began her Moscow recital with Manon Lescaut’s aria from Puccini's opera.  It’s one of the roles that made her name.

She first sang this complicated part more than ten years ago in Paris at the Bastille Opera. It was a brave step for a singer, who had just arrived on the international stage. But she took a risk and won glowing reviews. 

“When I'm really singing the role that I love, it feels very detailed to me, I think I'm speaking. I am not aware that I'm singing,” she explained.

About four years ago Fleming wrote a book about her singing career. She called it "The Inner Voice".

Thanks to her friend and colleague Konstantin Orbelyan, who heads the State Academic Chamber Orchestra of Russia, her autobiography has finally been published in Russian.

“I am so happy to be able to publish her book. It's about how singers develop a career. They develop not only their voice, but what makes the voice interesting, the music making something special,” said Konstantin Orbelian.

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