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The Kennedy Center Honorees, pictured L-R top row: Queen Latifah and Barry Gibb. L-R bottom row: Renée Fleming, Billy Crystal, and Dionne Warwick. The 46th Annual Kennedy Center Honors will air Dec. 27 on the CBS Television Network and stream on Paramount+. Mary Kouw/Mary Kouw/CBS hide caption

toggle caption Mary Kouw/Mary Kouw/CBS

Culture

Queen Latifah, Billy Crystal and others celebrated at Kennedy Center Honors

December 4, 2023 • Billy Crystal, Dionne Warwick, Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, Renée Fleming and Queen Latifah were given the star treatment as they received their Kennedy Center Honors.

Queen Latifah, Billy Crystal and others celebrated at Kennedy Center Honors

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Kelli O'Hara as Laura Brown, Renée Fleming as Clarissa Vaughan, and Joyce DiDonato as Virginia Woolf in Kevin Puts's "The Hours." Evan Zimmerman/Met Opera hide caption

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Culture

Three superstar divas power opera 'The Hours' - coming to movie theaters everywhere.

December 6, 2022 • Kelli O'Hara, Renée Fleming, and Joyce DiDonato star in a new opera based on Michael Cunningham's book.

Three superstar divas power opera 'The Hours' - coming to movie theaters everywhere.

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Tenor Jonas Kaufmann, with pianist Helmut Deutsch, in recital at a Baroque abbey in Bavaria. The performance was part of the Metropolitan Opera's new live streaming series. Metropolitan Opera hide caption

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Review

Deceptive Cadence

The Met Opera's Live Streaming Series Sticks To Old Trappings

August 4, 2020 • While a valiant endeavor, the Metropolitan Opera's new series of steaming concerts can't seem to shake off opera's fusty, aristocratic traditions.

Sponsor Message Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Not My Job: We Quiz Opera Star Renée Fleming On 'Baby Shark'

October 19, 2019 • How much do (do do do do do) you think the soprano knows about the hit children's song Baby Shark? We'll find out.

Not My Job: We Quiz Opera Star Renée Fleming On 'Baby Shark'

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Renée Fleming, photographed singing the national anthem during Super Bowl XLVIII, will sing at the memorial service for the late Sen. John McCain at Washington's National Cathedral. Rob Carr/Getty Images hide caption

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Deceptive Cadence

Renée Fleming, America's Go-To Diva, To Sing At McCain Memorial In Washington

August 29, 2018 • The versatile opera star will sing an Irish classic at the memorial service of Senator John McCain Saturday at Washington's National Cathedral.

Soprano Renée Fleming is looking forward to many more years performing opera. Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Deceptive Cadence

Hold Up! Renée Fleming Is Not Retiring From Opera

April 6, 2017 • Despite a misleading article, the beloved soprano makes it clear that she's nowhere near ready to give up the opera stage.

Scottish-American soprano Mary Garden (1874-1967) portrayed Goethe's character Gretchen, known as Marguerite in Charles Gounod's opera Faust. Bettmann/CORBIS hide caption

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Deceptive Cadence

After 200 Years, A Schubert Song Still Resonates

October 19, 2014 • On Oct. 19, 1814, an Austrian teenager named Franz Schubert wrote "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel," a boldly innovative song that remains an inspiration for singers and songwriters.

After 200 Years, A Schubert Song Still Resonates

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Magda Olivero performing Francis Poulenc's one-woman opera La voix humaine at San Francisco Opera in 1979. Ron Scherl/Redferns/Getty Images hide caption

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Deceptive Cadence

Enduringly Dramatic Italian Soprano Magda Olivero Dies At 104

September 8, 2014 • The intensely expressive Italian singer had an unusually long career. "I always have the sense that when I hear her recordings that she's singing just for me," says soprano Renée Fleming.

Enduringly Dramatic Italian Soprano Magda Olivero Dies At 104

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Madama Butterfly is one of many unhappy moms in opera. Patrick Riviere/Getty Images hide caption

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Deceptive Cadence

Mothers Of Intervention: The Operatic Moms Puzzler

May 8, 2014 • Mothers in opera tend to be, well, operatic — stressed, dramatic, expressive. Try identifying the manic moms in this Mother's Day puzzler.

From taffeta to tackles: Soprano Renee Fleming has been tapped to sing at Super Bowl XLVIII. Karin Cooper/Courtesy of Washington National Opera hide caption

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Deceptive Cadence

Guess Who's Singing The National Anthem At The Super Bowl?

January 21, 2014 • We won't guess what her odds were, but it's superstar soprano Renee Fleming.

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Renee Fleming. Andrew Eccles/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Song Travels

Renee Fleming On 'Song Travels'

December 13, 2013 • The opera star sings some of her favorite songs, from Schubert to Joni Mitchell's "River," and performs a Gershwin tune with host Michael Feinstein.

Listen: Renee Fleming On 'Song Travels'

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Reneé Fleming (right) and Susan Graham — two "cheerful Americans" often mistaken for each other — are planning an intimate evening of French song. Craig T. Mathew/Mathew Imaging hide caption

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Classics in Concert

Reneé Fleming And Susan Graham At Carnegie Hall

January 23, 2013 • Two opera stars conjure the intimate atmosphere of the late 19th-century Parisian salon, telling stories and singing songs by Saint-Saëns, Fauré and Debussy.

Reneé Fleming And Susan Graham At Carnegie Hall

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Pianist Simone Dinnerstein has a passion for rhythmically free musical lines. Lisa Marie Mazzucco/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Deceptive Cadence

Guest DJ: Simone Dinnerstein

April 13, 2011 • The mild-mannered pianist is fiercely devoted to expressing rhythmical freedom in the musical line. Hear her pick favorite recordings by artists who share her aesthetic.

Guest DJ: Simone Dinnerstein

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Renee Fleming in the title role of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia at the Washington National Opera. Karin Cooper via Washington National Opera hide caption

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Concerts

Renee Fleming Sings 'Lucrezia Borgia'

August 27, 2010 • Acclaimed soprano Renee Fleming tackles the unforgiving title role, with Placido Domingo conducting, in a Washington National Opera production of Donizetti's steamy historical drama.

Renee Fleming Sings 'Lucrezia Borgia'

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Holiday Music

Swing Into The Holidays On Piano Jazz

December 18, 2009 • Marian McPartland and her guests from seasons past share their favorite memories when they're not performing Christmas classics and original holiday tunes. Guest artists include George Shearing, Tony DeSare, Renee Fleming, Cleo Brown and Dena DeRose.

Swing Into The Holidays On Piano Jazz

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Hear An Opera: Renee Fleming In 'Lucrezia Borgia'

September 11, 2009 • Acclaimed soprano Renee Fleming sings the unforgiving title role, with Placido Domingo conducting, in a Washington National Opera production of Donizetti's steamy historical drama.

Hear An Opera: Renee Fleming In 'Lucrezia Borgia'

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Holiday Music

A Holiday Gift From Marian McPartland

December 18, 2008 • Renee Fleming, Mimi Fox, Blossom Dearie and Suzanna McCorkle join Piano Jazz host Marian McPartland to celebrate the season with new holiday recordings. McPartland also reprises her improvised score to the classic O. Henry story, The Gift of the Magi.

Listen Now: Marian McPartland's Christmas Special

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Verdi trumps Shakespeare by inserting a hauntingly beautiful "Ave Maria" into his operatic version of Othello. Universal Classics hide caption

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What Makes It Great

Verdi's Brilliantly Inauthentic 'Ave Maria'

December 4, 2008 • When Verdi set out to make Othello into an opera, he didn't worry about getting Shakespeare absolutely right. Rob Kapilow unveils Verdi's inappropriate yet vividly dramatic makeover of one seemingly innocent scene.

Hear What Makes 'Ave Maria' From Verdi's 'Otello' Great

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Music Lists

Anne-Sophie Mutter's Musical Moments

October 17, 2008 • Anne-Sophie Mutter is one of the busiest musicians around, complete with new recordings, new pieces to premiere and seemingly endless concert tours. But when she's relaxing at home in Germany, she lists Ella Fitzgerald and La Bohème among her musical favorites.

Music Interviews

Renee Fleming: 'Four Last Songs' Of Strauss

October 4, 2008 • Four Last Songs, by German composer Richard Strauss, is a song cycle marked by the awareness and acceptance of death. A new recording captures world-famous soprano Renee Fleming as she sings his last pieces for a second time — this time with a new direction.

Renee Fleming: 'Four Last Songs' Of Strauss

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Music Interviews

Renee Fleming: A Salute to Divas Past

December 7, 2006 • Today's leading diva, Renee Fleming, pays homage to divas of an earlier era. Fleming talks about the sopranos who have inspired her, and explains some of the secrets that made them so incredible.

Renee Fleming: A Salute to Divas Past

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Review

Music Interviews

Renée Fleming: 'Haunted Heart'

June 3, 2005 • Lyric soprano Renée Fleming is a familiar face on the world's greatest opera stages, but on her latest CD, Haunted Heart, she makes a leap to the worlds of jazz, pop and folk. She talks with NPR's Fred Child about her foray into non-operatic territory.

Renée Fleming: 'Haunted Heart'

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