Acclaimed American soprano Renée Fleming performs in recital with pianist Olga Kern on Wednesday, March 9 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. The program includes Robert Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben, Op. 42, Debussy's Ariettes oubliées, and a selection of songs by Rachmaninoff. Ms. Fleming and Ms. Kern close their program with five songs by jazz musician and composer Patricia Barber.
Ms. Fleming returns to
Carnegie Hall on Thursday, May 5 at 7:00 p.m. for its 125th Anniversary Gala Concert. She along with fellow
Carnegie Hall Artist Trustees and other special guests-including
Martina Arroyo, Emanuel Ax,
Michael Feinstein,
Marilyn Horne,
Lang Lang,
Yo-Yo Ma,
Jessye Norman,
Itzhak Perlman, and
James Taylor-celebrate
Carnegie Hall's 125th birthday with a special concert exactly 125 years to the day that the Hall first opened its doors in 1891. The gala performance also features the Oratorio Society of New York with music director Kent Tritle and Orchestra of
St. Luke's led by conductor Pablo Heras-Casado.
Also that month, on Sunday, May 22 at 3:00 p.m., Ms. Fleming joins The MET Orchestra and Music Director
James Levine for an all-
Richard Strauss program, including the Four Last Songs.
Renée Fleming is one of the most acclaimed singers of our time. In 2013,
President Obama awarded her the National Medal of Arts, America's highest honor for an individual artist. Winner of the 2013 Best Classical Vocal Grammy Award, she has sung at momentous occasions around the world, from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to performances in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games. In 2014, she became the first classical singer ever to perform "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl. In 2012, in another historic first, she sang on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in the Diamond Jubilee Concert for HM Queen Elizabeth II. In 2009, Ms. Fleming was featured in the televised We Are One: The Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial concert for
President Obama. She has performed for the United States Supreme Court, and in 2014, she celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in a televised concert at the Brandenburg Gate. Another distinction was bestowed in 2008 when, breaking a precedent, Ms. Fleming became the first woman in the 125-year history of the Metropolitan Opera to solo headline an opening night gala.
Decca released Ms. Fleming's most recent album, Berg: Lyric Suite; Wellesz: Sonnets, recorded with the Emerson String Quartet, in September. Recipient of 14 Grammy Award nominations to date, she has recorded everything from complete operas and song recitals to an album of indie rock covers, Dark Hope, the jazz album Haunted Heart, and the movie soundtrack of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. She won her fourth Grammy Award for her album Poèmes. Known for bringing new audiences to classical music and opera, she has sung not only with
Luciano Pavarotti and
Plácido Domingo but also with
Elton John, Sting,
Lou Reed,
Josh Groban, and Joan Baez.
Ms. Fleming's book The Inner Voice was published by Viking Penguin in 2004, and released in paperback by Penguin the following year. An intimate account of her career and creative process, the book is now in its 12th US printing, and it is also published in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and Russia.
In 2010, Ms. Fleming was named the first-ever creative consultant at Lyric Opera of Chicago. She curated the creation of the world-premiere opera based on the best-seller
Bel Canto for Lyric Opera's 2015-2016 season. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of
Carnegie Hall, the Board of Sing for Hope, and the Artistic Advisory Board of the Polyphony Foundation. Among her awards are the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, Germany's Cross of the Order of Merit, Honorary Membership in the Royal Academy of Music, Sweden's Polar Music Prize, and honorary doctorates from
Duke University, Harvard University,
Carnegie Mellon University, the Eastman School of Music, and The Juilliard School.
reneefleming.com
Olga Kern is recognized as one of her generation's great pianists. She jumpstarted her US career with her historic Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas as the first woman to do so in more than thirty years. First prize winner of the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition at age seventeen, Ms. Kern is a laureate of many international competitions. In 2016, she will serve as Jury Chairman of both the Seventh Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition and first Olga Kern International Piano Competition, where she also holds the title of Artistic Director.
Ms. Kern opened the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's 2015-2016 centennial season with
Marin Alsop. Other season highlights include returns to the Royal Philharmonic with Pinchas Zukerman, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice with Giancarlo Guerrero, Rochester Philharmonic and San Antonio Symphony, a month-long tour of South Africa, an Israel tour with the Israel Symphony, solo recitals at Van Wezel Hall and the
92nd Street Y, and recitals with Renée Fleming at
Carnegie Hall and in Berkeley.
Last season, Ms. Kern appeared with the NHK Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, and the orchestras of Detroit, Nashville, Madison, New Mexico, and Austin and gave a recital at Seattle's Meany Hall. She has performed in such famed concert halls as
Carnegie Hall, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Symphony Hall in Osaka, Salzburger Festspielhaus, La Scala in Milan, the Tonhalle in Zurich, and the Chatelet in Paris.
Ms. Kern's discography includes her Grammy Award nominated recording of Rachmaninoff's Variations on a Theme of Corelli and other transcriptions (2004), Brahms's Variations (2007) and Chopin's Piano Sonatas No. 2 and 3 (2010). She was featured in the award-winning documentary about the 2001 Van Cliburn Competition, Playing on the Edge.
