State Theatre New Jersey Hosts Renée Fleming in Concert

State Theatre New Jersey presents Grammy Award-winning soprano Renée Fleming on Wednesday, February 27, 2019 at 8pm. Tickets are $49-$99.

"Renée Fleming is one of the most extraordinary singers of our time and we are proud to bring her to New Brunswick for her State Theatre debut," says Sarah K. Chaplin, State Theatre New Jersey President & CEO. "We are especially proud to partner with the Mason Gross School to present Ms. Fleming in the free lecture, Music and the Mind."

Grammy Award- winner Renée Fleming, known for bringing new audiences to classical music and opera, Fleming has sung not only with Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, and Andrea Bocelli, but also with Elton John, Paul Simon, Sting, Josh Groban, and Joan Baez. She has hosted a wide variety of television and radio broadcasts, including the Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD series. In 2013, President Obama awarded her America's highest honor for an artist, the National Medal of Arts.

Program highlights include: Johannes Brahms: "Meine Liebe ist grü," Op. 63, No. 5; Heitor Villa-Lobos: "Ária (Cantilena)" from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 - featured in Bel Canto (film based on the novel); Harry Warren/Mack Gordon (arr. Alexandre Desplat): "You'll Never Know" - featured in The Shape of Water (film); Giacomo Puccini: "Signore, Ascolta" from Turandot; Francesco Paolo Tosti: "La Serenata"; and Meredith Willson: "'Till There Was You," from The Music Man.

Music and the Mind: A Conversation with Renée Fleming

On Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 7pm, Mason Gross School of the Arts and State Theatre New Jersey present Music and the Mind: A Conversation with Renée Fleming, a panel discussion with the celebrated opera star about the power of music as it relates to health and the brain. Tickets to the event are open to the public and free but advance registration is required. This event will take place at Nicholas Music Center, Rutgers University, Douglass Campus, 85 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ.

Inspired by Fleming's Sound Health initiative, which encourages research into the links between music and wellness, the event features Fleming and Rutgers neurologist Dr. Daniel P. Schneider, director of the Rutgers Dementia Clinic and the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Deep Brain Stimulation Clinic. The discussion will be moderated by musicologist Eduardo Herrera, professor of ethnomusicology and music history at the Mason Gross School.

Fleming and Schneider will present research demonstrating how our brains process music and how listening, performing, or creating music can contribute to better health. Fleming will also share the findings of a study that measured her brain activity while she spoke, sang, and imagined musical phrasing.

"We are honored to host this lecture featuring Renée Fleming, one of the most distinguished sopranos of our time," says George B. Stauffer, dean of the Mason Gross School. "I'm confident that her discussion with our own Daniel Schneider will prove to be immensely interesting to the students and faculty of Mason Gross and Rutgers as a whole. It also underscores the ongoing collaboration between Mason Gross and the State Theatre, one of New Jersey's brightest cultural jewels."

About Renée Fleming

Renée Fleming is one of the most acclaimed singers of our time. Winner of four Grammy Awards, Fleming has sung for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Diamond Jubilee Concert for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. In 2014, she became the first classical artist ever to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. Fleming recently appeared on Broadway in a major new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel. Her recent tour schedule has included concerts in New York, London, Vienna, Paris, Madrid, Tokyo, and Beijing.

Fleming can be heard on the soundtracks of the Best Picture Oscar-winner The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and she will soon be heard as the singing voice of Roxane, played by Julianne Moore, in the film of the best-selling novel Bel Canto.

In her role as Artistic Advisor to The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,Fleming launched a collaboration with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, with participation by the National Endowment of the Arts, focused on the science connecting music, health, and the brain. Over the past year, she has given more than 20 presentations with scientists and practitioners across the U.S. and Canada on this subject.

In September 2018, Decca released Fleming's latest album, Renée Fleming: Broadway, featuring a collection of great musical theater songs from the 1920's to the present day. She has recorded everything from complete operas and song recitals to indie rock and jazz; and her album Signatures was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for the National Recording Registry, as an "aural treasure worthy of preservation as part of America's patrimony."

For tickets, more information, or group discounts, call State Theatre Guest Services at 732-246-SHOW (7469), or visit us online at STNJ.org. State Theatre Guest Services, located at 15 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick NJ, is open Monday through Friday from 10am to 6pm; Saturday from 1pm to 5pm; and at least three hours prior to curtain on performance dates unless otherwise specified. Additional ticket and transaction fees may apply.

Photo Credit: Andrew Eccles