In Search of Mozart

RENÉE FLEMING

Renée Fleming is among the most widely admired American singers of our time. A graduate from State University of New York at Postdam with a degree in music education Fleming continued her musical studies at the Eastman School of Music before enrolling in the American Opera Center at Julliard. She made her professional debut in 1986 as Konstanze in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and a year later earned top honours at the Eleanor McCollum Competition in Houston. The exposure lead her to the star-making role of the Contessa in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, and in 1989 she made her New York City debut in La Bohème. Later that same year she made her Covent Garden debut in Cherubini's Medea. The combination of vocal beauty, stylistic versatility and uncommon commitment to dramatic portrayal has ensured that Renée Fleming has been in constant demand in opera houses worldwide.

Q: Why did you take part in the film ‘In Search of Mozart’?
A: Performing Mozart has played a pivotal role in my development as an artist. My first full-scale opera production -- at the Eastman School -- was Don Giovanni, in which I performed Zerlina, and my debut role with almost every major opera theater from Houston to Paris to the Metropolitan Opera was the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro. However, Mozart has meant much more to me than milestones in my career. I have always regarded his repertoire as a teaching tool that requires one to sing with pristine clarity and control, and I was fortunate to focus almost exclusively on Mozart during the formative years of my career. The demands his music made on my voice enabled me to establish a dependable technique that has transferred well to all other repertoire.

Q: What do you do to relax and what kind of music do you listen to in your leisure time?
A: I love to go to the theater, especially when I am in London and have a chance to take an evening off. I love the escapism, the stagecraft, and the remarkable talents that teach me as they entertain. I’m also a student of contemporary art and try to steal hours away from rehearsals to visit museums far and wide. As far as music is concerned, I’m an enormous jazz fan and, besides attending concerts when I can, I always travel with my favorite music.

Q: What are your plans for Mozart year 2006?
A: Certainly the high point of 2006 will be Mozart’s 250th Birthday Concert, which will be broadcast worldwide on January 27th. It will be a dazzling gala concert with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Riccardo Muti in Mozart’s hometown of Salzburg, Austria, and it will include such wonderful colleagues as Thomas Hampson, Mitsoku Uchida, Gidon Kremer and Yuri Bahmet. I’m particularly looking forward to this event as well as to the 100th Anniversary Gala of the Juilliard School in April and performances in Japan with the Metropolitan Opera in the summer.