Quotes By Renee Fleming

Because everything about the voice interests me, I felt it would be fascinating to learn a completely different style of singing.

Everybody's a work in progress. I'm a work in progress. I mean, I've never arrived... I'm still learning all the time.

I was always a very good student.

Certainly, jazz has become more of a niche, which is surprising, because it's our music. It's the national music of America.

I learned so many roles so quickly as a young singer, I thought it was time to come back to them and make them better - deeper, more nuanced.

I've always been inspired by artists who have shown musical and intellectual curiosity and the courage to take risks.

I listen to archival and historic recordings. I love watching singers. I learned a lot from watching videos.

I want to get out of the major opera houses.

I have had a very difficult time with stage fright; it undermines your well-being and peace of mind, and it can also threaten your livelihood.

I'm lucky - I can do two things at once.

I have a certain image that's more classic, and I'm happy to stay out of the fray.

My worry is that opera will become an historic art form as opposed to a living, breathing thing.

I'm American. I'm eclectic. I'm going to follow my musical passions. And if people don't like it, and it hurts my legacy, I'm not going to worry about that.

I'm rarely singing in English.

I'm not a reactionary.

A lot of performers don't want to leave the circuit, the European opera house circuit, partly because most singers don't sing many concerts, or at least not while they are in their prime.

Contrary to the norm, as my technique improved my voice became higher.

I do everything in the third person. Performance is about being someone else.

I've spent hours and hours doing research into Appalachian folk music. My grandfather was a fiddler. There is something very immediate, very simple and emotional, about that music.

I want to keep my voice young, with nothing heavy.

I don't like to sing loud.

There's no performance where I never have to think about setting up a phrase or making a technical adjustment while I'm performing.

No voice teacher can be all things to all people. You have to gain information from whatever sources you can. You have to listen.

Opera is really fun.

I don't want to record anything unless it can be great and genuinely interesting.

Having to travel so much plays havoc with your personal life.

Being steeped in the process of learning and exploring keeps me from becoming too nervous. Partly it's about not getting bored.

Every singer eventually gets around to a Christmas disc.

I am so envious of my colleagues from 100 years ago who only sang new works, they hardly ever sang revivals.

With classical singing you have to put out so much air - you project, you emit force.