Quotes By Renee Fleming

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 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.

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

I don't like to sing loud.

Opera is really fun.

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

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.

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

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

I'm reserved, so I've always needed to find a way of opening up. Jazz helped me do that.

One of my timesaving habits is to save all of my magazines and junk mail for airplane trips. I walk on the plane with a very heavy bundle, but by the time the trip is over, it can all be thrown away.

I think touring is hard.

My parents discussed singing every night over the dinner table; I had a tremendous music education.