As one of the most celebrated classical singers of all time, Renée Fleming has enchanted audiences at venues across the globe. Today, the five-time Grammy winner is using her voice to promote the intersection of health and music through a variety of initiatives.
In her book, “Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness,” released in April, Fleming, 65, delves into the therapeutic power of music and the arts, highlighting the profound impact on brain health and the potential to use music and arts as a prescription for health and social connections. Fleming edited the book, which features a collection of essays from scientists, artists, health care providers and famed musicians.
Fleming’s own interest in brain health began early in her career as she battled both performance anxiety and somatic pain. She recalls how, while attending The Juilliard School, her back went into spasm the day before an important audition. In the years that followed, there would be many times when she would feel tension in her neck ahead of a performance, threatening her ability to sing.
“I learned that somatic symptoms, such as headaches and joint pain, are strong predictors of acute anxiety,” Fleming says. “In my case, they were my body’s way of distracting me from the pressures of performing.”
After meeting Dr. Francis Collins, a renowned physician and geneticist and the former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), at a dinner party in Washington, D.C., in 2015, the two began discussing their mutual interest in the connection between music and brain health. That initial conversation led to their collaboration on the Sound Health Initiative, a program launched in 2016 by the NIH in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where Fleming serves as the artistic adviser-at-large.
“Before attending the dinner, I’d read how scientists were studying music, and when I met Francis Collins, I said, ‘Why on earth are they doing that?’” Fleming says with a laugh. “And Francis explained that scientists were studying how music impacts brain function.”
Over the past eight years, the Sound Health Initiative has evolved and continues to fund cutting-edge research into music’s effects on the brain, including treating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, stroke, dementia and more.
“There’s so much happening in our work with music and health that I hardly know where to begin,” Fleming says, noting that recent studies have shown listening to music can reduce anxiety, improve cognitive functioning and even help with pain management. “There are numerous benefits throughout our lifespan of maintaining a connection to artistic practices.”
To help support research in this area, The Renée Fleming Foundation has joined forces with the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative to award grants to early-career investigators who are examining how music and the arts can be used in mainstream medicine.
The first grants were awarded this past April and include researchers examining the benefits of live music on brain activity and anxiety in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and another study assessing the value of drawing for reducing anxiety.
Fleming advocates for integrating music and the arts into every aspect of health care. She encourages individuals to ask their doctors about the potential benefits of arts or music programs for themselves or a loved one.
“I hope people will ask their doctors when they go into a hospital setting or an elder-care facility if there’s a creative arts therapist or program that might benefit them or a family member,” she says. “For example, for those who have had a stroke, singing has been shown to help them regain their speech. We’re hoping to put something together called ArtCare that would connect people to existing arts and music programs in their own communities.”
Destined For A Career In Music
The daughter of two high school music teachers, Fleming grew up in Rochester, New York, and began taking music lessons as a child. She fondly remembers her parents telling her that she sang before she spoke. Yet it wasn’t until college that Fleming, who says she was a shy child, contemplated a career as a professional singer.
While attending college at the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam, Fleming started singing off-campus with a jazz trio. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in music education, she continued her studies at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester and The Juilliard School in New York City.
With a career spanning four decades, Fleming has performed at renowned venues worldwide and notable events such as the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, President Barack Obama’s 2009 inaugural celebration, Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the 2014 Super Bowl and Senator John McCain’s funderal in 2018, where she sang “Danny Boy.”
A Focus On Nature
Fleming’s latest project is a live performance event, inspired by her 2021 Grammy-award winning album, “Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene.” The show, touring through 2025, features an original film created by the National Geographic Society that explores our relationship with nature and the effects of climate change.
“My ‘Voice of Nature’ album won a Grammy last year and I wanted to take it on the road, but to do it with film in order to showcase the incredible diversity and beauty of our planet,” Fleming says.
She describes her new touring show as a multimedia performance, where she performs music ranging from Handel to songs from “The Lord of the Rings.”
“The music begins in a time almost two centuries ago when people had a profound connection to the beauty of nature,” Fleming says. “Now we’ve reached a point where we see all too clearly the effects of our own activity on the environment.”
Fleming has always had an appreciation for the outdoors and says she found solace during the pandemic in taking long walks near her home when she couldn’t tour.
“I love spending time outdoors, especially hiking and biking, and I find both music and being in nature to be very meditative,” she says.
Despite her many achievements, including being one of five honorees to receive the Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievement last year, Fleming says her greatest accomplishment is her two daughters.
“I’m incredibly proud of Amelia, 32, and Sage, 29,” says Fleming of her daughters who sang back-up on her 2010 album, “Dark Hope,” along with her own sister, Rachelle.
Although both are talented singers, Fleming says they chose to pursue career paths outside of music.
Today, Fleming and her second husband, attorney Tim Jessell, whom she married in 2011, live in the Washington, D.C. area. As empty nesters — Jessell has three adult children from a prior marriage — the couple have been enjoying traveling to “bucket list destinations” when she isn’t touring.
Looking ahead to 2025, Fleming says she’s in a good place in her life and has found happiness doing work she loves.
“I feel like I have five different jobs, but it works, and I enjoy it a lot,” she says. “I’m really happy and looking forward to touring and working again this summer at the Aspen Music Festival, where I support young artists in their journeys.”