Music and the Mind

J. Edward Rall Cultural Lecture | Monday, May 13, 2019 | 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. ET

Renée Fleming

World-renowned soprano

Artistic Advisor-at-Large, Kennedy Center

Summary

Renée Fleming is one of the most acclaimed singers of our time. In 2013, President Obama awarded her America’s highest honor for an artist, the National Medal of Arts. She brought her voice to a vast new audience in 2014, as the only classical artist ever to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. Winner of the 2013 Grammy Award (her fourth) for Best Classical Vocal Solo, Ms. 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 2008 Ms. Fleming became the first woman in the 125-year history of the Metropolitan Opera to solo headline an opening night gala.

As Artistic Advisor-at-Large to the Kennedy Center, Ms. Fleming spearheads a collaboration with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, in association with the National Endowment for the Arts, exploring the intersection of music, health, and neuroscience. To date, the initiative has resulted in a workshop at the NIH that generated research recommendations to accelerate the study of music’s effects on the brain and implications for human health; two major convenings hosted by the Kennedy Center with neuroscientists, performers, and music therapists; and a host of programs, performances, and activities at the Kennedy Center.

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