Perfection often creates such a flawless surface that there's no place for the audience to enter into a piece, while the idiosyncrasies of individual style are like windows into the singer's heart. Renee Fleming More Quotes by Renee Fleming More Quotes From Renee Fleming I have not changed with the accomplishments. I've remained the same. If I had changed, great. You know, but I haven't. Renee Fleming changed accomplishment havens I was always a very good student. Renee Fleming good-students very-good students At this stage in my career, I don't have to take any big risks. You want to take a calculated risk, not one that leads to people saying 'yes, but there was that one time when she made that big mistake.' It's always a shame when that happens, especially if you've gotten by for decades without anything hugely tragic. Renee Fleming careers mistake people With classical singing you have to put out so much air - you project, you emit force. Renee Fleming projects singing air 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. Renee Fleming emotional simple grandfather If I have to hold a note for a long time, I imagine it as moving and spinning, for the note has to have life. In a way, a singer actually refreshes a note with every beat that it's held. Renee Fleming singers long moving For years, I had no time for exploratory travel. Renee Fleming years I've lived in New York all my life, and we went to the Mormon Pageant each year in upstate New York. It still is a wonderful production. I remember going and seeing the performance and listening to the music. My father had Mormon Tabernacle Choir music, and we would listen to it and sing with it. Renee Fleming new-york father years Well, any time Im preparing for a performance or even a rehearsal, its as if in a way, like any other athletes, these are muscles that support the vocal cords which are just I believe cartilage. It demands a kind of constant warming up and a constant feeling of where is the voice today. Renee Fleming voice athlete believe I want to keep my voice young, with nothing heavy. Renee Fleming heavy voice want I think singing is one of the most natural things that human beings do, but it's difficult. Renee Fleming singing natural thinking 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. Renee Fleming singers roles young I think singing it when its done well is extremely natural. It feels great. Renee Fleming singing done thinking The first thing I did when I made a little bit of money as a singer was to buy myself an amber necklace. This is often the way we put together our lives, adding the striking qualities of others into our own character. Renee Fleming quality together character 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. Renee Fleming junk magazines airplane My mother was the worst kind of stage mother. She would make me and my younger sister and brother little duckling costumes and put us in kiddie shows. Renee Fleming brother mother littles I'm not a reactionary. Renee Fleming reactionaries 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. Renee Fleming opera house want I'm reserved, so I've always needed to find a way of opening up. Jazz helped me do that. Renee Fleming opening-up jazz way I think opera has gained a kind of glamorous appeal. It's a live performance that aligns all of the arts, and when it is represented in the media, in film in particular, it is presented as something that is really a special event, whether it's a great date or something that's just hugely romantic. Renee Fleming media art thinking
