Renee Fleming's Quotes

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.

Some of my first teachers were incredibly tough. You could never sing more than three words without being stopped and having to do it over 20 times. I loved that - that sort of process of dissecting and trying to figure out and master this incredibly mysterious instrument.

Well, any time I'm preparing for a performance or even a rehearsal, it's 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.

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

I have not changed with the accomplishments. I've remained the same. If I had changed, great. You know, but I haven't.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

Every singer eventually gets around to a Christmas disc.

For a while it was hard for me to say no to work.

For my own singing, I used to be attracted by the baroque, the flashier the better, but now I prefer a simpler, purer style.

For years, I had no time for exploratory travel.

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

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

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

I don't like to sing loud.

I don't want to be somebody who stands still and sings pretty. Each song is a world. Each song is a story. I don't achieve nearly what I want.

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

I enjoy the more floaty, exposed, elegant singing.

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

I think singing is one of the most natural things that human beings do, but it's difficult.

I think singing it when it's done well is extremely natural. It feels great.

All of our affairs, since the union of crowns, have been managed by the advice of English ministers, and the principal offices of the kingdom filled with such men, as the court of England knew would be subservient to their designs.

One of the reasons we survive as a band is that we are seen as a band of today. We don't want to be seen as a band that tours and plays old songs. We feel that we are making the best music of our careers.