Grammy winner Ren茅e Fleming, a Tony nominee for her work in the recent revival of Carousel, is donating her personal archives to Juilliard, her alma mater.
The Ren茅e Fleming Archives, which document Fleming鈥檚 career from its beginning, include selected correspondence, press clippings and magazine features, press kits, programs, performance and professional engagement materials, video performances, memorabilia, and iconography. The archives will be part of the Peter Jay Sharp Special Collections at Juilliard, housed in the school鈥檚 Lila Acheson Wallace Library. Juilliard will exhibit materials from the collection once every two years.
鈥淚鈥檓 gratified that Juilliard, which has nurtured so many artists, will provide a central home for my archive,鈥� Fleming said in a statement. 鈥淭he world of music has undergone radical change, and I鈥檝e observed that evolution first-hand. I have often forged my own way, on a path that hasn鈥檛 always conformed to a standard model. My hope is that this archive will be a useful resource for students, scholars, or music lovers who want to know more about my own experience as an artist.鈥�
鈥淲e are truly honored that our distinguished alumna Ren茅e Fleming is donating her archives to Juilliard,鈥� added Juilliard President Damian Woetzel. 鈥淎s Ren茅e鈥檚 illustrious career continues to break new ground, these archives will expand and give great insight to generations of students, faculty and scholars from around the world.鈥�
Fleming has enjoyed a long relationship with Juilliard, where she studied with Beverley Peck Johnson. As a student at the Juilliard Opera Center, Fleming sang the roles of Musetta in Puccini鈥檚 La boh猫me, The Wife in Menotti鈥檚 Tamu-Tamu, and Merry in William Schuman鈥檚 Casey at the Bat. In 2003, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the school and gave the commencement address. In 2004, Fleming joined Elton John onstage at Radio City Music Hall in a benefit concert for Juilliard and the Royal Academy of Music, with an orchestra made up of young musicians from both schools. Fleming also gave live-streamed master classes with students from the Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts in 2009 and 2014. In fall 2019, she joined the newly formed Tianjin Juilliard Advisory Council, an international body created to guide Juilliard鈥檚 new branch campus in China.
The famed soprano was recently seen in productions of the Tony-winning The Light in the Piazza in both London and the U.S.
