Keynote Address Music and Mind

 

Renée Fleming, Keynote Speaker

Ecolab Theatre
1:30pm - 2:30pm
 

Famed opera star Renée Fleming is a leading advocate for the study of the powerful connections between the arts and health. Editor of the 2024 anthology Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness (Viking Penguin Random House), Fleming developed her Music and Mind presentation to engage the public and scientific professionals in interactive conversations that explore the impact of music and the arts on health and the brain. Appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for Arts and Health by the World Health Organization, Fleming served Artistic Advisor to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts until 2025, spearheading the Sound Health collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with the participation of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) which explored and brought attention to research and practice at the intersection of music, health, and neuroscience, leading to workshops at the NIH as well as events and performances at the Kennedy Center. In the wake of this initiative, the NIH awarded $20 million for music and neuroscience research over five years. 

Biography

Renée Fleming is internationally celebrated for her vocal and dramatic artistry, as well as her dedicated advocacy for the powerful impacts of the creative arts in health. Honored with five GRAMMY® awards and the US National Medal of Arts, she has sung not only in the world’s leading opera houses and concert halls, but also for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Super Bowl. In 2023, the World Health Organization appointed her as a Goodwill Ambassador for Arts and Health. 

Renée’s anthology Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness was published in 2024. She created a live program called Music and Mind, which she has presented in more than 70 cities around the world. She is now an advisor for major initiatives in this field, including the NeuroArts Blueprint at Johns Hopkins University. In 2024 she launched the Renée Fleming NeuroArts Investigator Awards, funding interdisciplinary research projects by early career scientists in collaboration with creative artists.

Her other honors include the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, Germany’s Cross of the Order of Merit, France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, and honorary doctorates from 10 major universities.