Renée Fleming To Headline The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School 2023 Annual Gala

The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School presents opera superstar Renée Fleming in a Gala weekend of events that are designed to entertain and educate audiences and raise funds for the organization's education and community programs.

Ms. Fleming will headline the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra's Saturday, June 3 Gala Concert at The VETS, with Leonard Slatkin conducting. Both will join sponsor-level ticket holders for a post-concert Gala dinner at the WaterFire Arts Center later that evening. On Friday, June 2, Ms. Fleming will lead a panel of experts in Music and the Mind, a free program exploring the power of the arts as they relate to health and the brain, at Brown University's Martinos Auditorium.

"Renée Fleming and Leonard Slatkin are two of our nation's most iconic artists, and we feel so fortunate to have them both at our Annual Gala Concert," said Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School Executive Director, David Beauchesne. "Ms. Fleming's work with the Sound Health initiative is groundbreaking in its exploration of the intersection of music, health, and neuroscience. We are thrilled to be able to share that aspect of her work as well and can't wait for our audience and community to experience these two exceptional events."

Gala Concert takes place at The VETS in Providence, at 5:00 PM on June 3, and features Ms. Fleming performing Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs, music from Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music, music from Leoncavallo's La bohème and many other favorites, plus a very special side-by-side performance

with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and students from Victoria's Dream Project-a free string instruction program for students in grades 3 - 5 at Agnes Little and Henry Winters elementary schools in Pawtucket. Victoria's Dream Project is one of the access-focused programs the Gala fundraiser is designed to support.

Those wishing to attend the Gala Concert can purchase various levels of tickets, including sponsor-level seats which include the post-show Gala Dinner and Celebration with Ms. Fleming and Mr. Slatkin. The evening supports and celebrates the Rhode Island Philharmonic & Music School's mission: to make music accessible to all in Rhode Island through music education scholarships and community programs.

For tickets, or for more information about the Gala Concert on June 3rd (5:00 PM at The VETS, Providence), the post-concert Gala Dinner and Celebration (7:00 PM at the WaterFire Arts Center, Providence) visit riphil.org/gala

For information on Music and the Mind on June 2 (6:30 PM, Brown University Martinos Auditorium), visit tickets.riphil.org or call 401.248.7000.

The Gala Concert Program

VON SUPPÉ: Overture to Light Cavalry
Vaughan Williams: Concerto Grosso for String Orchestra:(Mvts. 1 & 5) Side-by-Side performance with students from Victoria's Dream Project R. STRAUSS: Four Last Songs
VERDI: Overture to La forza del destino
LEONCAVALLO: "Musette svaria sulla bocca viva" from La bohème
CILEA: "lo son l'umile ancella" from Adriana Lecouvreur
RODGERS: "The Carousel Waltz" from Carousel
RODGERS/HAMMERSTEIN: "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" from The Sound of Music LIPPA: "The Diva"
PUCCINI: "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi

Gala Celebration and Dinner

Hers is a voice of uncommon radiance. The voice of our time. Metropolitan Opera star Renée Fleming soars in this season's Gala joined by Leonard Slatkin on the podium in a program featuring Strauss, Verdi, Vaughan Williams, and Rodgers & Hammerstein plus a very special side-by-side performance with students from Victoria's Dream Project. Experience the unforgettable on June 3 at The VETS when you customize your evening to include sponsor-level seating for Renée's performance and seating at the post-show dinner, all while celebrating and supporting our mission. Your support will help us to make music accessible to all in Rhode Island through music education scholarships and community programs like Link Up and Victoria's Dream Project. Enjoy a fun-filled evening of cocktails, music performances, dinner, and the awarding of the John Hazen White, Sr. Leadership in the Arts Award to longtime supporter Amica Insurance.

Music and the Mind

Renée Fleming developed Music and the Mind after being inspired by the National Institutes of Health Sound Health initiative. She will welcome leading researchers, arts and health experts, and music educators from Rhode Island to share their experiences and explore current thinking on childhood development, cognitive neuroscience, social cohesion, and the future of music in medicine. Speakers from the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School, the Rhode Island Department of Health, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and Brown University will join her on stage. This event is free and open to the public; however, reservations are required.

About the Artists

Renée Fleming (soprano) is one of the most highly acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world's great opera houses and concert halls. Honored with five Grammy awards and the US National Medal of Arts, she has sung for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Diamond Jubilee Concert for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. In 2014, she brought her voice to a vast new audience when she became the first classical artist ever to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.

Renée's current concert calendar includes appearances in London, Milan, Paris, and at Carnegie Hall, where she will perform a rare duo recital with world-renowned pianist Evgeny Kissin in May. In November, she starred in the world premiere staging of The Hours, a new opera based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and award-winning film, at the Metropolitan Opera.

Renée's most recent album, released in January by Decca, is a two-disc compilation of her greatest live moments at the Metropolitan Opera, including some material never before released. Her previous recording, Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, won the 2023 Grammy award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. A collection of classical songs and world premieres, with Yannick Nézet-Séguin as pianist, the album focuses on nature as both inspiration to and casualty of humans.

In recent years, Renée has become a leading advocate for research at the intersection of arts, health, and neuroscience. As Artistic Advisor to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, she launched the first ongoing collaboration between America's national cultural center and the National Institutes of Health. She has presented her program, Music and the Mind, in more than 50 cities around the world, and launched Music and Mind LIVE, a weekly web show that amassed nearly 700,000 views, from 70 countries.

In addition to leading SongStudio at Carnegie Hall, Renée is Co-Director of the Aspen Opera Center and VocalArts at the Aspen Music Festival, and Advisor for Special Projects at LA Opera. Renée's other awards include the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, Germany's Cross of the Order of Merit, Sweden's Polar Music Prize, and France's Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. www.reneefleming.com

Leonard Slatkin (conductor) is the internationally acclaimed Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL), Conductor Laureate of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria (OFGC). He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author, and educator.

Slatkin has received six Grammy awards and 35 nominations. His latest recordings are Jeff Beal's The Paper Lined Shack on Supertrain Records and Slatkin Conducts Slatkin, a compilation of pieces written by generations of his musical family, including three of his own compositions, on Naxos Records. Other recent Naxos releases include works by Saint-

Saëns, Ravel, and Berlioz (with the ONL) and music by Copland, Rachmaninov, Borzova, McTee, and John Williams (with the DSO). In addition, he has recorded the complete Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky symphonies with the DSO (available online as digital downloads).

The 2022-23 season includes engagements with the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hanover, OFGC, ONL, NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, Spokane Symphony Orchestra, Yale Symphony Orchestra, DSO, Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin, Beethoven Festival in Warsaw, SLSO, Sacramento Philharmonic, Nashville Symphony, and Rhode Island Philharmonic.

A recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has received the Austria's Decoration of Honor in Silver, the League of American Orchestras' Gold Baton Award, and the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his debut book, Conducting Business. A second volume, Leading Tones: Reflections on Music, Musicians, and the Music Industry, was published by Amadeus Press in 2017. His latest book, Classical Crossroads: The Path Forward for Music in the 21st Century (2021), is available through Rowman & Littlefield. He is working on two more books and several new compositions.

Slatkin has conducted virtually all the leading orchestras in the world. As Music Director, he has held posts in New Orleans, St. Louis, Washington, DC, London (with the BBCSO), Detroit, and Lyon, France. He has also served as Principal Guest Conductor in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Cleveland.

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