Sara Bareilles & More to Perform in Kennedy Center 2024–2025 Season Of Renée Fleming VOICES

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Artistic Advisor-at-Large and 2023 Kennedy Center Honoree Renée Fleming has revealed the programming of the 2024–2025 Renée Fleming VOICES series. With a wide range of vocal performances from different genres and traditions, the eighth season continues to show the versatility of the human voice and its capacity to lift our spirits.

The season's VOICES series includes a special community event—"The Big Sing” (October 23). Presented by the Kennedy Center, the Washington National Cathedral, and Levine Music, “The Big Sing” is a free community sing in the nation's second-largest church—the Washington National Cathedral. No experience nor ticket is required. Just BYOV (bring your own voice) to be both a creator and witness of this transformative experience.  

The series starts with Sara Bareilles, presented together with the National Symphony Orchestra (September 24–26). These concerts showcase this versatile singer and songwriter's career-spanning work from pop and rock to Broadway. Opera star Nadine Sierra makes her Kennedy Center recital debut (November 10). Winner of the Richard Tucker Award and Beverly Sills Artists Award, Sierra is one of the most acclaimed coloraturas of her generation, appearing on the world's most prestigious opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera Covent Garden, and La Scala. Grammy winner Kathy Mattea celebrates the holiday with her acoustic roots music and seasonal favorites, performed with some of Nashville's finest musicians (December 6). With a smooth and sultry voice, Lizz Wright is at home in jazz, blues, gospel, and folk music. Her recital program draws from her favorites and newest album Shadow (February 12, 2025). 

Ticket Information

Tickets to all Renée Fleming VOICES performances are available now online at kennedy-center.org/subscriptions, and via phone at (202) 416-8500. Groups of 20 or more may contact Kennedy Center Group Sales at (202) 416-8400. 

The following description explains why these artists were chosen by Renée Fleming: 

Sara Bareilles

Tuesday, September 24–26, 2024 at 8 p.m.
Kennedy Center Concert Hall 

“When I first heard Sara Bareilles live at the Concert Hall in 2013 (in American Voices) I was stunned not only by the power of her singing but also by her boundless musical creativity. She is one of the truly visionary musicians I have encountered, and I was further impressed by her focus on mental health for artists, and everyone, really, in the wake of the pandemic. Whether performing one of her own hit songs, starring in–and creating the score for–a Broadway hit musical (Waitress, one of my absolute favorite contemporary musicals), lighting up a TV smash like Girls5eva, or brilliantly re-imagining a classic like “Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road,” she is constantly expanding the possibilities of what a singer-songwriter can accomplish. I can't wait to hear her join forces with the National Symphony Orchestra again.” 

“The Big Sing”

Wednesday, October 23, 2024 at 7 p.m.
Washington National Cathedral 

“The Big Sing will illustrate so much about the transformative power of music and beautiful aesthetic experiences of all kinds. There is an increasing body of research proving the physical and emotional health benefits of group singing. We'll also demonstrate the positive impacts on community health, when people at every level of skill—from ‘shower-singer' to professional—gather to make music in one of the city's most magnificent spaces.” 

Nadine Sierra 

Bryan Wagorn, piano
Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater 

“Soprano Nadine Sierra is one of the most dazzling talents in the new generation of international opera stars. Her breathtaking combination of vocal and personal glamor remind us that ‘diva' comes from the idea of encountering something divine onstage. She has conquered virtually every major opera capital, in benchmark roles like Violetta, Lucia, and Juliette, and the beauty of her sound is matched by her impeccable musicianship. Kennedy Center audiences only had a brief glimpse of her gifts when she sang so beautifully in the 2023 Kennedy Center Honors. Given her skyrocketing career in the legendary opera houses of the world, it will be a rare treat to hear her in the intimacy of the Terrace Theater.” 

A Winter Gathering with Kathy Mattea: Good News and Other Favorites

Friday, December 6, 2024 at 7 & 9:30 p.m.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater 

“American country and bluegrass music have always been enriched by the voices of strong, expressiv, women singer-songwriters, each with her own distinctive sound. Kathy Mattea occupies an iconic place in that tradition, starting from her hit debut album in 1984, adding folk, Celtic, gospel, and rock influences as she progressed, to tell human, affecting stories through her singing. Her integrity and empathy shine through her singing and have expanded the embrace of country music. I know this will be a holiday concert to warm hearts.” 

Lizz Wright

Wednesday, February 12, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater 

“Lizz Wright exemplifies my hopes of what VOICES can offer to our audiences. Here is a singer with an absolutely ravishing instrument, wielding it in a way entirely her own, and bringing decades of historic musical traditions, especially gospel and jazz, into an utterly current context. If you want to experience the healing power of music, and the sense of concord and understanding possible at live performances, you can count on finding it when Lizz Wright sings.” 

Artists and performances are subject to change. More program may be announced later.  

ABOUT RENÉE FLEMING VOICES

Renée Fleming VOICES is a concert series at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Curated by world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming, the VOICES series heralds the extraordinary power and vitality of the human voice across a wide range of genres, including Meow Meow, Jamie Barton, Patti LuPone, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Nellie McKay, Theo Bleckmann, Lawrence Brownlee, Billy Childs, Alan Cumming, Rinde Eckert, Cynthia Erivo, Megan Hilty, Ute Lemper, Jane Monheit, Patina Miller, and Gregory Porter, among others.  

“The range of human vocal expression is virtually limitless—there are as many kinds of VOICES as there are kinds of people. My goal for this series at the Kennedy Center is to celebrate the best singing in styles that may be familiar, and also to expose audiences to types of vocal music that might be totally new to them,” says Fleming. “From the classical song recital, to cabaret, bluegrass, rap, and world music, the common thread will be vocalism of exceptional quality or innovation, representing a diverse range of styles.” 

The performances offered in Renée Fleming VOICES take full advantage of the Kennedy Center's wealth of performance spaces. Each concert has been scheduled in a venue with the size and acoustic character that best suits the music; featured performance spaces range from the intimate 160-seat Jazz Club to the expansive 2,465-seat Concert Hall. 

For more information, go to https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/festivals-series/renee-fleming-voices/ 

Photo credit: Andrew Eccles 

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