How Renée Fleming Spends Her Holidays

Great Performances at the Met would have you believe that soprano Renée Fleming spends all her time in the Metropolitan Opera House, but this busy opera star has many projects up her sleeve, especially this holiday season. We’ve rounded up where you can see her for the next three months. She spoke at length about creating her new Christmas album and her upcoming PBS special in an interview with Little Rock.

Thanksgiving

On Thursday, Renée Fleming is one of the entertainers featured in the 88th annual Macy’s Thanksiving Parade, where performances will take place outdoors in Herald Square, next to the famous department store. Sting and the group Pentatonix are other Great Performances alumni at the parade; for the full line-up, see the official parade site. Audiences around the country can watch the NBC live broadcast of the parade on Thursday morning at 9 am ET.

December 4: Christmas in New York on PBS

Renée Fleming has her own Christmas special on PBS this year: Renée Fleming — Christmas in New York airing Thur., Dec. 4, 9-10:30 pm ET on PBS (check local listings). She’ll be celebrating her album of the same name and the magic of the season with guests Kurt Elling, Kelli O’Hara, Gregory Porter and Rufus Wainwright. The most wonderful time of the year is captured in unique musical performances of favorite holiday songs and carols.

January

First Fleming rings in the New Year with her starring role in The Merry Widow on December 31 at the Metropolitan Opera. Then she debuts her very own project on PBS that features singer of all genres, including Sara Bareilles, Kim Burrell, Kurt Elling, Renée Fleming, Ben Folds, Sutton Foster, Josh Groban, Alison Krauss, Norm Lewis, Eric Owens, and Dianne Reeves (pictured above). Renée Fleming is one of the executive producers behind American Voices with Renée Fleming , coming to Great Performances on Fri., Jan. 9 at 9 pm (check local listings). This star-studded 90-minute performance documentary offers an overview of the Kennedy Center’s weekend-long American Voices festival, which was created and hosted by Fleming in November of 2013. Camera crews in the documentary follow vocal masters, industry titans, and emerging artists as they gather at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, to celebrate, explore, and debate the legacy, landscape, and future of American singing.