On April 8th, the University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum is welcoming singing legend and health advocate, Renée Fleming. She will discuss her upcoming book, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness. Louisville Orchestra conductor Teddy Abrams will serve as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening.
Renée Fleming is one of the most acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world’s greatest opera houses and concert halls. Honored with five Grammy awards and the U.S. National Medal of Arts, she has sung for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Super Bowl. Fleming’s new book, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, draws upon her own experience as an advocate to showcase the breadth of this booming field.
She has invited leading experts to share their discoveries, with essays from notable musicians, writers, and artists, as well as leading neuroscientists and practitioners. In addition to describing therapeutic benefits, the book explores evolution, brain function, childhood development, and technology as applied to arts and health.
Ms. Fleming will join an impressive roster of past participants at the Kentucky Author Forum. Guests have included winners of Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Grammy Awards and Olympic medals, and these names: Geraldine Brooks, Michio Kaku, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Colson Whitehead, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Jessye Norman, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., John Irving, David Hockney, Wynton Marsalis, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Supreme Court Justices O’Connor and Breyer, and Congressmen John Lewis, John McCain and Jamie Raskin.
The particular magic of these literary events is the pairing of world-class authors with equally renowned top-tier interviewers. These candid conversations highlight cultural and intellectual topics in a wide variety of disciplines, including science, medicine, economics, arts, literature, sports, music, and politics.
Founded in 1996, the vision was that the University of Louisville, given its academic and cultural relationship with the community, was a natural focal point to create a world-class author event. Mary Moss Greenebaum, the producer, said, “I sought from the beginning to create a particular mood for the Forum: the audience should feel they are eavesdropping on a conversation they never expected to hear. Where else could one possibly hear Jane Goodall saying goodnight- in chimpanzee-to her interviewer, Dr. Richard Wrangham, Chair of Anthropology at Harvard?”
The interviews are filmed by KET (Kentucky public television) and distributed to PBS affiliates across the country as Great Conversations. The Forums are also recorded and produced into podcasts, called Great Podversations, by Associate Producer, Evie Clare. The podcasts are distributed by Louisville Public Media, and are available on all major podcast apps. It’s believed that the University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum is the only Louisville cultural event of its kind with national distribution.
Renée Fleming’s Kentucky Author Forum begins at 6pm on April 8th, at the Kentucky Performing Arts Center, 501 W Main Street. Dinner with Renée Fleming is available at the Muhammad Ali Center after the event.
Tickets and dinner packages can be purchased at www.kentuckyperformingarts.org or by calling the box office at (502) 584-7777.
The University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum is supported by the Owsley Brown II Family, Bittners, LDG Development, and many local partners.
More information and a link to join the email list for early notification of upcoming events can be found at www.kentuckyauthorforum.com
