Classical vocalist Renée Fleming is among this year’s Kennedy Center Honorees. Photo by Andrew Eccles.
In Thursday’s (6/22) Washington Post, Travis M. Andrews reports, “singer Dionne Warwick, comedian Billy Crystal, opera star Renée Fleming, Bee Gees singer-songwriter Barry Gibb, and hip-hop pioneer and actress Queen Latifah” will receive the 2023 Kennedy Center Honors, which acknowledge, “as the Kennedy Center phrases it, artists who have had ‘an impact on the rich tapestry of American life and culture through the performing arts.’… The Dec. 3 ceremony … will be hosted by former honoree Gloria Estefan and will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop…. The show will be broadcast later on CBS and streamed on Paramount Plus…. ‘These are artists who have not done just one thing, but have re-created themselves,’ [Kennedy Center President Deborah F.] Rutter said. ‘To me, that’s what a true artist is: always discovering new art, trying to grow, trying to make the world a better place through their art’ … Opera star Renée Fleming, 64, has sung just about everywhere with just about everyone,” including with orchestras throughout the U.S. “That might be why the soprano became a goodwill ambassador for arts and health for the World Health Organization or earned five Grammys, the U.S. National Medal of Arts, the 2023 Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum, the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal and honorary doctorates.’
