Renée Fleming

Renew/Remix is the most recent installment of the Sound Health initiative at the Kennedy Center, a powerful partnership with the National Institute of Health (NIH), soprano Renée Fleming, and Dr. Francis Collins, science advisor to the President and longest serving director of the NIH, in association with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Sound Health Network (SHN), an NEA initiative in partnership with the University of California San Francisco. The goal of Sound Health is to promote the intersection of music, health, and wellness.

The Kennedy Center will host a 2-day convening designed to illustrate the power of music in helping us navigate the “new normal” we’ve been thrust into after two years of pandemic.

esperanza spalding

Hosted by Renée Fleming and Dr. Francis Collins, the centerpiece of the convening will be a performance at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on the evening of October 2, which will feature a roster of world-class artists in performance and conversation with music therapists, researchers, and scientists.

The line-up includes the Children’s Chorus of Washington, Dessa, Howard University’s Afro Blue, Michela’s Love Movement, Eric Whitacre, Regina Carter, Caesar Sant featuring Robert Masi, and more.

The concert will culminate in an interactive experience—led by esperanza spalding in collaboration with Dr. Helena Hansen and Dr. Marisol Norris—as a preview to Monday’s workshops exploring the cultural context and practice of communal improvised music-making. The evening will explore the science behind recovery and the collective journey from pandemic isolation and loneliness, to the rediscovery of resilience through community.