Renée’s anthology, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, was published in 2024. A prominent advocate for research at the intersection of arts, health and neuroscience, as artistic advisor to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Renée launched the first ongoing collaboration between America’s national cultural center and its largest health research institute, the National Institutes of Health. She created her own program called Music and the Mind, which she has presented in more than 50 cities around the world. She is now an advisor for major initiatives in this field, including the Sound Health Network at the University of California San Francisco and the NeuroArts Blueprint at Johns Hopkins University.

Renée has recorded everything from complete operas and song recitals to indie rock and jazz. In 2023, Decca released a special double-length album of live recordings from Renée’s greatest performances at the Metropolitan Opera. That same year, Renée received the Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Solo for her album Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, with Yannick Nézet-Seguin as pianist. Known for bringing new audiences to classical music and opera, Renée has sung not only with Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli, but also with Elton John, Paul Simon, Sting, Josh Groban and Joan Baez. Renée’s voice is featured on the soundtracks of Best Picture Oscar-winners The Shape of Water and The Lord of the Rings.

Co-artistic director of the Aspen Opera Center and VocalARTS at the Aspen Music Festival, Renée is also advisor for special projects at LA Opera. Renée’s other awards include the 2023 Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, Germany’s Cross of the Order of Merit, Sweden’s Polar Music Prize and honorary doctorates from 10 major universities.