Tenors, sopranos, singing daughters, and getting glamorous in 10 minutes

Maureen Dowd: Tenors are dumber and more neurotic than sopranos.

Renée Fleming: I wouldn't say dumber. I would say more neurotic probably because they have a greater risk. If a tenor fails, it's much more obvious than when a soprano fails because they are singing with their chest voice, full throated. And so when they fail, there's a huge split or a crack. And when a soprano fails, it's just unattractive.

MD: Tenors are often shorter than their soprano partners.

RF: Tenors have not, by and large, been a tall singing bloc. And there have been a lot of Latin American tenors. There's something in the language and maybe the mariachi tradition.

MD: You hate your fach.

RF: Yeah. I wish my fach were broader, but I'm happy being a lyric soprano.

MD: You are the only opera singer to have an asteroid named for you.

RF: Truth, yes. I said, "That's thrilling. I really am a star!"

MD: You sometimes talk to your husband in Sindarin in romantic situations.

RF: No, but he would probably love that. We could try to improve.

MD: You baked cookies with Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg.

RF: I did and that was surreal. And of that trio, I am the one who is out because Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg have collaborated in other ways. But I'm not a good cook, so I'm sure that was it.

MD: You can get glamorous in 10 minutes.

RF: I would say that's true. I don't like to spend a lot of time on it with one exception, my hair. There's a reason why my escape plan is just to shave my head. It's a pain.

MD: You've learned 50 operas in six languages.

RF: Confirm. The first time I learned Russian for Eugene Onegin, my first child was a month old and I kept thinking: "What is wrong with me? This is not sinking in." And then, of course, a couple years later, they started talking about what happens to women hormonally when they've had a baby, which is they're stupid for a while.

MD: Both your daughters can sing.

RF: Definitely. They're wonderful singers, but they know too much. They've opted for other careers. NYTIMES