Meet the Meg Ryan of opera

On stage, the quintessentially American soprano Renée Fleming, whose latest album "Bel Canto" has topped the Billboard classical charts, has something of the forthrightness of Sally Field or a young Martha Stewart.

She sings music that ranges from Verdi to Richard Strauss, Dvorak to Alban Berg, and she has the technique and musical smarts to sound plausible in nearly anything.

"When it comes to repertoire, variety is my favorite word," Ms. Fleming says. "I feel happiest moving between different styles and composers and operatic, concert, and recital formats without ever stretching my voice out of its comfort zone."

She's been showered with honors, including a recent Grammy Award, during her two decades of intense work in repertory. Even a dessert has been named after her. New York's French chef Daniel Boulud recently dubbed his pricey new hazelnut-chocolate sweet "La Diva Renée."

Of course, all this sweetness does not conceal her steely gumption, revealed last Oct. 28 as she stood amid noxious fumes and grieving families to sing at a World Trade Center memorial service at ground zero. Thousands of people listened, some wearing masks to protect themselves from the smoldering ruins, as Fleming sang "God Bless America" and "Amazing Grace," seemingly without an iota of diva-like self-concern. She also performs frequent benefit concerts for the AIDS charity Classical Action.

"She's such an incredible musician with a gorgeous voice – her musicianship allows her to sing such a wide repertory," says Christoph Eschenbach, who has recorded often with her and conducted her in concert.

"In her recitals you'll always find four different languages at least, sometimes six," he adds. "She is cosmopolitan, and that's mirrored in her musicality and her curiosity about repertory."

Fleming's good looks combined with her musical intelligence are driving her success, says James Jorden, editor of an online opera journal.

"She has a great match between her sound, her look, and her persona: very classy in a Grace Kelly sort of way," he says. "Her family life and her middle-class origins keep her approachable and real. She's the Meg Ryan of opera."

Vocally, Mr. Jorden adds, "the timbre of the voice is essentially Central European like [sopranos] Sena Jurinac or Lucia Popp. Fleming is partly of Czech descent.... I think she lacks the crazy-lady temperamental fire and the meaty vocal vibrato to sound really genuine in the Italian repertory. By nature she's a born Mozart/Strauss lyric, and by training, strong technique, and immense musical intelligence, she's well suited to modern [music] as well."

There also are dissenters. French music critic Jacques Drillon says Fleming "is a typical bel canto singer, who only sings music that does not interest me."

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