Renée Fleming | Music & Mind
Date: Wed, Oct 14, 2026
Time: 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Venue: Memorial Hall, Chapel Hill
Price: $11 Students | $29
Category: Music
What happens in your brain when music moves you to tears? What can we advance in neuroscience when a researcher asks why a melody can unlock a memory, ease anxiety, or help a patient heal? For years, Renée Fleming has worked alongside physicians and researchers to better understand the profound relationship between music and human health. In this conversation, presented in partnership with the UNC School of Medicine and moderated by arts and culture journalist Liza Roberts, Fleming and UNC neuroscientists and practitioners explore how the arts are informing cutting-edge developments and reshaping clinical practice. The discussion moves beyond theory and into applications that touch everyday life: how creative experiences matter to your well-being, and how scientists are establishing important roles for the arts in healing, connection, and human flourishing. This is a rare opportunity to hear artists, scientists, and medical professionals share the same stage and to discover how one of humanity’s oldest forms of expression is shaping the future of health care. “Cutting-edge advances in health technology are revealing the powerful ways music and other arts can be leveraged in treatments for stroke, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, pain, and a wide range of medical challenges. There are also amazing benefits for childhood development and lifelong mental and emotional health. I am certain that each of us will at some point benefit from these discoveries.” – Renée Fleming *Please note: Renée Fleming will not be performing during this program. Join us for her separately-ticketed performance on October 13.
