Renee Fleming

For Homage, Fleming herself dug through the crates (in this case opera professionals' brains) to find arias made famous by icons of the early 20th century -- Lotte Lehmann, Mary Garden, Maria Jeritza and Rosa Ponselle. She then listened to classic recordings to adapt her style to these idiosyncratic voices. Only two arias (from Il Trovatore and Tosca) are still popular today, but Fleming makes a great case for a return of Smetena's Dalibor with her triumphant performance.