Bruno Mars and Renee Fleming Press Conference

Since 1967, the national anthem has been sung at the Super Bowl by a boy band and a college acappella group. It has been belted by a morning-TV host and bugled by a trumpeter (four times!). For the first time, Ms. Renée Fleming performed The United States National Anthem during a super bowl game.

But when the renowned soprano Renée Fleming made the arduous climbed to the high note in the “land of the free” at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., for a projected television audience of 100 million or more, it was the first time the anthem was performed at the Super Bowl event by an opera singer.