Deborah Voigt
Encyclopedia
Deborah Voigt is an American opera
tic soprano
. Voigt regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide.
family in 1960 and raised in Wheeling, Illinois
outside Chicago. She joined the choir at a Baptist church at the age of five and began learning the piano. Her mother sang and played the piano at church while her two younger brothers sang in rock music
bands. She became interested in music from her experience at church. When she was 14, her family moved to Placentia, California
, located in Orange County
. It was traumatic to Voigt, then in her teens, to move to "Southern California, the land of endless sunshine and impossibly perfect bodies."
She attended El Dorado High School, where she was a member of the El Dorado Vocal Music program. She was also involved in the theatre program at El Dorado, where she starred in musicals including Fiddler on the Roof
, The Music Man
and Mame. In an interview, Voigt recalled the time in which she did not seriously consider becoming an opera singer and even did not know the existence of the Metropolitan Opera
. Upon graduation in 1978,
Voigt won a vocal scholarship funded by the Crystal Cathedral
in Garden Grove, California
so that she could enroll in the voice program at California State University, Fullerton
. She met the voice teacher Professor Jane Paul Hummel at school and trained under her guidance for about eight years. Voigt was the finalist of the Met National Council Auditions for Young Singers in 1985. Voigt won awards from many prestigious singing competitions (see below). She made her Carnegie Hall
debut in 1988. She won the Adler Fellow and apprenticed at San Francisco Opera
's Merola Program for two years where she studied seven major roles and she took a class from Leontyne Price
, one of America's acclaimed sopranos.
at Boston Lyric Opera
in January, 1991. The performance was very well reviewed by notable arts critic John Rockwell
in The New York Times
. who said "it introduced one truly remarkable singer in Deborah Voigt." He predicted that Voigt would soon be an important Wagnerian soprano comparable to Eileen Farrell
, the earlier American dramatic soprano. Ariadne first brought her to public notice and international success, and remains one of her best achievements. Later she often refers to her operatic career jokingly as Ariadne Inc.
When Voigt made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera
on October 17, 1991, in the leading role of Amelia in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera
, critic Allan Kozinn
stated that she came to the Met with a big reputation. Kozinn noted that "Voigt's deep, mezzo
like darkness brought impressive range of color to Amelia's music". He further commented about how well she conveyed Amelia's feeling of urgency and despair in her second-act soliloquy
, sung with a warm and golden tone. Although Kozinn criticized her acting, which did not match her singing, he emphasized that she did not lose any clarity or smoothness in her big voice. In March, 1992, Voigt returned to the Met to sing as Chrysothemis, the vulnerable sister of the title character in Strauss' Elektra
.
In the same month, she won the coveted Richard Tucker Award from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. The prize for winning was to participate in the annual gala of the foundation held on November 22, 1992, at Avery Fisher Hall
. Critic Bernard Holland
noted that her "Ozean, du Ungeheuer", a long sequence from Weber's Oberon
, brightened the mood and elevated the gala. He complimented her performance as "the Tucker gala's most satisfying". Her big, beautiful soprano was not only agreeable to the ear, but also showed splendid evenness and developed emotion. Two months later Holland, reviewing her substitution for Aprile Millo
at the Met, said that her attractive singing in the opening sequence as Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore
, "reached out and settled comfortably in every corner of this big hall." However, he pointed out that she did not fully immerse herself in the passion of the heroine.
Since then she has regularly appeared at major opera houses around the world such as the Metropolitan Opera in New York, San Francisco Opera
, Lyric Opera of Chicago
, Vienna State Opera
, Deutsche Oper Berlin
and the Opéra Bastille
in Paris.
when she could not fit into one of the costumes, a "little black dress
." The director wanted her to wear it, instead of the typical period costume
used in such operas, letting out the dress with tailoring, or replacing it with another costume. She was replaced by Anne Schwanewilms
, a German singer of slimmer appearance. She was "very angry" about the incident, but kept silent about it for several months. When the decision became public, Covent Garden received significant criticism in the media. It was pointed out that many notable sopranos, such as Luisa Tetrazzini
, Jessye Norman
and Jane Eaglen
, had been "large-boned, the zaftig, even the enormous", and Voigt had merely "followed in their heavy footsteps."
The decision was also criticized because of the popular stereotype
that female opera singers have to be heavy anyway, in order to do a good job. There is the old expression that "in opera, great voices often come in large packages". and the well-worn saying about opera that "It ain't over till the fat lady sings
" She was headlined in the British tabloid press as "The show ain't over till the fat lady slims." There was also an outcry because, it seemed at the time, that high culture
performing arts
, such as opera, should not emulate low culture Hollywood images of thin female stars.
By a strange twist of fate, the incident may have helped her in the long run. Voigt had tried many well-known diets, such as Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers
, unsuccessfully over the years. Maestro
Georg Solti
, "who never minced words", had once expressed concern about her weight. She underwent three-hour gastric bypass surgery
, which she has discussed publicly. It is highly risky for any person, but especially for a singer, who depends on a strong thoracic diaphragm
"to support the column of sound". Luckily, the operation, performed at Lenox Hill Hospital
in New York City, was successful. She lost over 100 pounds (or 7 stone), and went from a size 30, to size 14. She has refused to reveal her exact weight before and after the surgery. However, "before and after" photographs clearly show a considerable loss of mass
.
Voigt has said she went through the surgery not only because of the Royal Opera House but also because of her concern about health problems caused by the weight. In other interviews with The New York Times in 2005 and 2008, she said the fees that she was owed from the Covent Garden paid in part for the surgery. Her concern was that the firing was done so cruelly. In several interviews over the past few years, she has expressed relief and delight in the weight loss.
Since her dramatic weight loss, Voigt has been rehired by the Royal Opera House for the role she was originally fired from in 2004. The public reaction was positive. Voigt said in 2005 that she felt "good will from fans and the public." She said in 2008 that she "assumed" the "rapprochement" did not happen until they had new management.
at the Vienna State Opera
and the Metropolitan Opera; her first fully staged Salome
at Lyric Opera of Chicago
premiered in October of the same year. She performed Ariadne in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos
for the theatre during the 2007/08 season, to rave reviews.
In January 2006, she sang Broadway
tunes and other popular songs
at UCLA's Royce Hall
. She performed a similar concert from "the American songbook" in January 2008 at Lincoln Center
. This included tributes to Broadway sopranos Barbara Cook
and Julie Andrews
.
Although Voigt's fach
is that of the dramatischer soprano
, she has recently made the transition into singing the hochdramatischer soprano repertoire with her interpretation of Isolde from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
. She has recently sung the role in the 2007/08 season at the Metropolitan Opera and in the 2008/09 season at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. During one of the performances at the Met, Voigt took ill and had to leave the stage. She returned at the next performance of Tristan und Isolde and finished the run to acclaim by most reviewers, including The New York Times
. However, some critics, including the The New York Sun, panned her performance.
On September 28, 2008, Voigt joined another soprano, Patricia Racette
, and mezzo-soprano
Susan Graham
in singing a comedic tribute to Plácido Domingo
, who:
conducting.
Voigt's next planned formal opera engagement was in the title role of Tosca
in September and October 2009, at the Lyric Opera in her home town of Chicago. Christina Borgioli, her mentee
, will accompany Voigt in this production.
In February and March 2010, she was set to sing Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Zurich Opera House
.
Voigt sang again with the Metropolitan Opera during the 2009/10 Season. She sang Chrysothemis in Richard Strauss's Elektra
in December 2009, and Senta in The Flying Dutchman
in April 2010, an "iconic Wagnerian role ... for the first time on the Met stage." The New York Times review stated that she "brought steely power and lyrical elegance to her first Met Senta ..."
. She reprised this performance the Lyric Opera of Chicago in January 2011.
In April 2011, Voigt sang her first Brünnhilde at the Metropolitan Opera in Canadian stage director Robert Lepage
's new production of Die Walküre
, the second installment of the Met's highly publicized new production of Wagner's Ring Cycle
directed by Lepage. She is singing the role again as the cycle is presented in its entirety during the 2011/2012 season, adding to her repertoire the final two operas of the four opera cycle, Siegfried
and Götterdämmerung
.
In the summer of 2011, she sang Annie Oakley in the Irving Berlin musical Annie Get Your Gun
at the Glimmerglass Festival.
which is beyond her specialty in Strauss and Wagner roles that demand the high dramatic soprano range. She sang Puccini's Tosca in Concert with Vero Beach Opera on April 8, 2006, Verdi's Lady MacBeth
, Leonora in Il trovatore
, the title role in Aida
, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera
, and most recently has begun to sing Minnie in La fanciulla del West as well as many others.
by Christoph Willibald Gluck
, in concert at Lincoln Center
's Rose Theatre. She performed with the Collegiate Chorale
and Vinson Cole
, tenor
, as King Admète, and the New York City Opera
Orchestra." According to a New York Times preview, "The chance to hear Deborah Voigt in her first performance of the title role in Gluck's Alceste is clearly driving the ticket sales for the Collegiate Chorale's concert performance of this remarkable opera ..." Time Out said that Voigt "already proved her affinity for similar material a few years back when she sang Cassandre in Berlioz's Les Troyens
at the Met." The France-Amérique noted that Voigt and the chorus received French diction training for the performance from Thomas Grubb, a teacher at the Juilliard School
.
Unfortunately, Voigt caught the flu when she was to perform, yet went on with the show; the photograph caption for the New York Times review was, "Deborah Voigt, even with the flu, led a Collegiate Chorale concert performance on Tuesday." The reviewer wrote, "she did some impressive work, singing with power, gleaming sound and sensitive phrasing, though she clearly struggled. Often her voice sounded congested and her top range tight ... her voice nearly gave out, and she had to drop down an octave to get though a phrase." The review reserved judgment but noted that some fans were "disappointed." Another reviewer wrote, "One would like very much to hear Voigt undertake this dramatic role again when she is in peak form."
a younger soprano, Christina Borgioli, in a new program that she has set up. Borgioli has "been selected as the first participant in the Deborah Voigt/Vero Beach Opera Foundation's Protegee Mentoring Program." This will involve both voice and acting training, and a shadowing experience.
Vocal Competition in 1988, the Verdi Competition in 1989, and won the gold prize for best female singer at the prestigious 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition
.
In March 1992, she won the Richard Tucker Award, the top award presented by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, including a $30,000 cash award.
Voigt has been nominated for a Grammy Award
several times and shared the 1996 "Best Opera Recording" award for the recording of Berlioz's Les Troyens
directed by Charles Dutoit
with Montreal Symphony Orchestra
. She was also co-nominated in 2002 for "Best Choral Performance" on a Columbia Records
recording.
Voigt garnered Musical America
s Vocalist of the Year in 2003, and an Opera News
award for distinguished achievement in 2007. She was honored as a Chevalier of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
at the Opéra Bastille
on 27 March 2002.
She was inducted into the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District
Hall of Fame in 1997.
's production of Tristan und Isolde for Deutsche Grammophon
(2003). In a 2001 interview with Associated Press
, however, Voigt expressed that she was unlucky with recording because of unexpected cancellations and postponements. The opportunities of cooperation with high profile musicians could have made her a major prima donna
more quickly. She had a chance to work with Luciano Pavarotti
in a televised production of Verdi's La forza del destino
in 1997. However, the performance did not take place since Pavarotti did not master his role. Later the same year, Voigt was cast to sing for a new recording of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
under the direction of Sir Georg Solti
. Before it proceeded, Solti suddenly died of a heart attack.
In April, 2001, The Metropolitan Opera intended to broadcast a taping of Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos
in which Voigt sang the title role. However, it was put off until 2003, for co-star Natalie Dessay
. She felt frustration over the fact that every recording plan for Ariadne had been delayed or stopped for five years until late 2001. Finally, Voigt presented her Ariadne in a 2001 recording released by Deutsche Grammophon in which Natalie Dessay, Anne Sofie von Otter and Ben Heppner
co-starred. Although Giuseppe Sinopoli
, who directed the recording, suddenly died of a heart attack in April 2001, the recording was finished before his death. Voigt said that if he had not participated in the project, she doubts she could have ever recorded Ariadne. In the end, her long struggle paid off and turned out to have a bright side since the album was mentioned as one of the "Top Classical Recordings of 2001" according to the New York Times.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
. Voigt regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide.
Early life and education
Debbie Joy Voigt was born to a religious Southern BaptistSouthern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...
family in 1960 and raised in Wheeling, Illinois
Wheeling, Illinois
Wheeling is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. The population was 34,496 at the 2000 census, and 38,555 at the 2006 special village census.-Geography:Wheeling is located at ....
outside Chicago. She joined the choir at a Baptist church at the age of five and began learning the piano. Her mother sang and played the piano at church while her two younger brothers sang in rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
bands. She became interested in music from her experience at church. When she was 14, her family moved to Placentia, California
Placentia, California
-Local: Placentia is a Charter city with an elected city council and professional city manager. Placentia City Council*Mayor- Scott W. Nelson*Mayor Pro Tem- Jeremy Yamaguchi*Council Member- Joe Aquirre*Council Member- Constance Underhill...
, located in Orange County
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
. It was traumatic to Voigt, then in her teens, to move to "Southern California, the land of endless sunshine and impossibly perfect bodies."
She attended El Dorado High School, where she was a member of the El Dorado Vocal Music program. She was also involved in the theatre program at El Dorado, where she starred in musicals including Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
, The Music Man
The Music Man
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...
and Mame. In an interview, Voigt recalled the time in which she did not seriously consider becoming an opera singer and even did not know the existence of the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
. Upon graduation in 1978,
Voigt won a vocal scholarship funded by the Crystal Cathedral
Crystal Cathedral
The Crystal Cathedral is a Protestant Christian church building in the city of Garden Grove, in Orange County, California, United States. It is the headquarters and principal place of worship for Crystal Cathedral Ministries, a church founded in 1955 by Robert H. Schuller and affiliated with the...
in Garden Grove, California
Garden Grove, California
Garden Grove is a city located in northern Orange County, California. The population was 170,883 at the 2010 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, passes through the city running east-west. The city is known outside the Southern California area for being the home of Robert H...
so that she could enroll in the voice program at California State University, Fullerton
California State University, Fullerton
California State University, Fullerton is a public university located in Fullerton, California. It is the largest institution in the CSU System by enrollment, it offers long-distance education and adult-degree programs...
. She met the voice teacher Professor Jane Paul Hummel at school and trained under her guidance for about eight years. Voigt was the finalist of the Met National Council Auditions for Young Singers in 1985. Voigt won awards from many prestigious singing competitions (see below). She made her Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
debut in 1988. She won the Adler Fellow and apprenticed at San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
's Merola Program for two years where she studied seven major roles and she took a class from Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price
Mary Violet Leontyne Price is an American soprano. Born and raised in the Deep South, she rose to international acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s, and was one of the first African Americans to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera.One critic characterized Price's voice as "vibrant",...
, one of America's acclaimed sopranos.
1990s to mid 2000s
Voigt slowly but surely established her career. She entered the professional opera world after several winning first prizes from musical competitions. Voigt's breakthrough role was Ariadne in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf NaxosAriadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consuming beautiful music, the opera's theme is the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.- First version :The opera was originally...
at Boston Lyric Opera
Boston Lyric Opera
Boston Lyric Opera is an American opera company based in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1976.Each season, BLO produces three mainstage productions at the Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre in Boston and a fully staged, one-hour English language version of a popular opera for school...
in January, 1991. The performance was very well reviewed by notable arts critic John Rockwell
John Rockwell
John Rockwell is a music critic, editor, and dance critic. He studied at Phillips Academy, Harvard, the University of Munich, and the University of California, Berkeley, earning a Ph.D. in German culture....
in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. who said "it introduced one truly remarkable singer in Deborah Voigt." He predicted that Voigt would soon be an important Wagnerian soprano comparable to Eileen Farrell
Eileen Farrell
Eileen Farrell was an American soprano who had a nearly 60 year long career performing both classical and popular music in concerts, theatres, on radio and television, and on disc. While she was active as an opera singer, her concert engagements far outnumbered her theatrical appearances...
, the earlier American dramatic soprano. Ariadne first brought her to public notice and international success, and remains one of her best achievements. Later she often refers to her operatic career jokingly as Ariadne Inc.
When Voigt made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
on October 17, 1991, in the leading role of Amelia in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
, critic Allan Kozinn
Allan Kozinn
-Biography:He received bachelor's degrees in music and journalism from Syracuse University in 1976. He began freelancing as a critic and music feature writer for the New York Times in 1977, and joined the paper's staff in 1991...
stated that she came to the Met with a big reputation. Kozinn noted that "Voigt's deep, mezzo
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
like darkness brought impressive range of color to Amelia's music". He further commented about how well she conveyed Amelia's feeling of urgency and despair in her second-act soliloquy
Soliloquy
A soliloquy is a device often used in drama whereby a character relates his or her thoughts and feelings to him/herself and to the audience without addressing any of the other characters, and is delivered often when they are alone or think they are alone. Soliloquy is distinct from monologue and...
, sung with a warm and golden tone. Although Kozinn criticized her acting, which did not match her singing, he emphasized that she did not lose any clarity or smoothness in her big voice. In March, 1992, Voigt returned to the Met to sing as Chrysothemis, the vulnerable sister of the title character in Strauss' Elektra
Elektra (opera)
Elektra is a one-act opera by Richard Strauss, to a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which he adapted from his 1903 drama Elektra. The opera was the first of many collaborations between Strauss and Hofmannsthal...
.
In the same month, she won the coveted Richard Tucker Award from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. The prize for winning was to participate in the annual gala of the foundation held on November 22, 1992, at Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall is a concert hall, in New York City and is part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex. It is the home of the New York Philharmonic, with a capacity of 2,738 seats.-History:...
. Critic Bernard Holland
Bernard Holland
Bernard Holland is an internationally recognized American music critic. He served on the staff of The New York Times from 1981 until 2008 and held the post of chief music critic from 1995, contributing 4,575 articles to the newspaper....
noted that her "Ozean, du Ungeheuer", a long sequence from Weber's Oberon
Oberon (opera)
Oberon, or The Elf King's Oath is a 3-act romantic opera in English with spoken dialogue and music by Carl Maria von Weber. The libretto by James Robinson Planche was based on a German poem, Oberon, by Christoph Martin Wieland, which itself was based on the epic romance Huon de Bordeaux, a French...
, brightened the mood and elevated the gala. He complimented her performance as "the Tucker gala's most satisfying". Her big, beautiful soprano was not only agreeable to the ear, but also showed splendid evenness and developed emotion. Two months later Holland, reviewing her substitution for Aprile Millo
Aprile Millo
Aprile Millo is an American operatic soprano of Italian and Irish ancestry who is particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Giuseppe Verdi. Possessing a spinto voice of power, warmth and temperament, Millo became one of the most celebrated opera singers of the late twentieth...
at the Met, said that her attractive singing in the opening sequence as Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, "reached out and settled comfortably in every corner of this big hall." However, he pointed out that she did not fully immerse herself in the passion of the heroine.
Since then she has regularly appeared at major opera houses around the world such as the Metropolitan Opera in New York, San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
, Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
, Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
, Deutsche Oper Berlin
Deutsche Oper Berlin
The Deutsche Oper Berlin is an opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany. The resident building is also home to the Berlin State Ballet.-History:...
and the Opéra Bastille
Opéra Bastille
L'Opéra Bastille ' is a modern opera house in Paris, France. It is the home base of the Opéra national de Paris and was designed to replace the Palais Garnier, which is nowadays mainly used for ballet performances....
in Paris.
2004: The "little black dress"
In 2004, Voigt was removed from the role of Ariadne at Royal Opera HouseRoyal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
when she could not fit into one of the costumes, a "little black dress
Little black dress
A little black dress is an evening or cocktail dress, cut simply and often quite short. Fashion historians ascribe the origins of the little black dress to the 1920s designs of Coco Chanel, intended to be long-lasting, versatile, affordable, accessible to the widest market possible and in a neutral...
." The director wanted her to wear it, instead of the typical period costume
Costume drama
A costume drama or period drama is a period piece in which elaborate costumes, sets and properties are featured in order to capture the ambiance of a particular era.The term is usually used in the context of film and television...
used in such operas, letting out the dress with tailoring, or replacing it with another costume. She was replaced by Anne Schwanewilms
Anne Schwanewilms
Anne Schwanewilms is a German lyric soprano. She studied gardening before training as a singer with the German bass, Hans Sotin, in Cologne...
, a German singer of slimmer appearance. She was "very angry" about the incident, but kept silent about it for several months. When the decision became public, Covent Garden received significant criticism in the media. It was pointed out that many notable sopranos, such as Luisa Tetrazzini
Luisa Tetrazzini
Luisa Tetrazzini was an Italian coloratura soprano of great international fame.Tetrazzini's voice was remarkable for its phenomenal flexibility, thrust, steadiness and thrilling tone...
, Jessye Norman
Jessye Norman
Jessye Norman is an American opera singer. Norman is a well-known contemporary opera singer and recitalist, and is one of the highest paid performers in classical music...
and Jane Eaglen
Jane Eaglen
Jane Eaglen is an English dramatic soprano particularly known for her interpretations of the works of Richard Wagner and the title roles in Bellini's Norma and Puccini's Turandot.-Background:...
, had been "large-boned, the zaftig, even the enormous", and Voigt had merely "followed in their heavy footsteps."
The decision was also criticized because of the popular stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
that female opera singers have to be heavy anyway, in order to do a good job. There is the old expression that "in opera, great voices often come in large packages". and the well-worn saying about opera that "It ain't over till the fat lady sings
It ain't over till the fat lady sings
It ain't over till the fat lady sings is a colloquialism, essentially meaning that one should not assume the outcome of some activity until it has actually finished, similar to a common proverb...
" She was headlined in the British tabloid press as "The show ain't over till the fat lady slims." There was also an outcry because, it seemed at the time, that high culture
High culture
High culture is a term, now used in a number of different ways in academic discourse, whose most common meaning is the set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem by a culture...
performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
, such as opera, should not emulate low culture Hollywood images of thin female stars.
By a strange twist of fate, the incident may have helped her in the long run. Voigt had tried many well-known diets, such as Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers
Weight Watchers
Weight Watchers is an international company that offers various dieting products and services to assist weight loss and maintenance. Founded in 1963 by Brooklyn homemaker Jean Nidetch, it operates in about 30 countries around the world, generally under names that are local translations of “Weight...
, unsuccessfully over the years. Maestro
Maestro
Maestro is a title of extreme respect given to a master musician. The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera. This is associated with the ubiquitous use of Italian vocabulary for classical music terms...
Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
, "who never minced words", had once expressed concern about her weight. She underwent three-hour gastric bypass surgery
Gastric bypass surgery
Gastric bypass procedures are any of a group of similar operations that first divides the stomach into a small upper pouch and a much larger lower "remnant" pouch and then re-arranges the small intestine to allow both pouches to stay connected to it. Surgeons have developed several different ways...
, which she has discussed publicly. It is highly risky for any person, but especially for a singer, who depends on a strong thoracic diaphragm
Thoracic diaphragm
In the anatomy of mammals, the thoracic diaphragm, or simply the diaphragm , is a sheet of internal skeletal muscle that extends across the bottom of the rib cage. The diaphragm separates the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity and performs an important function in respiration...
"to support the column of sound". Luckily, the operation, performed at Lenox Hill Hospital
Lenox Hill Hospital
Lenox Hill Hospital, on Manhattan's Upper East Side in New York City, is a 652-bed, acute care hospital and a major teaching affiliate of New York University Medical Center. Founded in 1857 as the German Dispensary, today's 10-building Lenox Hill Hospital complex has occupied its present site since...
in New York City, was successful. She lost over 100 pounds (or 7 stone), and went from a size 30, to size 14. She has refused to reveal her exact weight before and after the surgery. However, "before and after" photographs clearly show a considerable loss of mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
.
Voigt has said she went through the surgery not only because of the Royal Opera House but also because of her concern about health problems caused by the weight. In other interviews with The New York Times in 2005 and 2008, she said the fees that she was owed from the Covent Garden paid in part for the surgery. Her concern was that the firing was done so cruelly. In several interviews over the past few years, she has expressed relief and delight in the weight loss.
Since her dramatic weight loss, Voigt has been rehired by the Royal Opera House for the role she was originally fired from in 2004. The public reaction was positive. Voigt said in 2005 that she felt "good will from fans and the public." She said in 2008 that she "assumed" the "rapprochement" did not happen until they had new management.
2006 to 2008
In April 2006, she performed her first ToscaTosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
at the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
and the Metropolitan Opera; her first fully staged Salome
Salome (opera)
Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer....
at Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
premiered in October of the same year. She performed Ariadne in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consuming beautiful music, the opera's theme is the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.- First version :The opera was originally...
for the theatre during the 2007/08 season, to rave reviews.
In January 2006, she sang Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
tunes and other popular songs
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
at UCLA's Royce Hall
Royce Hall
Royce Hall is a building on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles . Designed by the Los Angeles firm of Allison & Allison in the Italian Romanesque Revival style and completed in 1929, it is one of the four original buildings on UCLA's Westwood campus and has come to be the...
. She performed a similar concert from "the American songbook" in January 2008 at Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
. This included tributes to Broadway sopranos Barbara Cook
Barbara Cook
Barbara Cook is an American singer and actress who first came to prominence in the 1950s after starring in the original Broadway musicals Candide and The Music Man among others, winning a Tony Award for the latter...
and Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...
.
Although Voigt's fach
Fach
The German Fach system is a method of classifying singers, primarily opera singers, according to the range, weight, and color of their voices...
is that of the dramatischer soprano
Dramatic soprano
A dramatic soprano is an operatic soprano with a powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over, or cut through, a full orchestra. Thicker vocal folds in dramatic voices usually mean less agility than lighter voices but a sustained, fuller sound. Usually this voice has a lower tessitura than...
, she has recently made the transition into singing the hochdramatischer soprano repertoire with her interpretation of Isolde from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
. She has recently sung the role in the 2007/08 season at the Metropolitan Opera and in the 2008/09 season at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. During one of the performances at the Met, Voigt took ill and had to leave the stage. She returned at the next performance of Tristan und Isolde and finished the run to acclaim by most reviewers, including The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. However, some critics, including the The New York Sun, panned her performance.
On September 28, 2008, Voigt joined another soprano, Patricia Racette
Patricia Racette
Patricia Lynn Racette is an American operatic soprano. A winner of the Richard Tucker Award in 1998, she has been a regular presence at major opera houses internationally. Racette has enjoyed long-term partnerships with the San Francisco Opera, where she has been a regular performer since 1989,...
, and mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
Susan Graham
Susan Graham
Susan Graham is an American mezzo-soprano.Raised in Midland, Texas, she is a graduate of Texas Tech University and the Manhattan School of Music. She studied the piano for 13 years...
in singing a comedic tribute to Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, who:
2009 to 2010
She was set to sing Strauss at the Aspen Music Festival's 60th anniversary concert on August 6, 2009 with David ZinmanDavid Zinman
David Zinman is an American conductor and violinist.After early violin studies at the Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota and took up conducting at Tanglewood...
conducting.
Voigt's next planned formal opera engagement was in the title role of Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
in September and October 2009, at the Lyric Opera in her home town of Chicago. Christina Borgioli, her mentee
Mentorship
Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....
, will accompany Voigt in this production.
In February and March 2010, she was set to sing Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Zurich Opera House
Zurich Opera House
Opernhaus Zürich is an opera house in the Swiss city of Zurich. It has been the home of the Zurich Opera since 1891.- History :...
.
Voigt sang again with the Metropolitan Opera during the 2009/10 Season. She sang Chrysothemis in Richard Strauss's Elektra
Elektra (opera)
Elektra is a one-act opera by Richard Strauss, to a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which he adapted from his 1903 drama Elektra. The opera was the first of many collaborations between Strauss and Hofmannsthal...
in December 2009, and Senta in The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman (opera)
Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...
in April 2010, an "iconic Wagnerian role ... for the first time on the Met stage." The New York Times review stated that she "brought steely power and lyrical elegance to her first Met Senta ..."
2010 to 2011
In December of 2010, Voigt returned to the Met in the 100th anniversary production of the world premiere of Puccini's La fanciulla del WestLa fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the play The Girl of the Golden West by the American author David Belasco. Its highly-publicised premiere occurred in New York City in 1910...
. She reprised this performance the Lyric Opera of Chicago in January 2011.
In April 2011, Voigt sang her first Brünnhilde at the Metropolitan Opera in Canadian stage director Robert Lepage
Robert Lepage
Robert Lepage, is a playwright, actor, film director, and stage director from Québec City, Québec, and is one of Canada's most honoured theatre artists.- Life and work :...
's new production of Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
, the second installment of the Met's highly publicized new production of Wagner's Ring Cycle
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
directed by Lepage. She is singing the role again as the cycle is presented in its entirety during the 2011/2012 season, adding to her repertoire the final two operas of the four opera cycle, Siegfried
Siegfried (opera)
Siegfried is the third of the four operas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring...
and Götterdämmerung
Götterdämmerung
is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen...
.
In the summer of 2011, she sang Annie Oakley in the Irving Berlin musical Annie Get Your Gun
Annie Get Your Gun (musical)
Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...
at the Glimmerglass Festival.
Repertoire
Since 2000, she has gradually expanded her repertoire to Italian operaItalian opera
Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous operas in Italian were written by foreign composers,...
which is beyond her specialty in Strauss and Wagner roles that demand the high dramatic soprano range. She sang Puccini's Tosca in Concert with Vero Beach Opera on April 8, 2006, Verdi's Lady MacBeth
Macbeth (opera)
Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on Shakespeare's play of the same name...
, Leonora in Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, the title role in Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
, and most recently has begun to sing Minnie in La fanciulla del West as well as many others.
Alceste
In May 2009, Voigt starred in the rarely-heard 1776 opera AlcesteAlceste (Gluck)
Alceste is an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck from 1767. The libretto was written by Ranieri de' Calzabigi and based on the play Alcestis by Euripides. The premiere took place in Vienna.-Preface and reforms:...
by Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
, in concert at Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
's Rose Theatre. She performed with the Collegiate Chorale
Collegiate Chorale
The Collegiate Chorale is a symphonic choir based in New York City, USA. It was founded in 1941 by Robert Shaw, who was later to found the professional Robert Shaw Chorale. The Collegiate Chorale continues to give several performances annually in Carnegie Hall and other major venues...
and Vinson Cole
Vinson Cole
Vinson Cole is an American operatic tenor.A native of Kansas City, the tenor studied at the University of Missouri, Kansas City; the Philadelphia Musical Academy; and at the Curtis Institute of Music with Margaret Harshaw...
, tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
, as King Admète, and the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
Orchestra." According to a New York Times preview, "The chance to hear Deborah Voigt in her first performance of the title role in Gluck's Alceste is clearly driving the ticket sales for the Collegiate Chorale's concert performance of this remarkable opera ..." Time Out said that Voigt "already proved her affinity for similar material a few years back when she sang Cassandre in Berlioz's Les Troyens
Les Troyens
Les Troyens is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid...
at the Met." The France-Amérique noted that Voigt and the chorus received French diction training for the performance from Thomas Grubb, a teacher at the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
.
Unfortunately, Voigt caught the flu when she was to perform, yet went on with the show; the photograph caption for the New York Times review was, "Deborah Voigt, even with the flu, led a Collegiate Chorale concert performance on Tuesday." The reviewer wrote, "she did some impressive work, singing with power, gleaming sound and sensitive phrasing, though she clearly struggled. Often her voice sounded congested and her top range tight ... her voice nearly gave out, and she had to drop down an octave to get though a phrase." The review reserved judgment but noted that some fans were "disappointed." Another reviewer wrote, "One would like very much to hear Voigt undertake this dramatic role again when she is in peak form."
Current work and plans
Voigt is mentoringMentorship
Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....
a younger soprano, Christina Borgioli, in a new program that she has set up. Borgioli has "been selected as the first participant in the Deborah Voigt/Vero Beach Opera Foundation's Protegee Mentoring Program." This will involve both voice and acting training, and a shadowing experience.
Personal life
, Voigt has been a New Yorker for about five years. Voigt was once married to her high school sweetheart, John Leitch when she became 30. She said she relied on him and he worked for her career. However, they divorced in 1995 after seven years of marriage. As she was getting more famous, she traveled around the world with him. However, her crowded schedule and the accompanying stress eventually led to the couple's divorce.Awards
Voigt has received various awards for her artistic achievement since her debut as a singer. Voigt was the first prize winner of Philadelphia's Luciano PavarottiLuciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
Vocal Competition in 1988, the Verdi Competition in 1989, and won the gold prize for best female singer at the prestigious 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition
International Tchaikovsky Competition
The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow, Russia for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 30 years of age, and singers between 19 and 32 years of age...
.
In March 1992, she won the Richard Tucker Award, the top award presented by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, including a $30,000 cash award.
Voigt has been nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
several times and shared the 1996 "Best Opera Recording" award for the recording of Berlioz's Les Troyens
Les Troyens
Les Troyens is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid...
directed by Charles Dutoit
Charles Dutoit
Charles Édouard Dutoit, is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music...
with Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is a symphony orchestra based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with Montréal's Place des Arts as its home.-History:...
. She was also co-nominated in 2002 for "Best Choral Performance" on a Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
recording.
Voigt garnered Musical America
Musical America
Musical America is the oldest American magazine on classical music. Presently it is a website with a weekly online magazine. It is currently published by UBM Global Trade.-History:...
s Vocalist of the Year in 2003, and an Opera News
Opera News
Opera News is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to support the Metropolitan Opera of New York City...
award for distinguished achievement in 2007. She was honored as a Chevalier of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
at the Opéra Bastille
Opéra Bastille
L'Opéra Bastille ' is a modern opera house in Paris, France. It is the home base of the Opéra national de Paris and was designed to replace the Palais Garnier, which is nowadays mainly used for ballet performances....
on 27 March 2002.
She was inducted into the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District
Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District
The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District is a public school district that serves Placentia, Yorba Linda and parts of Anaheim, Brea, and Fullerton located in Orange County, California. The school district covers and employs 2,500 people...
Hall of Fame in 1997.
Recordings
Voigt has made a number of recordings which include two solo compact discs. She is on the live recording of the Vienna State OperaVienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
's production of Tristan und Isolde for Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
(2003). In a 2001 interview with Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, however, Voigt expressed that she was unlucky with recording because of unexpected cancellations and postponements. The opportunities of cooperation with high profile musicians could have made her a major prima donna
Prima donna
Originally used in opera or Commedia dell'arte companies, "prima donna" is Italian for "first lady." The term was used to designate the leading female singer in the opera company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. The prima donna was normally, but not necessarily, a soprano...
more quickly. She had a chance to work with Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
in a televised production of Verdi's La forza del destino
La forza del destino
La forza del destino is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino , by Ángel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager. It was first performed...
in 1997. However, the performance did not take place since Pavarotti did not master his role. Later the same year, Voigt was cast to sing for a new recording of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
under the direction of Sir Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
. Before it proceeded, Solti suddenly died of a heart attack.
In April, 2001, The Metropolitan Opera intended to broadcast a taping of Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consuming beautiful music, the opera's theme is the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.- First version :The opera was originally...
in which Voigt sang the title role. However, it was put off until 2003, for co-star Natalie Dessay
Natalie Dessay
Natalie Dessay is a French coloratura soprano. She dropped the silent "h" in her first name in honor of Natalie Wood when she was in grade school and subsequently simplified the spelling of her surname outside France...
. She felt frustration over the fact that every recording plan for Ariadne had been delayed or stopped for five years until late 2001. Finally, Voigt presented her Ariadne in a 2001 recording released by Deutsche Grammophon in which Natalie Dessay, Anne Sofie von Otter and Ben Heppner
Ben Heppner
Ben Heppner, CC is a Canadian tenor, specializing in opera and other classical works for voice.Heppner was born in Murrayville, British Columbia, and lived in Dawson Creek...
co-starred. Although Giuseppe Sinopoli
Giuseppe Sinopoli
-Biography:Sinopoli was born in Venice, Italy, and later studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice under Ernesto Rubin de Cervin and at Darmstadt, including being mentored in composition with Karlheinz Stockhausen...
, who directed the recording, suddenly died of a heart attack in April 2001, the recording was finished before his death. Voigt said that if he had not participated in the project, she doubts she could have ever recorded Ariadne. In the end, her long struggle paid off and turned out to have a bright side since the album was mentioned as one of the "Top Classical Recordings of 2001" according to the New York Times.
Selected discography
- Berlioz. Les TroyensLes TroyensLes Troyens is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid...
, conducted by Charles DutoitCharles DutoitCharles Édouard Dutoit, is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music...
with Montreal Symphony OrchestraMontreal Symphony OrchestraOrchestre symphonique de Montréal is a symphony orchestra based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with Montréal's Place des Arts as its home.-History:...
and Chorus, DeccaDecca RecordsDecca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
, 1993. - Beethoven: FidelioFidelioFidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
, conducted by Colin DavisColin DavisSir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor. His repertoire is broad, but among the composers with whom he is particularly associated are Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett....
with Bavarian State OperaBavarian State OperaThe Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany.Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra.- History:The opera company which was founded under Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy has been in existence since 1653...
Chorus & Radio Symphony, BMG, 1996. - Schoenberg: Gurre-LiederGurre-LiederGurre-Lieder is a massive cantata for five vocal soloists, narrator, chorus and large orchestra, composed by Arnold Schoenberg, on poems by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen...
, Teldec, 1996. - Beethoven: Cantates, Koch International Classics, 1997.
- Mahler: Symphony No. 8Symphony No. 8 (Mahler)The Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire. Because it requires huge instrumental and vocal forces it is frequently called the "Symphony of a Thousand", although the work is often performed with fewer than a...
, Telarc, 1997. - Robert ShawRobert Shaw (conductor)Robert Shaw was an American conductor most famous for his work with his namesake Chorale, with the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Shaw received 14 Grammy awards, four ASCAP awards for service to contemporary music, the first Guggenheim Fellowship...
: Absolute Heaven, Telarc, 1997. - Richard Strauss: ElektraElektra (opera)Elektra is a one-act opera by Richard Strauss, to a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which he adapted from his 1903 drama Elektra. The opera was the first of many collaborations between Strauss and Hofmannsthal...
, Deutsche Grammophon, 1997. - The American Opera Singer, BMG/RCA Victor, 1997.
- Operatically Incorrect!, BMG/RCA Victor, 1997.
- Wagner: Der fliegende HolländerThe Flying Dutchman (opera)Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...
, Sony/Columbia, 1997. - Richard Strauss: Friedenstag, Deutsche Grammophon, 1999.
- ZemlinskyAlexander von ZemlinskyAlexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher.-Early life:...
: Sämtliche Chorwerke, EMI Classics, 1999. - Richard Strauss: Ariadne auf NaxosAriadne auf NaxosAriadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consuming beautiful music, the opera's theme is the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.- First version :The opera was originally...
, UNI/Deutsche Grammophon, 2000. - Wagner: Love Duets, EMI Classics, 2000.
- Zemlinsky: Cymbeline Suite, EMI Classics, 2001.
- Obsessions (EMI Classics 2004)
- All My Heart (EMI Classics 2005)