Deborah Joy Voigt (born August 4, 1960) is an American dramatic soprano who has performed in operas written by Wagner and Richard Strauss.

Biography and career

Deborah Joy Voigt was born in 1960 to a religious Southern Baptist family in Wheeling, Illinois, near Chicago. At age five, she joined a church choir and began learning to play the piano. Her mother sang and played piano at church, while her two younger brothers performed in rock music bands. These early experiences in church sparked her interest in music. At age 14, her family moved to Placentia, Orange County, California. Adjusting to life in Southern California was difficult for Voigt, who described the area as "land of endless sunshine and impossibly perfect bodies."

She attended El Dorado High School, where she participated in the school’s Vocal Music and Theater programs. She performed in musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof, The Music Man, and Mame. At that time, she did not consider becoming an opera singer and was unaware of the Metropolitan Opera. After graduating in 1978, she won a vocal scholarship from the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, which allowed her to study voice at California State University, Fullerton. There, she trained under voice teacher Jane Paul Hummel for about eight years. In 1985, she became a finalist in the Met National Council Auditions for Young Singers. She won awards in many prestigious singing competitions and made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1988. Named an Adler Fellow, she trained at San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program for two years, where she studied seven major roles. She also took a class from Leontyne Price.

Voigt gradually built her career after winning first prizes in competitions. Her breakthrough role was Ariadne in Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, performed at Boston Lyric Opera in January 1991. A critic from The New York Times praised her as "one truly remarkable singer" and predicted she would become an important Wagnerian soprano like Eileen Farrell. This role brought her public recognition and international success. Later, she jokingly referred to her operatic career as "Ariadne Inc."

Voigt made her Metropolitan Opera debut on October 17, 1991, as Amelia in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera. A critic noted that her deep, mezzolike voice added richness to Amelia’s music and that she performed the second act soliloquy with a warm, golden tone. The critic also mentioned that her acting did not match her singing but praised her vocal clarity. In March 1992, she returned to the Met as Chrysothemis in Strauss’s Elektra. That same month, she won the Richard Tucker Award, which allowed her to perform at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation’s annual gala in November 1992. A critic praised her performance of a piece from Weber’s Oberon as the gala’s most satisfying. Later, he noted that her singing in a Verdi opera reached every corner of the hall but said she did not fully express the heroine’s emotions.

In May 2003, Voigt sang and recorded the role of Isolde at the Vienna State Opera. Since then, she has performed regularly at the Met and other major opera houses, including the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Opéra Bastille.

In 2004, Voigt was replaced from the role of Ariadne at the Royal Opera House because she could not fit into a costume—a "little black dress" instead of a traditional period costume. The casting director, Peter Mario Katona, wanted her to wear the dress or find an alternative. She was replaced by Anne Schwanewilms, a singer with a slimmer build. Voigt was upset by the decision but did not speak publicly about it for months. When the incident became public, the Royal Opera House faced criticism. It was noted that many famous sopranos, such as Luisa Tetrazzini, Jessye Norman, and Jane Eaglen, had been large-boned or had strong builds. Voigt had simply followed in their footsteps.

The decision was also criticized because of the stereotype that female opera singers must be large to sing well. There is an old saying that "in opera, great voices often come in large packages" and "It ain't over till the fat lady sings." Voigt was featured in British tabloids with the headline "The show ain't over till the fat lady slims." Critics also argued that opera should not follow Hollywood’s image of thin female stars.

Some people suggested the incident helped Voigt in the long run. She had tried diets like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers without success. Maestro Georg Solti, who was known for being direct, once expressed concern about her weight. In June 2004, she underwent three-hour gastric bypass surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. The surgery was successful, and she lost over 100 pounds, going from a size 30 to a size 14. She kept her exact weight private before and after the surgery.

Voigt said she had the surgery not only because of the Royal Opera House incident but also due to health concerns. She mentioned that the fees the Royal Opera House owed her helped pay for the surgery. She expressed relief and happiness about her weight loss.

After her weight loss, Voigt was rehired by the Royal Opera House for the role she had been fired from. Public reaction was positive. In 2005, she said she felt "good will from fans and the public." In 2008, she said she had expected reconciliation only after the opera house had new management.

In April 2006, she performed her first Tosca at the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. She also performed her first fully staged Salome at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in October 2006. In the 2007/08 season, she performed Ariadne auf Naxos at the theatre, receiving rave reviews.

In January 2006, she sang Broadway tunes and other popular songs at UCLA’s Royce Hall. In January 2008, she performed a concert from "the American songbook" at Lincoln Center, including tributes to Broadway sopranos Barbara Cook and Julie Andrews.

Although Voigt’s Fach is that of a dramatischer soprano, she transitioned into singing the hochdramatische soprano repertoire with her performance of Isolde in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. She sang the role at the Metropolitan Opera in the 2007/08 season and at the Lyric Opera

Personal life

As of March 2009, Voigt had been living in New York for about five years. She married her high school boyfriend, John Leitch, in 1988 and divorced him seven years later. She said he helped her career and she depended on him. As she became more famous, she traveled around the world with him. However, her busy schedule and the stress from her work eventually caused their divorce.

Awards

Since she began her career as a singer, Voigt has won many awards. In 1988, she won Philadelphia's Luciano Pavarotti Vocal Competition. In 1989, she won the Verdi Competition. In 1990, she received the gold medal for best female singer at the International Tchaikovsky Competition.

In March 1992, she won the Richard Tucker Award, which is the highest honor given by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. This award included a cash prize of $30,000.

Voigt has been nominated for a Grammy Award several times. In 1996, she shared the "Best Opera Recording" award for a recording of Berlioz's Les Troyens, directed by Charles Dutoit with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. In 2002, she was co-nominated for "Best Choral Performance" on a Columbia Records recording. In 2013, she shared the "Best Opera Recording" award for the Metropolitan Opera's recording of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.

In 2003, Voigt was named Musical America's Vocalist of the Year. In 2007, she received an Opera News award for distinguished achievement. In 2002, she was honored as a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres at the Opéra Bastille.

In 1997, she was inducted into the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Hall of Fame.

Recordings

Voigt has created several recordings, including two solo compact discs. She participated in a live recording of the Vienna State Opera's 2003 production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde for Deutsche Grammophon. In a 2001 interview with Associated Press, she mentioned that unexpected cancellations and postponements had made it difficult to record. Opportunities to work with well-known musicians might have helped her become a leading singer more quickly. She had the chance to perform with Luciano Pavarotti in a televised version of Verdi's La forza del destino in 1997, but the performance did not happen because Pavarotti had not learned his role, and another opera was chosen instead. Later that same year, Voigt was scheduled to sing on a new recording of Tristan und Isolde directed by Sir Georg Solti. However, the recording was canceled after Solti suddenly died from a heart attack.

In April 2001, The Metropolitan Opera planned to broadcast a recording of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, with Voigt singing the title role. This was postponed until 2003 to accommodate co-star Natalie Dessay. Voigt expressed frustration that all plans for recording Ariadne had been delayed or canceled for five years until late 2001. Finally, she performed Ariadne in a 2001 recording released by Deutsche Grammophon. Dessay, Anne Sofie von Otter, and Ben Heppner also participated, with Giuseppe Sinopoli conducting. Voigt stated that without Sinopoli's involvement, she believes she would not have been able to record Ariadne. The album was listed as one of the "Top Classical Recordings of 2001" by the New York Times.

Selected discography

• Berlioz: Les Troyens, conducted by Charles Dutoit with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Decca, 1993
• Rossini: The Rossini Bicentennial Birthday Gala, conducted by Roger Norrington with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, EMI Records 0777-7-54643-2-0, 1994
• Beethoven: Fidelio, conducted by Colin Davis with the Bavarian State Opera Chorus & Radio Symphony, BMG, 1996
• Schoenberg: Gurre-Lieder, Teldec, 1996
• Beethoven: Cantates, Koch International Classics, 1997
• Mahler: Symphony No. 8, Telarc, 1997
• Robert Shaw: Absolute Heaven, Telarc, 1997
• Richard Strauss: Elektra, Deutsche Grammophon, 1997
• The American Opera Singer, BMG/RCA Victor, 1997
• Operatically Incorrect!, BMG/RCA Victor, 1997
• Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer, Sony/Columbia, 1997
• Richard Strauss: Friedenstag, Deutsche Grammophon, 1999
• Zemlinsky: Sämtliche Chorwerke, EMI Classics, 1999
• Richard Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos, UNI/Deutsche Grammophon, 2000
• Wagner: Love Duets, EMI Classics, 2000
• Zemlinsky: Cymbeline Suite, EMI Classics, 2001
• Obsessions, EMI Classics, 2004
• James Levine's 25th Anniversary Metropolitan Opera Gala, Deutsche Grammophon DVD B0004602-09, 2005
• All My Heart, EMI Classics, 2005
• Let The Season In, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, 2014