Deborah Voigt

Deborah Voigt is hailed by the world’s critics and audiences as today’s foremost dramatic soprano. A recent New York Times article stated: “Deborah Voigt, arguably the leading dramatic soprano singing today, has a gleaming voice that easily soars over the largest Wagnerian orchestra.”

The soprano is often described as unequalled in her repertoire of operas by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, and she excels in Verdi and Puccini roles as well. Ms. Voigt has performed in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Die Walküre, Lohengrin, Tannhäuser and Der fliegende Holländer. She has sung starring roles the world over in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Elektra, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Salome, Die Aegyptische Helena and Friedenstag, and – in 2005 performances in Berlin and Vienna – added Der Rosenkavalier’s radiant Marschallin to her extensive repertoire.

An exclusive EMI Classics artist, Ms. Voigt opens her 2005-06 season with the release of her second solo CD, All My Heart – a recital of American songs with pianist Brian Zeger. In October she adds a signal new Italian role to her repertoire with her debut performances in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda at Barcelona’s Teatro del Liceu. Concert performances as Helen of Troy in Strauss's Aegyptische Helena round out her dates in Spain. In the spring she sings her first Metropolitan Opera Toscas, as well as Leonore in Verdi’s La forza del destino. With tenor Ben Heppner, Ms. Voigt gives concerts in New York’s Avery Fisher Hall and at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper. She sings a Christmas season concert with orchestra in Moscow, and recitals in Boston, Berkeley, Dresden and Valencia will constitute an important part of her season.

Another exciting first will be Ms. Voigt's January debut in Lincoln Center's long-running “American Songbook” series when she sings Broadway and popular standards at the stunning new Allen Hall in New York's Time-Warner Center.

Deborah Voigt’s summer 2005 appearances took her from Tanglewood to Hollywood. As well as participating in Tanglewood’s opening night Mahler Eighth Symphony, she gave a solo recital with Brian Zeger, and sang music of Wagner's heroine Brünnhilde for the first time in a concert performance of Act III from Götterdämmerung, with James Levine conducting. She joined Barbara Cook and Dianne Reeves at the Hollywood Bowl for three concerts at the end of July.

Ms. Voigt’s Metropolitan Opera roles in 2004-05 were Tannhäuser’s Elisabeth – her first appearance at the house in this role – and Amelia in Verdi’s Ballo in maschera. She also sang Senta in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer in concert with James Levine and the Boston Symphony and Beethoven’s Leonore in a concert Fidelio at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Voigt starred in a Richard Strauss Festival at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in January, singing her first Rosenkavaliers as well as Die Frau ohne Schatten and the Four Last Songs. In May she sang Act II of Tristan und Isolde with Ben Heppner in Cincinnati, with James Conlon conducting.

Concert engagements last season included Arnold Schoenberg’s haunting monodrama, Erwartung, with Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony; an appearance with the bevy of stars celebrating Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 50th anniversary; Wagner’s “Liebestod” and Strauss’s Four Last Songs in both Berlin and Toulouse; Alban Berg’s evocative Seven Early Songs with Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic; the final scene from Salome and Four Last Songs with Kurt Masur in Paris; a concert of arias and duets with Belgian baritone José van Dam in Brussels, and the world premiere of Erotic Spirits, a new work by Stephen Paulus for the Augusta Symphony’s 50th anniversary. She will reprise the work at Carnegie Hall in May 2006.

Ms. Voigt made her long-awaited Carnegie Hall solo recital debut in April 2004 to enthusiastic acclaim. A representative comments on that significant occasion was: “Ms. Voigt proved yet again that she has one of the world’s most thrilling voices, a sun-drenched soprano” (New York Sun).

Ms. Voigt signed an exclusive recording agreement with EMI Classics, and releases her second solo recording – American Songs with Brian Zeger as her piano partner – in autumn 2005. Her first solo CD, Obsessions – scenes and arias from operas by Wagner and Strauss – was released in April 2004. The Billboard top-five bestseller earned superlative reviews such as this in Opera News: “She sings a stupendous recital by identifying with each passionate, fierce or possessed woman, inhabiting the character fully. ...Of course Voigt’s opulent voice – in waves of glorious, lustrous sound – is perfect in these, her signature roles.” Deutsche Grammophon released a live recording of the 2003 Vienna State Opera's Tristan und Isolde in which Voigt had made her headlining role debut. Her discography includes many other complete opera recordings.

A devotee of Broadway and American song, Deborah Voigt has given several acclaimed performances of popular fare, including benefit concerts for Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS and New York Theater Workshop. “Voigt ... comes to pop singing naturally,” raved Opera News. “She creates each musical mood so perfectly and demonstrates such show-biz savvy that it makes me wish she had more opportunities to perform this kind of material. If this were 1970, she would probably be given her own network variety show.” Millions of viewers heard Ms. Voigt sing “America the Beautiful” on NBC’s nationwide broadcast of Macy's Independence Day fireworks show in 2004, and later witnessed her majestic ride down Broadway in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

At the world’s major opera houses, Deborah Voigt has earned accolades as Verdi’s Aida, Lady Macbeth, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera and Leonora in both La forza del destino and Il trovatore; as Puccini’s Tosca and as Cassandre in Berlioz’s Les Troyens; as Chrysothemis in Elektra, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Elsa in Lohengrin and Senta in Der fliegende Holländer. She has sung these and other leading roles with the world’s leading conductors.

After studying at the California State University at Fullerton and in San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, Ms. Voigt won First Prize at Philadelphia's Luciano Pavarotti Vocal Competition, and the Gold Medal in Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition. Ms. Voigt holds France’s prestigious title Chevalière de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and was named Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year 2003.