BocelliOnline

[Melodie]

Soprano tries to move beyond controversy
By Richard Dyer, Globe Staff | August 13, 2004

Deborah Voigt has been in the international spotlight since a Boston Lyric Opera production of Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos" in 1991 lifted her career into orbit.

The soprano has been a major star at the Metropolitan Opera for a dozen years, and tonight she sings Wagner's "Wesendonck" Songs with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood.

Nothing in her singing career, however, has created a firestorm of publicity like her announcement earlier this year that the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, had bought her out of her contract to sing "Ariadne" this summer because she wouldn't fit into the production's concept -- or the little black dress the designer had created for the character. The move brought Voigt media attention she never could have received through singing alone.

We caught up with the busy soprano by telephone Tuesday evening.

Q. For you, this was the year that was. How are you holding up?

A. I'm fine about it all. I still struggle with weight, but I have managed to drop a fair amount of poundage this year, but I don't want to attribute that to the Royal Opera House. It didn't take this incident for me to realize that I had a physical problem. I had no idea this issue would snowball into what it did. I was going to London for a recital and doing some publicity. I was asked a question [by a newspaper about why I wasn't singing], and I answered it as honestly as I could. The peak of attention was nerve-wracking, but I began to feel all of the support behind me. Now I'm past it, and I remind myself that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Q. The press was almost completely behind you. What was the reaction of your colleagues?

A. Who knows what people say behind one's back, but most other singers I know were pretty flabbergasted.

People were not stunned to know that this kind of thing goes on, but they were stunned that it happened to me, especially in that particular role. It
would be one thing if it had been an opera I hadn't been particularly successful in, but it was my debut role all over the world. Recently I was working with a well-known mezzo, I don't want to say who, but she's not a tiny girl. She had a similar experience recently, but her attitude was, "I don't want to talk about it -- that's not part of my art." I am not the sort of person who wants to be made to look foolish. If I am not suitable to a production, I wouldn't want to do it anyway. My problem was not that the Royal Opera House had made this decision, but that they did not re-engage me for something else immediately.

Q. Have you heard from Covent Garden since?

A. There's been an inquiry about a role that is not in my repertory. I don't want to say what it is. I could sing it, but I am not interested in it, and I have never been interested in it, so I am not going to learn it for them. I have sung at Covent Garden in two productions in the past and would love to return there . . .We'll see.

Q. No one who looks like Britney Spears is ever going to be able to sing Isolde in "Tristan und Isolde" the way you do.

A. Don't give anybody any ideas! I think I would have an easier time singing "Oops! . . . I Did It Again" than she would have singing Isolde.

Q. You have sung a lot of show tunes in your recitals and concerts. Is there a record in the works?

A. We're talking about it, but it won't be the next one up, which will be a program of art songs by American composers. I love singing in my own language to an audience that understands it. My first experiences with communicating with an audience were in the show tune repertory. Also gospel music, because church life was important to me.

Q. I seem to recall that your debut role was Agnes Gooch in a high school production of "Mame."

A. Thanks for remembering. My mother will be so proud . . .

Q. Now that you have sung and recorded Isolde, are you looking forward to the other big Wagner roles?

A. You mean the Big B? [Bruennhilde in Wagner's "Ring" Cycle] That's coming up in 2007-08, but I wonder if it will be as fulfilling as Isolde was. In the meantime, I'm singing a lot of Italian opera. I don't want to be pigeonholed as a Wagner soprano, particularly while I am still able to sing so many other things. I am really happy with my career, with my relationship with EMI for recordings, with the opera and the recitals.

I just wish I could find that balance on a personal level too.

Q. You are singing Wagner's "Wesendonck" songs this week. How do you feel about them?

A. They are beautiful, but I'm sorry they don't show off the high stuff in my voice -- I'd love to throw in a high B or something!

Q. You will be singing with James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra next season.

A. I am thrilled for Boston and I am thrilled for me -- now I won't have to fly to Munich every time I want to sing with an orchestra.

Q. Where are you living now, and are you ever home?

A. I have a condo in Vero Beach, Fla., an hour north of Palm Beach, a condo right on the ocean. I just adore it, and recently I got a paid vacation there, courtesy of the Royal Opera House. I love to look at the water. I found the place because I met a man and fell in love and he was living there. After we broke up, I still loved the area, so buying the condo was one of the best things I've ever done for myself.

And now I've added a dog to my life, a little Yorkshire terrier named Steinway. I tried a husband . . . and replaced the boyfriend with a dog.

© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.