Deborah Voigt (born August 4, 1960) is an American dramatic soprano
who has sung roles in operas by Wagner and Richard Strauss.Debbie Joy
Voigt was born into a religious Southern Baptist family in 1960 and
raised in Wheeling, Illinois, just outside Chicago. At age five, she
joined the choir at a Baptist church and began learning the piano. Her
mother sang and played piano at church while her two younger brothers
sang in rock music bands. Those early experiences in church inspired
her interest in music. When she was 14, her family moved to Placentia
in Orange County, California. It was traumatic for Voigt, then in her
teens, to adjust to Southern California, "land of endless sunshine and
impossibly perfect bodies."She attended El Dorado High School, where
she was a member of El Dorado's Vocal Music and Theater programs,
starring in musicals including Fiddler on the Roof, The Music Man and
Mame. At that time, Voigt recalled in an interview, she did not
seriously consider becoming an opera singer and was unaware of the
existence of the Metropolitan Opera. Upon graduation in 1978, she 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, where she met the voice teacher Jane Paul
Hummel, under whom she trained for about eight years. Voigt was the
finalist of the Met National Council Auditions for Young Singers in
1985. She won awards at many prestigious singing competitions and made
her Carnegie Hall debut in 1988. Named an Adler Fellow, she
apprenticed at San Francisco Opera's Merola Program for two years,
studying seven major roles. There, she also took a class from Leontyne
Price.Voigt slowly but surely established her career, entering the
professional opera world after winning several first prizes at
competitions. Her breakthrough role was Ariadne in Richard Strauss's
Ariadne auf Naxos at Boston Lyric Opera in January 1991. The
performance was praised by noted arts critic John Rockwell in The New
York Times, who called Voigt "one truly remarkable singer" and
predicted that she would soon become an important Wagnerian soprano
comparable to American soprano Eileen Farrell. Ariadne first brought
her to public notice and international success and remains one of her
greatest achievements. Later she often refers to her operatic career
jokingly as Ariadne Inc.
who has sung roles in operas by Wagner and Richard Strauss.Debbie Joy
Voigt was born into a religious Southern Baptist family in 1960 and
raised in Wheeling, Illinois, just outside Chicago. At age five, she
joined the choir at a Baptist church and began learning the piano. Her
mother sang and played piano at church while her two younger brothers
sang in rock music bands. Those early experiences in church inspired
her interest in music. When she was 14, her family moved to Placentia
in Orange County, California. It was traumatic for Voigt, then in her
teens, to adjust to Southern California, "land of endless sunshine and
impossibly perfect bodies."She attended El Dorado High School, where
she was a member of El Dorado's Vocal Music and Theater programs,
starring in musicals including Fiddler on the Roof, The Music Man and
Mame. At that time, Voigt recalled in an interview, she did not
seriously consider becoming an opera singer and was unaware of the
existence of the Metropolitan Opera. Upon graduation in 1978, she 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, where she met the voice teacher Jane Paul
Hummel, under whom she trained for about eight years. Voigt was the
finalist of the Met National Council Auditions for Young Singers in
1985. She won awards at many prestigious singing competitions and made
her Carnegie Hall debut in 1988. Named an Adler Fellow, she
apprenticed at San Francisco Opera's Merola Program for two years,
studying seven major roles. There, she also took a class from Leontyne
Price.Voigt slowly but surely established her career, entering the
professional opera world after winning several first prizes at
competitions. Her breakthrough role was Ariadne in Richard Strauss's
Ariadne auf Naxos at Boston Lyric Opera in January 1991. The
performance was praised by noted arts critic John Rockwell in The New
York Times, who called Voigt "one truly remarkable singer" and
predicted that she would soon become an important Wagnerian soprano
comparable to American soprano Eileen Farrell. Ariadne first brought
her to public notice and international success and remains one of her
greatest achievements. Later she often refers to her operatic career
jokingly as Ariadne Inc.
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