American Icons: Deborah Voigt

Deborah Voigt, one of the world's greatest sopranos, is Shenandoah Conservatory's 2015-16 American Icon. Here, she talks with Shenandoah Conservatory Dean Michael Stepniak, Ed.D., about her journey as an artist and a person. The delightfully plainspoken Voigt, who also taught a masterclass at the conservatory, touches on a wide variety of topics in this April 27 interview, from her artistic development and influences and issues with weight and having a healthy relationship with the body, to the importance of resilience and how challenges never end, no matter what level of success one achieves. She also discusses experiences revealed in her autobiography, "Call Me Debbie: True Confessions of a Down-to-Earth Diva."

[wotan]

I'm happy to say I saw Debbie Voigt in both Ariadne and Annie Get Your Gun. And she was great in both.

[samueljaramillo]

A remarkable artist and interesting person.

[wilsonwatt]

I was lucky to Voigt in "Elektra" as Chrisothemis; in "Ariadne auf Naxos"; in "Die Walkure" as Sieglinde; as the Empress in PDie Frau ohne Schatten"; and in her first post-weight loss role as Salome at the Lyric Opera in Chicago. She had a voice to rival any of the earlier great Wagnerian sopranos but I feel that the operation and weight loss took some of the plush sound from her voice and it was replaced by the more steely sound she found after the operation.

[frankG]

In her book she makes it sound like she's HUGE, but she's really not that big. I think she looks good and is very attractive!

[stephenhetzel]

Hearing her speak about Ariadne and her weight reminds me of

[stephenhetzel]

... the metropolitan Opera not hiring Eileen Farrell because she was too heavy, meanwhile Pavarotti was waddling around the stage and his weight was not a problem simply because he's a man.

[stewart]

what's the name of the aria from Ariadne she sings?