2013 Grammy winner Deborah Voigt to perform on March 10

OBERLIN, OHIO — Soprano Deborah Voigt, widely acknowledged as today’s preeminent dramatic soprano and recipient of a 2013 Grammy Award, will perform on Oberlin College’s Artist Recital Series on Sunday, March 10, at 8 p.m. in Finney Chapel. The New York Times calls her singing “at once earthen and gleaming …. Simply glorious.” Tickets are $15–$47 and can be ordered by calling Oberlin’s Central Ticket Service at 1-800-371-0178 or online at oberlin.edu/arseries.

Voigt is known for the singular power and beauty of her voice, as well as for her captivating stage presence. She is internationally revered for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, in addition to her appearances as the great heroines in Italian opera. An active recitalist and performer of Broadway standards and popular songs, Voigt has an extensive discography and has given many enthusiastically received master classes. She also appears regularly, as both performer and host, in the Metropolitan Opera’s The Met: Live in HD series, transmitted live to movie theaters across the U.S. and overseas.

Voigt made her first appearances of the 2012–13 season on television as host of a special five-night presentation of Wagner’s complete Ring cycle on the PBS series Great Performances from the Met. Robert Lepage’s visionary new production, starring Voigt as Brünnhilde, was released on Blu-ray and DVD. The production will be revived at the Metropolitan Opera in spring 2013, when Voigt reprises the role that she made “exciting and expressive” (New York Times) with a voice that “blazed with passion” (New York Daily News). Other upcoming performance highlights include the starring role of Cassandre in Francesca Zambello’s revival of Berlioz’s Les Troyens at the Met, and reprising her hit portrayal of Minnie in Puccini’s La fanciulla del West at Belgium’s Liege Opera.

Throughout her career, Voigt has given definitive performances of iconic roles in German opera, from Richard Strauss’s Ariadne, Salome, Kaiserin (Frau ohne Schatten), and Chrysothemis (Elektra), to Wagner’s Sieglinde (Die Walküre), Elizabeth (Tannhäuser), and Isolde. She is also noted for her portrayals of such popular Italian operatic roles as Tosca, Aida, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Leonora in La forza del destino, and La Gioconda.

A devotee of Broadway and American song, Voigt has given acclaimed performances of this popular fare, including benefit concerts for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and New York Theatre Workshop. She has sung concerts with Barbara Cook and Dianne Reeves at the Hollywood Bowl, and given performances in Lincoln Center’s long-running American Songbook series. Voigt has also been profiled by many important national media outlets, such as CBS’s 60 Minutes, Good Morning America and Vanity Fair.

Voigt studied at California State University at Fullerton and was a member of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program. The highly decorated soprano won the Gold Medal in Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition and First Prize at Philadelphia’s Luciano Pavarotti Vocal Competition. She was recognized with a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and was named Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year 2003. In 2007 she won an Opera News Award for distinguished achievement, and in 2009 she received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Carolina. Known to Twitter fans as a “Dramatic soprano and down-to-earth Diva,” Voigt was named by the Los Angeles Times as one of the top 25 cultural tweeters to follow. She is currently writing a memoir that is scheduled for publication by Harper Collins in 2013.

Voigt recently won a 2013 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for her work on the album, Wagner: Der Ring Des Nibelungen, released by Deutsche Grammophon.

Fact Sheet
Sunday, March 10, 2013, 8:00 p.m.

Deborah Voigt, soprano
Finney Chapel, Oberlin College
90 N. Professor Street, Oberlin, OH 44074

Tickets:  $47 Public; $42 Seniors/OC Staff, Faculty, & Alumni; $15 Students
All tickets $3 more at the door.

About the Artist Recital Series at Oberlin College
Since the inception of the Artist Recital Series in 1878, more than 1,000 of the most acclaimed and accomplished musicians, conductors, orchestras, chamber ensembles, and composers have graced the stage of Finney Chapel at Oberlin College.

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College sponsors the Artist Recital Series with additional support from the Friends of the Artist Recital Series. Media sponsorship for the Artist Recital Series is provided by WCLV 104.9-FM, Cleveland’s classical music radio station; WCPN ideastream; and 89.7 WKSU. Corporate sponsorship is provided by the Riverside Company.