Deborah Voigt Tames Wild West in San Francisco Opera’s Fanciulla!

By -

“Winning” Minnie Portrayal Is Hit as Soprano Adds Important New Role to Repertoire, Impressing Critics with “Radiant Voice,” “Theatrical Vibrancy,” and “Sensitivity to Detail”

“Voigt, singing Minnie for the first time, brought theatrical vibrancy and considerable personal charm to the role – it was no stretch to imagine an entire troop of miners eating out of her hand.” – San Francisco Chronicle [Joshua Kosman]

On June 9, Deborah Voigt, America’s top dramatic soprano, marked another milestone in her career when she returned to San Francisco Opera and made her title role debut as the pistol-packing, poker-playing barmaid in Puccini’s Gold Rush extravaganza, La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West). Running through July 2, the new San Francisco production is the first North American staging to celebrate the opera’s centenary.

The Associated Press summarized the impact of Deborah Voigt’s role debut, with Mike Silverman enthusing: “Both vocally and dramatically, the role is almost ideally suited to Voigt’s strengths – large, gleaming high notes (most of which hit their mark squarely), and a stage presence that radiates an endearing charm, whether she’s teaching Bible class to the miners, cheating in a poker game against Sheriff Jack Rance or riding in on a white horse to save her man.”

Voigt will give additional high-profile performances as Minnie in the upcoming season, starring in the Metropolitan Opera’s centenary production (Dec 6 – Jan 8). La fanciulla del West was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, and premiered there on December 10, 1910. Following her Met performances, Voigt will sing the same role at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, beginning January 22 (nine performances through Feb 21). Her other summer 2010 performances are both as Richard Strauss’s Salome: at the Verbier Festival with Valery Gergiev (Aug 1) and at Japan’s Saito Kinen Festival (Aug 22, 25, 28, & 30).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

The Art of String Quartets by Brian Ferneyhough

By -
Image
When an artist sets paint to canvas, there are brush strokes used for different effects. Sometimes those strokes are subtle, imperceptible; they produce works of art like the Mona Lisa . Other times the very obvious nature of the stroke is the art, as in works by Van Gogh. With some composers of music, the notes on the page are their craft. How those notes translate into an aural experience is what defines some composers as great artists. Brian Ferneyhough has a masterful command of the techniques of putting notes on the page. These techniques are sometimes so subtle, even though written in black and white, they escape detection. Some of what he attempts with his music is just that, to escape detection, to bury the framework, diverting the ear away from the structure, so only the music is heard . The subtlety is so fine it is almost imperceptible. Even though he studied at several institutions, he is considered self-taught, studying scores from Boule
Read more