Deborah Voigt Is Puccini’s Girl of the Golden West for Centenary Performances at Metropolitan Opera (Dec 6 – Jan 8)

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Hot off her lauded role debut in San Francisco as Puccini’s quintessential New World heroine, soprano Deborah Voigt will once again portray the pistol-packing, poker-playing barmaid Minnie, this time in the Metropolitan Opera’s centenary staging of La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West). The nine performances (Dec 6 – Jan 8) mark Voigt’s company debut as Minnie. The San Francisco Chronicle enthused over the soprano’s performance in San Francisco Opera’s production of the Gold Rush extravaganza this summer: “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.”

Puccini described the original play of The Girl of the Golden West as “a drama of love against a dark and vast background of primitive characters and untrammeled nature.” He was inspired to write by the story and its American heroine – an archetypal street-savvy girl with a heart of gold, she was one of his favorite female characters and he found her “very refreshing.” Puccini’s Minnie is involved in a love triangle with a bandit, Dick Johnson, and a sheriff, Jack Rance.

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