Music Weblog

Deborah Voigt [b. 1960] is an American soprano from Wheeling, Illinois.  After moving to California with her family at the age of 14, she starred in a number of high school musical productions before proceeding to study voice at Cal State–Fullerton.  Her professional career was given a significant boost in 1985, when she was named a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.  Voigt also took first place in two other prestigious contests, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition and Philadelphia’s Pavarotti Vocal Competition.

After serving a two-year apprenticeship in the Merola Program, managed by the San Francisco Opera, Voigt’s breakout role was as the title character in the Richard Strauss opera, Ariadne auf Naxos, which she performed with the Boston Lyric Opera in 1991.  Later that same year she made her Met Opera debut in a Verdi classic, Un ballo in maschera, singing the lead female role of Amelia.  Her next appearance there was in March 1992 in another Strauss epic, Elektra, where she appeared as Chrysothemis.

Even this early in her career, Voigt was being pegged as a Wagnerian soprano, capable of singing the most taxing roles in opera that require significant stamina, a vast range, and the ability to be heard at the far reaches of the opera house, even when singing pianissimo.  She continued to explore this heavier repertoire while still performing in a number of Verdi operas, including Il trovatore (as Leonora) and La forza del destino (as yet another Leonora).

In 2004, Voight underwent much-publicized weight reduction surgery, taking her from a size 30 to about a size 14.  Thankfully the procedure did not negatively affect her singing skills.  In fact, she admits to having much more energy since the surgery, which has had the effect of improving her acting skills—one of the few criticisms she endured during her formative years on the stage.

Considered today’s reigning Wagnerian soprano, the Metropolitan Opera invested heavily in Voight by naming her to a prominent place in the four Wagner “Ring Cycle” operas that were part of the new Robert LePage stagings for the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons.  Over the past few years she has also appeared as Senta in The Flying Dutchman and as Isolde in Tristan und Isolde.

Voigt sings a short aria from the Richard Strauss opera, Salome, with the Verbier Festival Orchestra (Valery Gergiev, conductor) [2010]:

Dmitri Hvorostovsky [b. 1962] is an operatic baritone from Russia, born and raised in the far-flung Siberian outpost of Krasnoyarsk, the 19th century center of the Cossack movement.  He made his professional debut at the civic opera house there, singing a minor role in the Verdi opera, Rigoletto.  However, it was his success at winning vocal competitions that brought him onto the world stage, where he continues today as one of the most in-demand baritones in all of opera.

Hvorostovsky took first place in the Glinka Competition [Russia] in 1987 and also won the International Singing Competition of Toulouse [France] in 1988.  The 1989 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition proved to be his greatest triumph of all, where he edged out Welsh favorite son Bryn Terfel for the crystal vase and a first-place finish.  After that, the offers rolled in; he made his London recital debut later the same year, and first appeared in New York in 1990.

The first opera house outside Russia to feature Hvorostovsky in a starring role was in Nice, France, where he sang in a 1989 production of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades.  His Italian debut was at La Fenice in Venice as the title character in another Tchaikovsky opera, Eugene Onegin—a role he has performed many times since, including a highly acclaimed Metropolitan Opera appearance in 2008 alongside Renée Fleming—and his American debut came with Chicago’s Lyric Opera in 1993 in Verdi’s La traviata.

Most of the roles Hvorostovsky has preferred over the past decade have been in Verdi operas, including Renato in Un ballo in maschera, Count di Luna in Il trovatore, and the title roles in Rigoletto and Simon Boccanegra.  But he has continued to maintain strong musical contact with Russia, including a Moscow concert series titled “Dmitri Hvorostovky and Friends” that has featured him in recital with the aforementioned Fleming, plus sopranos Sumi Jo, Sondra Radvanovsky, and others.  He was also the first opera singer to headline a concert in Red Square—accompanied by a chorus and full orchestra—that was broadcast to more than 25 countries.  Hvorostovsky teamed up with Fleming again in 2009 in a DVD release that combined a visual tour of St. Petersburg with a dual recital at the Hermitage in front of a small but very appreciative audience.  Several of his CDs have included collections of Russian songs by classical composers as well as folk tunes.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings “Eri tu che macchiavi” from Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera to win the 1989 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World award:

Hvorostovsky & Fleming perform the Act IV duet from Verdi’s Il trovatore at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, Russia [2009]:

Renée Fleming [b.1959] is an operatic soprano born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, whose parents were both music teachers.  She spent most of her early years in Rochester, New York—her family moved there when she was still a child—and subsequently studied voice at the Crane School of Music, part of SUNY–Potsdam.  She later returned to Rochester for graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music.

After winning a Fulbright scholarship, Fleming worked in Europe with legendary soprano Elizabeth Schwartzkopf before returning to the States and additional studies at Juilliard.  At this point in her performing career, Fleming was dividing her time between appearing with smaller opera companies plus at the Juilliard opera center, as well as singing in jazz clubs around New York City to help cover her living expenses.  Her career took off after being named one of the Metropolitan Opera Audition winners in 1988, when she was 29.  Later that same year, Fleming made her major company debut with Houston Grand Opera, appearing as the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.  This is the same role that would mark her debut with the San Francisco Opera and at the Met, both in 1991.

Fleming continued to build her repertoire throughout the 1990s, expanding it to include many bel canto roles in works by Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini—the three compositional giants of that era—that included the title roles in Donizettti’s Lucrezia Borgia and Rossini’s Armida.  But she also became known for taking on an even broader range, such as appearing in John Corigliano’s world premiere of The Ghosts of Versailles at the Met [1991], in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah with Chicago Lyric Opera [1993], in Massenet’s Hérodiade (as Salome) in San Francisco [1994], in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (as the Marschallin) in Houston [1995], and in Gounod’s Faust (as Marguerite) in Chicago [1996].

After the turn of the new century, Fleming’s star continued to rise in the opera world, especially at the Met in New York.  Thanks to an exclusive recording contract with Decca—the first female opera singer since Marilyn Horne, 31 years earlier, to sign such a deal with that label—Fleming became perhaps the most recognizable opera performer in North America.  Particularly thanks to the influence of new general manager Peter Gelb, the Met felt comfortable enough to create revivals of long-neglected works or mount premieres of pieces never done on the Met’s stage, simply because they knew that casting Renée Fleming as the lead soprano would invariably sell out the house.  Some of these operas were Il Pirata by Vincenzo Bellini, Thais by Jules Massenet, and Rodelinda by G.F. Handel (the latter subsequently revived for the Met’s 2011–12 season).

A triple Grammy winner, Fleming’s most recent award was in 2010 for Best Classical Vocal Performance for Verismo, a CD of rarely performed Italian arias.  A number of her more recent operatic performances with the Metropolitan Opera have been captured on DVD, notably as part of the “Met in HD” cinecast series.  When she is not singing, Fleming also fulfills the role of host for many of those Saturday afternoon performances.

Performing what has become her signature aria, Fleming sings “Song to the Moon” from the opera Rusalka by Antonin Dvořák [1991]:

Juan Diego Flórez [b.1973], an operatic tenor and the son of a popular Peruvian singer and musician, has risen to become the most famous opera singer ever to have come from Lima.  After securing a place at his country’s National Conservatory of Music as a teenager—although reportedly still wavering as to whether he should pursue a classical singing career— Flórez joined the Coro Nacional (National Chorus), which gave him significant experience in performing works by the world’s greatest composers.  From 1993 to 1996 he attended Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music on a scholarship, performing in several student operas there.

Flórez also spent time in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he was tutored in vocal studies by the great mezzo-soprano, Marilyn Horne.  In 1994, Peruvian tenor Ernesto Palacio asked Flórez to come to Italy and participate in the making of an opera recording; the elder statesman of South American opera soon became the younger singer’s teacher and mentor.

With a voice that combines a lightness of tone with surprising projection, despite its seeming lack of power, Flórez gravitated toward the bel canto repertoire of Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini.  Perhaps not surprisingly, that particular era—roughly 1805 to 1840—was also the preferred period for both Horne and Palacio.  The best singers of this type of music exhibit the following characteristics: flexible technique; wide range, especially with upper notes; highly focused attack; and graceful phrasing with impeccable breath control.

At age 23, Flórez made his professional debut at the Rossini Festival in the composer’s birth city of Pesaro, Italy.  He sang the lead tenor role in Matilde di Shabran, a fairly obscure work among the 30-odd operas Rossini wrote, filling in when the scheduled performer (American tenor Bruce Ford) took ill.  Later that fall, Flórez made his La Scala [Milan] debut in Armida by Gluck.  It was opening night of the 1996–97 season at La Scala, and famed conductor Riccardo Muti was on the podium.  The maestro went on to play an important part in the young tenor’s continued professional development and exposure.

The following year saw Flórez appear for the first time at London’s Covent Garden, where he sang the main tenor role in the world premiere of Elisabetta, an opera by Gaetano Donizetti recently discovered after being lost for more than 150 years.  Among his most frequent roles is that of Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Sevilla; Flórez debuted at Vienna in this part in 1999, and at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 2002.

At last count, his repertoire totals 31 operas, of which eleven are by Rossini.  His most acclaimed roles, however—other than the Almaviva from “Barber”—have involved works by the other two primary bel canto composers.  In Donizetti’s La fille du regiment (“Daughter of the Regiment”), the signature tenor aria includes six high Cs.  This role was said to be the one that catapulted Luciano Pavarotti to instant fame.  Anyone who has heard Flórez perform the same piece, “Ah! Mes ami,” cannot help but notice the seemingly effortless way he hits those high notes without the slightest concern.  Flórez has sung  a number of times in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and L’elisir d’amore (“Elixir of Love”), as well as making highly regarded appearances in Vincenzo Bellini’s I puritani and La sonnambula (“The Sleepwalker”).  He has recorded half a dozen solo CDs on the Decca label, receiving a Grammy nomination in 2009 for his album, Bel Canto Spectacular.

Juan Diego Flórez (with soprano Nino Machaidze) sings “A te, o cara” from Bellini’s I puritani [Bologna, 2009]:

Bryn Terfel [b. 1965] is an operatic bass-baritone who was born in Pant Glas, Wales [U.K.].  His actual surname is Jones, but professionally he has elected to use his middle name as his last due to the presence of another classical singer called Bryn Jones.  Terfel studied voice at the Guildhall School in London and graduated there in 1989, having won several prizes along the way.  Also that year, Terfel finished second to baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the Cardiff BBC Singer of the World Competition.

Early in his operatic career, Terfel concentrated primarily on Mozart roles.  His professional debut came with the Welsh National Opera, appearing as Guglielmo in Cosí fan tutte.  During the same season he sang the role of Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, as well as again a year later with the English National Opera.  He appeared for a third time as Figaro with the Santa Fe Opera in the summer of 1991, which served as his U.S. debut.  Terfel’s first engagement at Covent Garden was in 1992 in the tertiary role of Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and he had previously appeared in a lesser role in Brussels in Die Zauberflöte, thereby achieving pretty much a clean sweep of all of Mozart’s most popular operas in the course of his first few years as a professional singer.

His initial appearance with New York’s Metropolitan Opera was in the familiar role of Figaro, and he continued throughout the 1990s to perform a primarily Mozartean repertoire—graduating to the secondary role of Leporello in Don Giovanni­—but also started to add heavier operas to his range.  These included his first attempt at Wagner, where he sang the role of Wolfram in Tannhäuser at the Met in 1997.  He went on to perform in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman [Met: 2000], Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman [Covent Garden: 2000], and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress [San Francisco Opera: 2001].

As the years have progressed, Terfel has become even better known as a Wagnerian singer.  New York’s Metropolitan Opera commissioned a new staging of the four-opera Ring Cycle, directed by Robert Lepage and intended to transpire over the course of two seasons, and Terfel was selected for a starring role in the overall production.  He opened the 2010–11 season in Das Rheingold and continued in spring 2011 in Die Walküre.  In November 2011 he sang in Siegfried.

As far as awards are concerned, in 2003 Terfel enjoyed the honor of being named a commander of the Order of the British Empire; he also received the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2006.

Terfel sings Leporello’s “Catalogue” aria from Mozart’s Don Giovanni in a 2009 recital with Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble (conductor, Marc Minkowski):

Elīna Garanča [b. 1976] is a Latvian mezzo-soprano from Riga.  She comes from a highly musical family; her father is a choral director and her mother is a voice teacher and also a professor of music.  Garanča began her own vocal studies at the age of 20 [1996] at the Latvian Academy of Music, with follow-on instruction in Vienna and the United States—the latter with former soprano Virginia Zeani, who was named [Voice] Teacher of the Year in 2010 by Classical Singer magazine.

Early in her professional career, Garanča won a singing competition in Finland [1999] and another in her home country [2000], after which she was engaged by the Frankfurt Opera to appear in several productions.  Her most striking performance there was as Rosina in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Sevilla, also the role she sang in her Metropolitan Opera debut in January 2008.  In 2001, Garanča was a finalist in the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, but her true operatic breakthrough came in 2003.  That year, she sang Annio in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Salzburg Festival and also enjoyed a guest appearance alongside Anna Netrebko in an extended selection from Lucia di Lammermoor that was being recorded for the Russian soprano’s debut CD, “Opera Arias.”  The two women have continued their professional relationship, most recently appearing together as Anna Bolena (Netrebko) and Giovanna Seymour (Garanča) in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena at the Vienna Staatsoper in May 2011.

[The pair were to reprise their respective roles at New York’s Metropolitan Opera to open the 2011–12 season, but Garanča was forced to withdraw due to pregnancy.  She and her husband, conductor Karel Chichon, welcomed a daughter on September 30, 2011.]

Mezzo-soprano roles in opera are fewer and generally lower-profile than those of the soprano voice, but one of the most famous in the repertoire is the title role in Bizet’s Carmen.  The naturally blonde Garanča donned a raven-haired wig for the Met’s new production in 2010—seen around the world thanks to “The Met in HD,” a program that offers satellite broadcasts to movie theaters—and performed to rave reviews for her singing as well as her acting.  The production has been preserved on a Deutsche Grammophon DVD (for whom Garanča records exclusively), as was an earlier performance as Cinderella in the Rossini opera La cenerentola.

Garanča sings the “Seguidilla” from Bizet’s Carmen (tenor Roberto Alagna is Don Jose) at the Metropolitan Opera  [2010]: