Down-to-earth diva

'I've been passed over a few times for Salome,' Voigt says, referring to the role that calls for the seductive strip-tease dance. In a recent move that set opera tongues wagging, Covent Garden, which had signed Voigt for Ariadne this spring, abruptly bought out her contract and cancelled her appearances.

The cited reason was a costume and dramatic issue - code for 'overweight'. For Voigt, it's a wake-up call. 'This is the world I live in,' Voigt says matter-of-factly. 'I've lost the weight twice before with no effect on my voice. This time I'm doing it for good.'

This down-to-earth diva deals with life head-on. In her early days at the Metropolitan Opera, during a rehearsal run, she got a phone call from her manager who passed on the word that maestro James Levine was disappointed by the sound of her middle voice. 'Of course I felt devastated,' she remembers. 'So I did what I always do - I had a good cry. And then got to work with a voice teacher.'

After a few lessons, she sang another orchestra rehearsal and her phone rang again. It was Levine himself. 'I couldn't believe he would call me,' Voigt recalls with disarming modesty. 'He wanted to let me know he heard the difference. He had been absolutely right. I can't imagine anyone else who could have heard that subtle change in my voice.'

Born and raised in Illinois, Voigt attended California State University at Fullerton and won an apprenticeship to the San Francisco Opera's Merola programme. She made her leap into prominence when she captured top prizes in the Luciano Pavarotti Voice Competition in 1988, the Tchaikovsky International Competition in 1990, and performed Ariadne in Boston.

'In terms of my personal life, I was somewhat inexperienced,' Voigt says. 'I met my first husband when I was 16 and waited until I was 30 to marry him. I didn't go out with anyone else, and I didn't have torrid love affairs.'

After her marriage ended in divorce, Voigt did gain more experience, which she says has deepened her performances. 'Let's just say that Ah, Perfido by Beethoven makes a lot more sense when you've had the heart ripped out of you.'

Given her demanding touring schedule, she is at home in her Florida refuge only a few months every year. New projects include teaching more masterclasses, adding opera roles (such as the Marshallin this autumn in Vancouver), and exploring popular music repertoire.

For her upcoming Barbican gig, she'll offer standards by Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Strauss, along with more unusual repertoire by Ives, Zemlinsky and the American composer, Ben Moore, in a programme planned and performed with the talented pianist Brian Zeger. From London, she goes off to the Met Opera as Sieglinde in Die Walkure, then sings a Carnegie Hall Recital with Levine at the piano.

Most tantalising of all, Voigt is negotiating to sing her first Brunnhilde (she won't say where), but for now, fans can snap up the latest of her 19 recordings, a Wagner and Strauss CD on Angel/EMI to be released in the UK later this spring.

On this, Voigt employs her golden voice in gracefully phrased and assured performances that hold their own next to the legendary Wagnerian sopranos of the past, demonstrating why she is coming to be acknowledged as one of the greatest dramatic sopranos of this generation.

Deborah Voigt, Sun 7 Mar, Barbican, Silk Street, EC2 (020-7638 8891).