Deborah Voigt

This memoir is as honest and forthcoming as any I've read. Deborah Voigt is known as much for her weight struggles as for her magnificent voice, most recently as Brunnhilde in Wagner's Ring Cycle. She has indeed struggled with addictions to alcohol, food, and the wrong men, but she's also created a career any aspiring singer would only dream about. Despite her travails, she describes a path to operatic heights fascinating in its details. I finished with a far better understanding of the work required.

I also admire her willingness to lay herself bare. In the process, she demonstrates that the life behind the image is never quite what we expect. More importantly (as this is not a moralistic treatise), she shows herself to be both deeply flawed but marvelously human. Turns out she's not much of a diva after all, despite a voice she says comes from God. Also turns out she can write quite well. I gobbled this up.… (plus d'informations)