Original article and pictures can be seen at
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2002221360_opera27.html

Soprano sheds bulk, credits gastric bypass

By Anthony Tommasini
The New York Times

NEW YORK — Deborah Voigt, arguably the world's leading dramatic soprano,
has a gleaming voice that easily soars over the largest Wagnerian
orchestra. But big voices tend to come in big bodies, and Voigt, to her
dismay, long fit the stereotype of the oversize opera singer.

Her weight became international news last spring when word spread that she
had been fired from a production of Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" at Covent
Garden in London because the director deemed her too large to look right in
a sleek, black dress that was crucial to his staging concept.

What few knew at the time was that Voigt, who has struggled with her weight
since adolescence, already had decided to undergo the most drastic
treatment for obesity — gastric bypass surgery.

On Tuesday, she disclosed in an interview that on June 7, when she would
have been singing at Covent Garden had she not been let go, she had the
procedure, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. She is now 100 pounds
lighter.

Voigt, 44, said she knew surgery could be "extremely dangerous" for a
singer. Opera singers who lose significant amounts of weight have been
known to lose vocal luster as well, Maria Callas being the most notable
example.

But she was willing to take the risk. "I had no choice," Voigt said. She
had tried everything: crash dieting, liquid fasts, a gastric bubble and,
worst of all for her, the diet pill combination fen-phen, which she said
gave her bouts of manic energy.

"I'd be up cleaning out my closets at 3 in the morning," she said. And like
many overweight people, she eventually regained whatever pounds she had
lost.

For Voigt, who acknowledged she was a compulsive eater, gastric bypass
surgery, which involves creating a small pouch out of the top of the
stomach and connecting it to half of the small intestine, is "a blessing,"
she said. The tiny capacity it leaves takes away the choice about eating.

"You will comply," she said, "because if you don't, you're going to be
very, very ill."

Voigt, who resumed performing seven weeks after surgery, has been
encouraged by the strong critical reaction to her singing since then. She
said she was going public now because everywhere she goes people ask about
her new look. "I felt it was time to talk about it," she said. "I don't
want to be dishonest."

She is, though, reluctant to be too specific about her weight. She will say
that at her heaviest she wore a size-30 dress. The 5-foot-6 soprano proudly
bought her first size 14 last week. Her goal is a 12, which will mean, she
estimated, losing 30 more pounds.

During the interview, Voigt sat in a narrow living-room chair and bragged
of now being able to cross her legs comfortably. Audiences in New York will
have a chance to see the slimmer soprano April 4 when she sings the role of
Amelia in the first of eight performances of the Metropolitan Opera's
revival of Verdi's "Ballo in Maschera."

To face up to her fears, Voigt sought information and soul mates online (at
obesityhealth.com). She also has continued working with her therapist on
longstanding emotional issues. By talking about her surgery, she said, she
hopes to draw attention to the problem of obesity and advances in surgical
treatment for it.

A decade ago, there were fewer than 20,000 operations a year for obesity in
the United States, according to Dr. Marc Bessler, the director of the
Center for Obesity Surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Last year,
there were 150,000, he said, of which 75 percent were gastric bypasses of
the type Voigt had.

As with all invasive surgeries, there are risks. But the risks for a singer
seem especially high. Most people assume that fine operatic voices emanate
from the throat and a wondrous pair of vocal cords. It would be more
accurate to say that the voice passes through the throat and vocal cords,
but emanates from the diaphragm, which supports the column of sound.

So wasn't the thought of a surgeon cutting into her abdomen terrifying? "I
wasn't worried about the poking around in my abdomen," she said. "I was
worried about the effects of anesthesia and about having a tube put down my
throat."

To minimize potential damage, her surgeon used the narrowest tube possible.

Still, as Voigt explained, she has had to make adjustments in her singing.
"There is no question that I have to think about my technique more than I
did," she said. "The sort of automatic engagement of the abdominal muscles
from the excess weight doesn't happen anymore."

She has been pleased with the results. In November, she sang the role of
Elisabeth in Wagner's "Tannhauser" at the Met to great acclaim. This month,
in a review in The New York Times of a concert performance of Beethoven's
"Fidelio" at Carnegie Hall, Anne Midgette wrote that Voigt took a while to
hit her vocal stride but eventually began "to bloom and shine forth."

In the interview, Voigt said the Covent Garden episode was double-edged.
She was comforted by the good will she felt from fans and a sympathetic
public. Still, although the company honored the contract and paid her in
full, being fired was humiliating.

"I felt like I had to do something drastic," she said. But she had decided
to pursue surgery well before the black-dress incident. She was
experiencing weakness in her knees and worried about developing high blood
pressure and diabetes.

"I thought of having this surgery when they started doing it 20 years ago,"
she said. "But it was an extremely dangerous procedure then, with a high
mortality rate."

Paradoxically, Voigt long was an advocate of the principle that body size
does not determine whether an opera singer can be dramatically compelling.
Will she now be seen as an artist who caved in to the increasing pressure
on singers to look conventionally attractive? Though she insisted that
looks were not her primary consideration, she acknowledged that her new
body was already benefiting her career.

"I'm doing many more Toscas than I ever thought I would," she said of
Puccini's glamorous Roman prima donna. And down the road, Voigt, a renowned
Strauss singer, hopes to achieve what she called a "personal triumph" by
singing the title role in a production of Strauss' "Salome." She has sung
the role only in concert.

The opera's climax is Salome's seductive "Dance of the Seven Veils." Voigt
used to joke that her Salome would have to do the "Dance of the 77 Veils."
But now she can't wait to take it on.

Although her excess weight caused her great emotional stress, Voigt said
her life before the operation was full. "I've had love affairs and a
marriage in my life," she said, "and I've never been without some sort of
relationship."

She has been blessed with loyal fans. "I felt their support and love and
admiration 100 pounds heavier," she said. "The great part about this is
that I'm going to get to show them something they haven't seen — a
different way of moving on stage, a more compelling and believable
approach."

The harder part of the adjustment is emotional. "I really still think of
myself as a very big woman," she said. "My mind hasn't had the opportunity
to catch up with the progress my body has made in a short amount of time."