Ex-Anaheim Singer Wins Tchaikovsky Contest as No. 13

Soprano Deborah Voigt won first prize in the international Tchaikovsky vocal competition in Moscow on Thursday, despite her concerns over drawing the 13th performance slot.

“I was worried because I drew the number 13,” a weary Voigt said from Moscow early today. As it turned out, “In Russia, the number 13 is considered good luck. It’s the total opposite.”

Voigt, a 28-year-old former Anaheim resident, topped an initial field of more than 60 candidates who were cut to 17 finalists in the three rounds held over the last two weeks.

Best known for its piano competition, the Tchaikovsky Competition, which is held every four years, also has categories in violin, cello and voice. Top prize for vocalists is 5,000 rubles, which, because of

fluctuating exchange rates, would be worth somewhere between $140 and $480. But the prestige of winning the competition far outweighs the monetary award, though it is considered less a meal ticket to stardom for vocalists than it has become for instrumentalists.

“I was a little apprehensive they would choose a Russian . . . but the response of the Russian people was tremendous. They are very clear about what they like and what they don’t like. They are very expressive about that,” she said.

During the competition, Voigt sang songs and arias by Tchaikovsky, Verdi, and Soviet and American composers.

She also had to choose an American folk song. “I sang ‘Beautiful Dreamer’ and it caused quite a sensation,” she said.

A Cal State Fullerton music major, Voigt won the $20,000 first prize at the Rosa Ponselle International Vocal Competition in May in Washington. She received one of only three first-prize awards handed out since the inception of that competition in 1984.

She also was a first-place winner in the annual international Busseto Verdi Competition in Busseto, Italy, in 1989, and was one of 40 winners in the Opera Company of Philadelphia-Luciano Pavarotti Voice Competition in Philadelphia in 1988.

She left Cal State Fullerton in 1984, just shy of her bachelor’s degree, on a scholarship to the Merola Opera program, a 10-week training stint for young singers at the San Francisco Opera. She returned to her alma mater in 1985 to sing the role of Donna Anna in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” Since then, she has been heard locally in recital on several occasions.

She will be soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the St. Louis Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin later this month. She also has been cast as Ariadne in Richard Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos” with the Boston Opera in January, 1991, and as Amelia in Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera” for the New York Metropolitan Opera Parks Concerts in June of 1991.

Joy Muchlinski, Voigt’s mother, said Thursday from her home in Anaheim: “I’m thrilled. I’m so excited for her. This is the highlight, I’m sure, of her career. . . . I’m sure it will open many doors for her.”

Voigt moved from Anaheim to New York City in 1987 to pursue her career.