Spiritual aspects of operatic singing: Klaus Florian Vogt

The singing of German tenor Klaus Florian Vogt (b. 1970) initially puzzled, and continues to fascinate those who hear his voice on stage and through transmissions and recordings. In this paper Meyer-Dinkgräfe provides a brief biography of Vogt, followed by an account, based on interviews with Vogt (including my own), on how he relates to his major roles, his voice, his acting and experiences with director’s theatre, his way of preparing for a role in rehearsals and on a day of performance. The paper also discusses how Vogt relates his experience of singing to that of flying a plane, his political views on the need for opera in the regions, his thoughts on the differences between singing in a fully staged opera and an aria recital, how he experiences singing, and the impact on it of orchestra and conductor, magic moments, and anecdotes of unexpected events in performance. These two sections provide sufficient information to allow the readers to form their own image of Vogt. In the third section, I address the reception of Vogt’s voice and singing in the media, and provide a context of spirituality to account further for the exceptional nature of Vogt’s voice and singing; here I also relate information provided in the first two sections to the development and expression of spirituality