It was a big night for music Sunday at Cal State Fullerton. A “dedication celebration” in the Clayes Performing Arts Center marked the official designation of the former Department of Music as a School of Music, a big enough deal in academia to warrant the occasion. Central to the festivities, a benefit performance in Meng Concert Hall featuring the music school’s most famous alum: Soprano Deborah Voigt.

Voigt began her work for the night with Wagner in fact, specifically the aria “Dich, Teure Halle” from “Tannhäuser,” the first line of which, in English translation, is “Dear hall, I greet thee once again, joyfully I greet thee, beloved place!” Unfortunately, no translation was provided. Still, Voigt got the elation of the song across with an easy, agile and voluminous reading, and the Symphony Orchestra, some minor blemishes notwithstanding, supported her handily under the baton of Kimo Furumoto.

Read the full article here