Polaski, Deborah (1949– )

US soprano. She studied at the Ohio Conservatory and in Graz. She sang widely in Germany from 1976, notably as Leonore, Isolde, Sieglinde, and Marie in Wozzeck. She appeared at the 1983 Waiblingen Festival in a revival of Keiser's Croesus. She has sung Elektra at Oslo (1986), Stuttgart (1989), and Spoleto (1990). After her 1988 Bayreuth performance of Brünnhilde under Barenboim was not well-received, she decided to retire. However, she returned to the stage in 1991 and sang the Walküre Brünnhilde at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in 1994. She was also admired as the Dyer's Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten (Amsterdam, 1992).