Opera diva to sing a little Carpenters, Broadway tunes

But don’t be surprised if in the mix of Broadway tunes she slips in “A Song For You” by the Carpenters.

“It’s going to be just a few things because it’s going to be a full event that night,” she said of the gala, which includes performances by two other singers. “Certainly Broadway standards. Probably a Carpenters song, because I adore the Carpenters. But I’m going to wait and see how the spirit moves me once I get there. Make it be a bit of a surprise.”

Voigt’s appearance in Arizona is her first and it comes as she is touring the country promoting her just released memoirs “Call Me Debbie: True Confessions of a Down-to-Earth Diva.” The book delves into her bouts with obesity and alcoholism in a career that has included performances over the past 25 years on some of the biggest opera stages in the world.

We chatted with the 54-year-old singer and came up with three things you might want to know if you’re going to see her Saturday.

Early fan of Karen Carpenter: “Karen Carpenter had one of the most beautiful voices ever, I think. I just grew up listening to her all the time and sort of wanted to emulate what she was doing with her voice. ... It was just the anniversary of her death the other day and I was just thinking of everything we missed out on losing her so soon.”

Bringing light into a dark period: “(The memoirs) is a very honest portrayal of my life on and off the stage. I started the process several years ago when I went through a very public firing from the Royal Opera House in London and subsequently — not as a result; I certainly had thought of it before — had gastric bypass surgery and lost the weight and decided it might be time to write about that time of my life. ... It’s been a very long process. I felt that it was important to talk about those things. ... I think by and large I have a very sunny, positive, resilient look at life and that’s certainly the thing I took away the most having written this book and reading it after all the different editions and edits. Just really coming to terms with an enormous amount of resilience that is hard to recognize when you are dealing with one incident at a time. But when you look at the whole arc of a lifetime, yeah, I have a lot of resilience and I got that from my parents.”

Her ideal Valentine’s Day: “For one thing it would involve having a man in my life” — she doesn’t — “so that would be the start. But I don’t know, a nice meal out, chocolate, roses — all the Hallmark stuff that we all want.”