WNO's "Force of Destiny" lets down vocal standards, and Verdi

Before I talk about the Washington National Opera's new production of Verdi's "La forza del destino" ("The force of destiny"), which opened Saturday night, I ask you to think back to September, when the star soprano Deborah Voigt stepped down from the company's season-opening "Tristan und Isolde." After a conversation with WNO's artistic director, Francesca Zambello, there was a mutual sense that Voigt, although she could get through the role of Isolde, wasn't singing it at the level WNO needed....