Aside from the affair of the dress, Deborah Voigt had plenty of other things on her mind during our lunch. Among them:

• When Voigt met maestro James Conlon: "I thought he was adorable. ... We did Macbeth together in Paris a few seasons ago. And in one of the rehearsals, I sang the sleepwalking scene beautifully, and the orchestra clapped. Afterwards, James said, 'You know, the 16th-notes are not quite right.'

"I wanted to slap him! But he was right. ... We singers, if we float through the aria, we think we've done fabulous. But there may be more to it, that could be truer to what the composer had in mind."

• Favorite moment in Wagner's Die Walkure: Kissing Placido Domingo in the second act.

What it's like? "Ummm. Not bad. He's very tender, and he laid a good one on me this last time. He's such a gentleman. The thing I love most about being onstage with him is, he's really in the moment, and he looks you in the eyes, and you look him in the eyes. And he sings, and he means it."

• How long she'll sing Wagner and Strauss: "My game plan is 15 years. I don't want to be singing Clytemnestra because I have to pay my Amex bill."

• What she listens to in her spare time: Norah Jones, Damien Rice, pop and rock. "If I'm going to try and convince some young person to hear opera, it might be good to know who OutKast is."

Janelle Gelfand