CDA: Martina Arroyo
My brother Patrick alerted me to the death of soprano Martina Arroyo (age 90). She made exactly 200 appearances at the Met, including three opening nights. She was a frequent guest on Carson's Tonight Show and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2013. Her Times obit included a cute story about her Met debut - - she had won the Auditions on the Air and made her debut in the small role of The Celestial Voice in Verdi's Don Carlo. Her mother was at the performance and missed Martina's moment because she was in the ladies' room.
Verdi was her specialty and her prime unfortunately overlapped with another great African American Verdi soprano, Leontyne Price. A friend who heard both many times said that Arroyo seemed like the person you'd get when Price wasn't available - - but if she were here today she would be THE reigning Verdi soprano.
Here she is singing my favorite moment in Aida:
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