Soprano Martina Arroyo dies aged 90
The American singer’s 1965 breakthrough at the Metropolitan Opera opened the way to leading Verdi roles after years of limited opportunities.
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The American singer’s 1965 breakthrough at the Metropolitan Opera opened the way to leading Verdi roles after years of limited opportunities.
Martina Arroyo, the American opera singer whose career centred on leading Verdi roles, has died aged 90, The Guardian said in an obituary published on 25 October. Her career took her from supporting parts at New York’s Metropolitan Opera to international recognition, followed by decades of teaching.
The obituary describes institutional racial prejudice that restricted her early opportunities. Advised to develop a backup career because there were so few openings for Black singers, Arroyo worked for a year as a high-school teacher and for two years as a social worker.
Arroyo won the Metropolitan Opera’s singing competition in 1958. She made her official debut with the company the following year as the Celestial Voice in Don Carlo, but sang only supporting roles there for three seasons. Advised to seek work in Europe, where racial barriers were less restrictive, she secured prominent roles at major opera houses.
Her Metropolitan Opera breakthrough came in 1965. While Arroyo was visiting her family, Metropolitan Opera general manager Rudolf Bing asked her to replace Birgit Nilsson as Aida with two days’ notice. Her performance received a standing ovation, prompting Bing to offer her a contract.
Verdi’s heroines became central to her repertoire: Aida, Leonora in both Il Trovatore and La Forza del Destino, and Elisabetta di Valois in Don Carlo. At her 1968 Covent Garden debut as Aida, Opera magazine’s critic praised her “rich, opulent” tone. The obituary also recounts occasional later criticism of her ability to inhabit roles.
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After retiring from the stage, Arroyo established the nonprofit Martina Arroyo Foundation in 2003. Its intensive tuition for emerging artists reflected her emphasis on preparing an entire operatic role, rather than isolated passages. Her teaching work brought an Opera Honors award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2010 and Kennedy Center Honors in 2013.
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