Photo: Martina Arroyo | From Wikipedia: Martina Arroyo (February 2, 1936 – October 13, 2026) was an American operatic soprano who had a major international opera career from the 1960s through the 1980s. She was part of the first generation of black opera singers to achieve wide success.
Arroyo first rose to prominence at the Zurich Opera between 1963 and 1965, and then was one of the Metropolitan Opera’s leading sopranos between 1965 and 1978. During those years at the Metropolitan Opera, she was also a regular presence at the world’s opera houses, performing on the stages of La Scala, Covent Garden, the Opéra National de Paris, the Teatro Colón, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the San Francisco Opera. She is best known for her performances of the Italian spinto repertoire, and in particular, her portrayals of Verdi and Puccini heroines.
While Arroyo announced her retirement from performance in 1989, she continued to perform professionally for the next five years in a decreased capacity. Her last opera performances were in 1991 when she sang the title role in Turandot at the Staatstheater Kassel, and created the role of Miranda in the world premiere of Leslie Adams’s Blake. She continued to sing recitals until as late as 1993, and in 1994 she sang in the world premiere of Carlo Franci’s African Oratorio in South Africa. Her later life was devoted to teaching singing on the faculties of various universities in the United States and Europe. On December 8, 2013, Arroyo received a Kennedy Center Honor.
Life and career
Childhood
Martina Arroyo was born on February 2, 1936, in Harlem, New York City. She was the younger of two children born to Demetrio Arroyo and Lucille Washington. Her brother, sixteen years her senior, grew up to become a Baptist minister. The family lived in Harlem near St. Nicholas Avenue and 111th Street, and Arroyo was educated at nearby P.S. 170 and Junior High School 101 in the New York City Public Schools system.
Arroyo’s father, originally from Puerto Rico, was a mechanical engineer at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and earned a good salary. This enabled Arroyo’s mother, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, to stay at home with their children. Her mother was an amateur pianist, and Arroyo learned to play the piano as a child under her mother’s guidance. Her other early musical experiences were had at Baptist Temple Church in Harlem where she sang in the choir in her developing years. She later sang in the youth choir at Greater Calvary on 133rd street. She was also active in school glee clubs.
The finances of the Arroyo family were solid enough that they had the freedom to experience New York’s cultural offerings, and Martina frequented museums, concerts, and the theatre in outings with her parents. It was while attending several performances of Broadway shows during the 1940s that her interest in becoming a performer blossomed. Her mother humored her dreams and allowed Arroyo to take ballet classes. She studied dance with well known Harlem teacher Mary Bruce.
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Second Met career
In early 1965 Arroyo traveled back to New York City to visit her family. On February 2, 1965 she got a phone call from Rudolf Bing asking her to step in for Birgit Nilsson for an impending performance of Aida at the Metropolitan Opera. Initially Arroyo thought it was a prank phone call, but the unexpected opportunity was genuine. When it was announced to the audience at the Met on February 4, 1965 that role of Aida would be sung not by Nilsson but by Arroyo, there were audible groans heard in the house. However, by the end of the evening the audience was completely won over and giving her an enthusiastic standing ovation. The performance received rave reviews with Raymond Ericson writing in the magazine of The New York Times that Arroyo had “one of the most gorgeous voices before the public today”.
The success of this Aida performance led to Arroyo being offered a Met contract to join the roster of the company’s principal sopranos which extended for several years. She became a favorite performer with Met audiences. In the 1965–1966 Met season she sang a lauded performance of Elisabetta in Don Carlo; one performance of which was recorded for the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. In her second career at the Met she particularly excelled in the dramatic soprano repertoire from the Italian literature; with the operas of Giuseppe Verdi in particular serving as her foundation. According to Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens she drew acclaim at the Met for portrayals of Amelia in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth, Leonora in Verdi’s La forza del destino, Liù in Puccini’s Turandot, and the title roles in La Gioconda and Tosca among other parts.
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The Wikipedia bio is extensive. Ms. Arroyo was a Kennedy Center honoree in 2013.
Arroyo died at her home in Manhattan, on October 13, 2026, at the age of 90.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martina_Arroyo
Photo: Martina Arroyo | From the Wikipedia page [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry pose for a photo with the 2013 Kennedy Center honorees — Shirley MacLain, Martina Arroyo, Billy Joel, Carlos Santana, and Herbie Hancock at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on December 7, 2013.
