Martina Arroyo Has Passed Away
The Harlem-born soprano Martina Arroyo - whose lush spinto voice delighted audiences at the Metropolitan Opera, the Paris Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, the Vienna State Opera, at the opera houses of Chicago and San Francisco, and the Teatro Colón - has passed away at the age of 90. Her repertoire ranged from the great Verdi and Puccini roles to Wagner's Elsa, Mozart's Donna Anna, Ponchielli's Gioconda, and Mascagni's Santuzza.
From the age of 14, Martina started studying voice with Marinka Gurewich, who was her sole voice teacher until Gurewich's death in 1990. Following her Carnegie Hall debut recital in 1957, Martina was taken under the wing of Thea Dispeker, who remained her agent for many years.
I first saw the soprano live in 1965 at the Cincinnati Summer Opera as Leonora in TROVATORE (autographs above).
Ms. Arroyo gave more than 200 performances at The Met, making her debut there as the Celestial Voice in DON CARLO in 1959. I saw her at The Met as Aida, Amelia in BALLO IN MASCHERA, Santuzza, Elvira in ERNANI, and Leonora in FORZA DEL DESTINO. She last appeared at The Met in 1986.
Ms. Arroyo also had an extensive concert and recital repertoire; she worked with major orchestras...and with such illustrious conductors as Mitropoulos, Bernstein, Ormandy, Leinsdorf, Mehta, and Giulini.
Here's the soprano in an excerpt from Meyerbeer's LES HUGUENOTS from the 1970 Decca recording:
Martina was known for her sense of humor. Once, when a Met doorman greeted her as "Miss Price", she replied, "No, honey, I'm the other one." Conscious of how her size sometimes became a talking point among opera-goers, she jokingly referred to herself in a radio interview as "Madame Butterball".
I once ran into Martina and her mom backstage at Carnegie Hall; I don't know why I happened to have my camera with me, but when I asked them if I could take a photo, they were pleased to pose together.
~ Oberon