Martina Arroyo Suggest updates
Born New York, 2 February 1940,
American soprano.
Martina Arroyo had an excellent international career, particularly as a specialist in the middle period Verdi roles. She studied at Hunter College then with Marinka Gurewich and won the Metropolitan Auditions of the Air in 1958.
Her professional debut in 1958 was at Carnegie Hall in the American premiere of Pizzetti's Assassinio nella cattedrale, based on T S Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. Her first role at the Met was as the Heavenly Voice in Don Carlos (1959). She moved to Europe in 1963, joining the Zurich Opera, and worked at most of the major continental houses. She sang Aïda when the company from La Scala, Milan appeared at Munich for the 1972 Olympics. The cast also included Domingo, Cossotto, Cappuccilli and Ghiaurov, conducted by Abbado. At the Paris Opéra she sang Elena Vespri Siciliani.
She returned to the Met singing major roles from 1965 and first appeared at Covent Garden in 1968. Roles with the Royal Opera included several by Verdi - Leonora, Amelia, Leonora di Vargas, Elisabeth de Valois and Aïda.
Her recordings range from Mozart (Donna Elvira with Böhm, Donna Anna with Colin Davis) to Schoenberg (Tove Gurrelieder), via Meyerbeer (Valentine Les Huguenots with Sutherland) and Verdi (Vespri Siciliani, Forza del destino, Requiem).
