Martina Arroyo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Martina Arroyo (born February 2, 1937) is an American soprano, best known for her performances of the Italian spinto repertoire.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Arroyo was born in New York City. After earning a B.A. at Hunter College and while working on her dissertation at New York University on Ignacio Silone's Pane e Vino and Vino e Pane, she was offered a role in Pizzetti's Murder in the Cathedral. This was the beginning of a long career as well as the end of her formal academic training.

[edit] Musical career

Having performed in the major opera houses and with the greatest symphony orchestras of the world, she has left a legacy of recordings, including: Handel's Judas Maccabeus (twice) and Samson, Mozart's Don Giovanni (Elvira for Karl Böhm and Anna for Sir Colin Davis), Beethoven's Missa solemnis and Ninth Symphony, Rossini's Stabat mater, Verdi's Messa da requiem and Mahler's massive Eighth Symphony (the Symphony of a Thousand).

She has also recorded important 20th century music, including Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder and Carlo Franci's African Oratorio and two works she "created" in their world premieres: Karlheinz Stockhausen's Momente and Samuel Barber's Andromache's Farewell.

Arroyo's discography (which also includes an aria recital), though enviable, does not encompass anything like the full range of roles she essayed onstage. At the Metropolitan Opera alone, these are the operas she performed but never recorded commercially: Verdi's Ernani, Macbeth, Il trovatore, Don Carlos (the Celestial Voice as well as Elizabeth, both in Italian), and Aida; Wagner's Lohengrin and Der Ring des Nibelungen (featured roles in all four operas); Ponchielli's La Gioconda; Giordano's Andrea Chénier; and Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Turandot (as Liù; she played the title role in Toronto).

[edit] Teaching career

Since her official retirement from singing in 1989 Martina Arroyo has amassed significant teaching credits, including stints at Louisiana State University, UCLA, University of Delaware, Wilberforce University, the International Sommerakademie-Mozarteum in Salzburg and Indiana University.

She has given master classes nationally and internationally, and judged several competitions including the George London Competition and the Tchaikovsky International Competition.

With Dr. Willard L. Boyd, former President of the University of Iowa, she co-authored the "Task Force Report on Music Education in the U.S."

In 1976, she was appointed by President Gerald Ford to the National Council of the Arts in Washington, D.C. She founded the Martina Arroyo Foundation, which is dedicated to the development of emerging young opera singers by immersing them in complete role preparation courses. She is also active on the Boards of Trustees of Hunter College and Carnegie Hall.

She was candid about her perceived status as second-best to her great contemporary, fellow African-American spinto Leontyne Price; once, when a Met doorman greeted her as "Miss Price", she sweetly replied, "No, honey: I'm the other one."

[edit] References

[edit] External links