Martina Arroyo
Born: 2nd February 1936, New York City
Nationality: American
Martina Arroyo was born in 1936 in New York and worked as an English teacher and a social worker whilst studying voice privately, making her professional operatic debut in the US premiere of Pizzetti’s Murder in the Cathedral at Carnegie Hall in 1958 and her first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera as the Celestial Voice in Don Carlo the following year. Shortly afterwards she relocated to Europe (though she continued to appear at The Met in small roles in The Ring Cycle throughout the early 60s), where she soon won acclaim as Aida in various major houses; she eventually sang the role at The Met in 1965, going on to appear as Donna Anna, Lady Macbeth, Madam Butterfly, Verdi’s Leonoras, Santuzza, La Gioconda and Elsa (she was the first black singer in history to perform the latter role). Arroyo’s recorded legacy is relatively small for an artist of such stature, but her discography includes Donna Anna on Colin Davis’s Philips recording of Don Giovanni, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 under Rafael Kubelik, Elena in I Vespri Siciliani under Thomas Schippers, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under Leonard Bernstein.
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Martina Arroyo (1936-2026)
15th Oct 2026
The American spinto soprano, who excelled in Verdi and became the first Black singer to play Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin, has died in Manhattan aged 90.
Recent Best Sellers: Martina Arroyo
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Martina Arroyo: Liederabend 1968
Martina Arroyo (soprano), Leonard Hokanson (piano)
CD: $16.25Download from $10.00 -
Leonard Bernstein - Beethoven Symphonies & Overtures & Missa Solemnis Remastered
Leonard Bernstein (speaker), Abraham Kaplan (director), Norman Scott (bass), Martina Arroyo (soprano), Nicholas Di Virgilio (tenor), Regina Sarfaty (soprano), Kim Borg (bass), Eileen Farrell (soprano), Carol Smith (contralto), Richard Lewis (tenor), New York Philharmonic, The Juilliard Chorus, Westminster Choir
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Special offer. Joan Sutherland: The Operas 1959-1970
Joan Sutherland (soprano), Richard Bonynge, John Pritchard, Ferdinand Leitner, Adrian Boult, Nino Sanzogno
49 CDs: Original price $217.75 Reduced $163.31 -
Wagner: Das Rheingold
George London (Wotan), Irene Dalis (Fricka), Ralph Herbert (Alberich(, Karl Liebl (Loge), Jean Madeira (Erda), Jerome Hines (Fasolt), Ernst Wiemann (Fafner), Heidi Krall (Freia), Robert Nagy (Froh), Norman Mittelmann (Donner), Paul Kuen (Mime), Martina Arroyo (Woglinde), Rosalind Elias (Wellgunde) & Mignon Dunn (Flosshilde) Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera House, Erich Leinsdorf
2 CDs: $13.25Download from $20.00
