Martina Arroyo

American soprano Martina Arroyo has received numerous awards and accolades for her long-standing preeminence at the world’s foremost opera houses and concert halls, including a 2013 Kennedy Center Honor and a 2010 Opera Honors Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. She continues to make an invaluable contribution to the art form through her teaching and commitment to young artist development.

Born in 1937 and raised in Harlem, Arroyo went on to conquer the opera world, from the Metropolitan Opera to the Vienna State Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires to La Scala in Milan, and Paris Opera to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. Few in her generation have been so fearless or so successful across the repertory, from Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, and Strauss to Barber, Bolcom, Schoenberg, and Stockhausen. The New York Times once heralded her voice as “among the most glorious in the world.”

In 2003, Arroyo established her own non-profit cultural organization, the Martina Arroyo Foundation, which provides new generations of emerging young artists with the tools to pursue careers in opera.