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Posted On: October 14th 2026, 09:16 pm
MasterVoices mourns the loss of our friend Martina Arroyo, a pioneering opera star, educator, and member of our Board of Directors.
Born in Harlem, Martina began her career as a social worker and school teacher before breaking ground as one of the first Black and Latin American sopranos to sing principal roles at the Metropolitan Opera. Her career highlights included 199 performances at the Met, 20 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and a 2013 Kennedy Center Honor.
She established the Martina Arroyo Foundation in 2003, and she told the Washington Post that “life as I wanted it truly began for me with the foundation.” The foundation’s annual ‘Prelude to Performance’ program at Hunter College helped young opera singers grow as actors.
Martina first sang with us in a 1966 concert of the Verdi Requiem, when MasterVoices was The Collegiate Chorale and when David Geffen Hall was Philharmonic Hall. She appeared in several other MasterVoices concerts and events through the years before joining our Board in 2000.
Her extraordinary voice and legacy will live on through her body of work.
Born in Harlem, Martina began her career as a social worker and school teacher before breaking ground as one of the first Black and Latin American sopranos to sing principal roles at the Metropolitan Opera. Her career highlights included 199 performances at the Met, 20 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and a 2013 Kennedy Center Honor.
She established the Martina Arroyo Foundation in 2003, and she told the Washington Post that “life as I wanted it truly began for me with the foundation.” The foundation’s annual ‘Prelude to Performance’ program at Hunter College helped young opera singers grow as actors.
Martina first sang with us in a 1966 concert of the Verdi Requiem, when MasterVoices was The Collegiate Chorale and when David Geffen Hall was Philharmonic Hall. She appeared in several other MasterVoices concerts and events through the years before joining our Board in 2000.
Her extraordinary voice and legacy will live on through her body of work.
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