OPERA STAR ROBERTA PETERS TO RECEIVE HONORARY DEGREE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND
Jan. 24, 2001
Former Metropolitan Opera diva Roberta Peters will receive an honorary degree recognizing her lifetime of contributions to music and opera during her Feb. 11 recital at the University of Richmond.
Celebrating her 70th birthday and 50th year of performing, Peters will sing works by Mozart, Schubert, Donizetti and Puccini at the university's Modlin Center for the Arts. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m.
Following the recital, Peters will be escorted back to the stage by Marcus M. and Carole M. Weinstein, university benefactors who are co-sponsors of her appearance. Richmond's president, William E. Cooper, will invest Peters with the honorary doctor of fine arts degree.
Peters began her career in 1950 with a surprise debut as Zerlina in Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at the Metropolitan Opera. On six hours' notice she replaced an indisposed colleague and immediately became one of the Metropolitan's prized sopranos. She is noted for her coloratura roles and has achieved the longest tenure of any soprano in the history of the Met.
In addition to opera, Peters appears in operettas and musical comedies and has performed her varied repertoire around the world. She twice represented the U.S. in the former Soviet Union, becoming the first American-born artist to receive the Bolshoi Medal. She has also given recitals and master classes in the People's Republic of China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan and was once caught in the middle of the Six Day War in Israel while performing for soldiers with her late colleague, Richard Tucker.
President John F. Kennedy first invited her to perform at the White House, where she has performed for every president since.
In addition to supporting social causes and performing frequently for charity, Peters has taken an active part in promoting government funding for the arts. President Bush appointed her to the National Council on the Arts in 1991, and in 1998, President Clinton awarded her the National Medal of Arts.
Peters holds honorary doctorates from Elmira, Ithaca, Westminster, Colby and New Rochelle Colleges, Lehigh and St. John's Universities and the University of Rhode Island.
Tickets are available from the Modlin Center box office at 289-8980. Cost is $16 for adults and $14 for senior citizens.