Soprano Martina Arroyo, backstage at the Metropolitan Opera dressed for her role as the heroine Elizabeth of Valois for Verdi’s “Don Carlo,” in New York, Nov. 24, 1965. Arroyo, a soprano whose rich voice carried with ease through the scores of Giuseppe Verdi and who was one of the first Black singers to have a major operatic career, died on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, at her home in Manhattan. She was 90. (Sam Falk/The New York Times) By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER Martina Arroyo, a soprano whose rich…
