... Opera debut - her first public performance anywhere - all in the space of five hours, died on Wednesday at her home in Rye, N.Y. She was 86. Ms. Peters, who would sing with the Met 515 times over 35 vigorous years, was internationally renowned for ...
Roberta Peters, who debuted at the Metropolitan Opera at age 20 on five hours' notice and became a reigning soprano of her era, delighting audiences for decades with performances on stage, in commercials and on "The Ed Sullivan Show," died Jan. 18 at an assisted living facility in Rye, N.Y. She was 86. Ms. Peters's maiden entrance at the Met, the venerable opera house in New York, could scarcely have been more dramatic, even if it had been scripted by a librettist.