American soprano Roberta Alexander died at the age of 76 on October 14. Born on March 3, 1949, in Lynchburg, Virginia, she grew up in a family of musicians. In 1969 she began her studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and from 1971 with Herman Woltman at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. She lived in the Netherlands from 1972.

She made her debut as Pamina at the Houston Grand Opera in 1980. In Europe, she made her debut on June 5, 1982 at the Komische Oper in Berlin as Mimi. In the same year, she sang Elettra in Mozart’s opera Idomeneo in Zurich.

After the following tour through Europe, she went to the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1983. After her return to Europe, she first went to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. She then sang at all the major opera houses in Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Zurich and Venice. Further engagements followed at New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Musikverein, London’s Wigmore Hall and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.