Roberta Alexander
SOPRANO
1949 - ♰2025
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Roberta Alexander (March 3, 1949 – October 14, 2025) was an American operatic soprano. Among the most compelling singing actresses of her time, Roberta Alexander enjoyed international renown for her riveting, incisive characterizations, miraculous vocal and dramatic range.
In recent seasons she performed the role of Curra La Forza del Destino at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and at Dutch National Opera, and Fünfte Magd in Patrice Chéreau’s production of Elektra at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the MET, Teatro alla Scala, and the Staatsoper Berlin. In 2025, she returned to the Staatsoper Berlin for a revival of Elektra. In 2026, she was scheduled to perform the role of La Balayeuse in Charpentier’s Louise at the Opéra National de Lyon.
As well as performing, teaching and masterclasses remained an important part of her daily life, as passing on her expertise to the next generation of young singers was a significant purpose for her.
Roberta Alexander was reared in a musical family. She studied at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from 1969 to 1971, receiving M. Music in 1971. She made her operatic debut at Dutch National Opera in 1975 in La cambiale di matrimonio. By 1984 she had been part of no fewer than 26 productions at Dutch National Opera. She appeared as Pamina at the Houston Grand Opera in 1980, as Daphne in Santa Fe in 1981, and as Elettra in Idomeneo in Zürich in 1982. Following a tour of Europe, she made a successful debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Zerlina in November 1983.
Among the operatic heroines, she has unforgettably portrayed are the title role of Janacek's Jenufa (a Glyndebourne production), Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème, and especially the great Mozart heroines: Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Vitellia in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, the latter a major success with both the public and the press at the Glyndebourne Festival. In addition, she has performed principal roles at New York's Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House/Covent Garden, and the major Houses of Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Zurich and Venice, in Philadelphia and at New York's Carnegie Hall.
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Equally esteemed as an orchestral soloist, Roberta Alexander recently enjoyed particular success performing Ravel's Shéhérazade with André Previn and the NDR Sinfonieorchester, telecast throughout Europe. She has also performed with the Vienna, London and Royal Philharmonics; Royal Concertgebouw, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Bavarian Radio Orchestras; Cincinnati, Atlanta and Dallas Symphonies; and collaborated with such distinguished conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrew Litton, Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, Leonard Slatkin, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Edo De Waart and David Zinman. She recently reunited with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream and Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet and the rapturously-received world premiere of Kirchner's Of things exactly as they are. In addition she sang Copland's In the Beginning with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco Symphony.
An uncommonly communicative recitalist, Roberta Alexander has offered acclaimed programs at New York's Carnegie Recital Hall, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Vienna Musikverein, London's Wigmore Hall and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. An especially ardent and persuasive interpreter of American masterworks, her latest recordings include Songs My Mother Taught Me and With You (the latter an anthology of Broadway songs).
Roberta Alexander's voluminous discography on the Etcetera, Philips, Sony, Teldec and BMG reflects her astonishing mastery of varied vocal styles: songs by Barber, Mozart, Bernstein, Ives, Copland, Strauss, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Puccini and Villa-Lobos; Handel's Giulio Cesare, Apollo e Daphne, Samson and Theodora; Mozart's Don Giovanni and Idomeneo; and such rarities as Goldschmidt's Der Gewaltige Hahnrei and Beatrice Cenci, Heppener's Four Songs of Ezra Pound and an Edison-winning recording of Andriessen's Songs with Orchestra.
