Lucine Amara

She was a soprano who performed for four decades with the Metropolitan Opera. The daughter of Armenian immigrants, she debuted on the Met stage (actually, offstage in the unseen role of the Celestial Voice) in the opening-night performance of Verdi's "Don Carlo" in 1950. She sang a variety of roles, including Verdi's "Aida" and Leonora in "Il Trovatore," Countess Almaviva in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" and appeared in three of the four operas in Wagner's Ring cycle ("Das Rheingold," "Die Walküre" and "Götterdämmerung"). She also appeared in operas by Puccini ("La Bohème," "Madame Butterfly" and "Turandot"), Bizet ("Carmen") and Richard Strauss.