Miss Roberta Peters gave a well-received recital at Alice Tully Hall on November 17, 2000—fifty years to the day, almost to the minute, of her Met debut. And that debut was some surprise! In 1950, Roberta Peters was a twenty year old with a Met contract, years of study behind her, but no stage experience. She sang Zerlina in a cast including Eleanor Steber and Paul Schoeffler, and as Rudolf Bing said in his memoirs, “Very few artists survive being thrown on the Met stage with no rehearsal. Miss Peters became a star.”
She took a few minutes to give us her thoughts about singing in Carnegie Hall. (We were delighted to learn that she was pressed for time as she had a tennis engagement—at age 72! She promised CS a full interview at a later date.)
“Carnegie Hall was my second professional home, after the Metropolitan Opera. It was always a great privilege to sing there. A very great privilege. It is the perfect hall acoustically, and for so large a hall it still has an intimacy that’s perfect for recitals.
I sang there many times, and I believe my Carnegie Hall debut was a recital in 1975. I’ve always found it necessary to hold myself in check emotionally—knowing who else has sung there—all of the world’s great artists. I’ve sung there many times since 1975—in recital and often with orchestra. But I keep coming back to the word: privilege. I never felt less than that when singing in Carnegie Hall, no matter how many times I appeared there.”
