Lorraine Hunt Lieberson - one of the rare elect
Some singers have wonderful voices. Others are consummate musicians. Still others are incandescent actors. A very few possess those virtues in equal part, and the rarest of them all use the gifts both selflessly and with self-awareness. Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who died Monday morning at her Santa Fe home, was one of that rare elect. Whether singing at the Santuario de Guadalupe in Santa Fe and joking with the audience from the stage, pouring out sound and feeling in great concert halls, or commanding respect in the world's opera houses, she was an artist of the highest order as well as a woman full of heart -- a true daughter of the muses. Hunt Lieberson, who was in her early 50s, had battled breast cancer for several years but continued to perform whenever possible, and always up to her own exacting standards. Her husband, composer Peter Lieberson , was at her side when she died. The pair met at the Santa Fe Opera during the 1997 producti...

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