Judith Blegen

Judith Blegen, the American soprano whose bright, agile voice and natural stage charm made her one of the most beloved lyric sopranos at the Metropolitan Opera for more than two decades, died on October 24, 2026, at the age of 85.

Born Judith Eyer Blegen on April 27, 1941, in Fayette County, Kentucky, she was raised in Missoula, Montana, where she began studying voice as a teenager with John L. Lester at the University of Montana. She trained further at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and at the Music Academy of the West, and she made her operatic debut in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1965 as Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann.

Blegen became internationally known for light lyric roles in French, Italian and German opera. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut on January 19, 1970, as Papagena in The Magic Flute, and went on to sing more than 280 performances in 20 roles there over 21 seasons, including Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore opposite Luciano Pavarotti, and Gilda in Rigoletto. She also appeared at the Vienna State Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, the Royal Opera House in London and the Palais Garnier in Paris, and in the 1970s she became a familiar face to television audiences through repeated guest appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Beyond the opera house, Blegen built a substantial recording legacy, including a Grammy winning RCA Red Seal recording of Puccini's La boheme, Mozart and Handel recital discs, and acclaimed performances under conductors such as Georg Solti, Leonard Bernstein and James Levine. She was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1981 for her performance in a recording of Berg's Lulu Suite conducted by Pierre Boulez. Her 1983 recognition with the Montana Governor's Arts Award reflected the pride her home state took in her career.

Blegen retired from the stage in 1991. She was married twice, first to violist Peter Singher, with whom she had a son, and later to longtime Metropolitan Opera Orchestra concertmaster Raymond Gniewek, who died in 2021. News of her death on October 24, 2026 drew tributes from opera commentators and admirers who remembered her radiant tone and the warmth she brought to the stage across a career that spanned more than a quarter century. As of this writing, the cause of her death has not been made public, and details of funeral or memorial arrangements have not yet been announced.