Soprano who premiered War Requiem in the US and whose voice graced the Met, has passed away aged 94.

American soprano Phyllis Curtin has died aged 94. She was renowned for both her operatic roles, which included works by Britten and Carlisle Floyd, and her contribution to American art song through works by composers such as Copland and Rorem.

The daughter of two Church musicians, Curtin was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia in 1921. She performed in the American premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes while still a student at Wellesley College, Boston, where she was majoring in political science, taking singing lessons on the side.

She went on to perform in a number of productions by the New England Opera Theater in Boston, including Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades and Britten’s Albert Herring, going on to make her debut with the New York City Opera in 1953, in the American premiere of Gottfried von Einem’s Der Prozess. She would perform regularly with the company over the next ten years. She first performed with the Metropolitan Opera in 1961 and throughout the 1960s, she performed at opera houses around the world, including at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala and...