Remembering Beverly Sills

She was one of the highlights of my time at the Metropolitan Opera as well. Bubbles from Brooklyn, as the ushers there called her, was one of a kind, a queen among divas, a gift to opera audiences, and a true boon to fundraising for the continued production of high-quality opera in New York City.

Beverly Sills, the All-American Diva, Is Dead at 78 - New York Times

Beverly Sills, the acclaimed Brooklyn-born coloratura soprano who was more popular with the American public than any opera singer since Enrico Caruso, even among people who never set foot in an opera house, died last night at her home in Manhattan. She was 78.

Justin Lane for The New York Times
Beverly Sills in 2002, after coming out of retirement as chairwoman of Lincoln Center to lead the Metropolitan Opera