Robert Merrill, a singer with New York City’s Metropolitan Opera who died Saturday at 87, paved the way for Jewish opera singers, The Washington Post said. Until the mid-20th century, subscriptions to opera boxes were strictly off-limits to Jews. Merrill, soprano Roberta Peters and tenor Richard Tucker — all Jews — became three of the house’s brightest stars.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
