![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/packages/flash/multimedia/ICONS/transparent.png)
The soprano Roberta Peters trying on a gown during rehearsals for Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” in 1955.
Sam Falk/The New York Times; thumbnail, John Sotomayor/The New York Times, 1977
Roberta Peters
Died on January 18, 2017 at age 86
Ms. Peters, who sang with the Metropolitan Opera for 35 years, was 20 when she was catapulted to stardom as a last-minute substitute in “Don Giovanni.”
Notable Deaths 2017
Remembering Mary Tyler Moore, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lewis, David Rockefeller, Trisha Brown, Glen Campbell, Dick Gregory, Edith Windsor, Sam Shepard, Tom Petty and many others who died this year.