I had the pleasure of working with Martina Arroyo, 3 years ago for Opera News Magazine.

On December 8th, 2013 she was honored at The Kennedy Center by President Obama along with Herbie Hancock, Shirley MacLaine, Billy Joel and Carlos Santana for their lifetime contributions to the arts in America. The broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors will be shown on CBS, Sunday Dec. 29th at 9 PM (EST).

In addition to the celebration of each honoree by peers there is a short film on the life of each artist. The Kennedy Center Film office contacted me for pictures of Martina. After sending them a selection of images they were excited to use 32 images as a flip book in the short film they produced on Martina’s life. These still images now seen as a part of the film illustrate the wonderful effervescent personality of an extraordinary person. If you watch the show you will learn how a young Harlem girl grew up to become a world renown opera singer. The audio is of her singing with Placido Domingo from Verdi’s, Un Ballo in Maschera.