Soprano Helen Boatwright, famed for her pioneering performances of the songs of American composer Charles Ives, has died in upstate New York at 94.
Boatwright's family says she was still teaching until three weeks before her death Wednesday, and the final piece of music she listened to was the last soprano aria of Handel's "The Messiah."
She was celebrated for singing the music of American composers such as Ives and her husband, Howard Boatwright. In 1954, she became the first person to record a full-length album of the songs of Ives, "24 Songs" with pianist John Kirkpatrick.
She worked during her career with luminaries in the world of music, including conductors Leopold Stokowski, Erich Leinsdorf, Seiji Ozawa and Zubin Mehta.
She lived in Fayetteville, a Syracuse suburb.