JUNE 4, 2015, 12:20 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2015, 1:36 PM
BY JAY LEVIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
A love of choral music developed at Northern Highlands Regional High School carried Margaret Juntwait to widespread fame as the mellifluous radio voice of the Metropolitan Opera.
Ms. Juntwait, who died Wednesday at 58, hosted the Met’s live broadcasts on WQXR-FM and Sirius XM since 2004. Working from a little studio behind the Family Circle seats at the Lincoln Center opera house, she supplemented her play-by-play of the greatest operatic performances with interviews with the greatest operatic stars, Placido Domingo and Marilyn Horne among them.
The Met’s third radio host dating to 1931, Ms. Juntwait told The Record in 2008 that she prepped for her announcing duties in an unconventional manner.
“I listen to Yankee games on the radio with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman,” she said. “I’m constantly getting ideas from them. Of course, not about content, but about what’s important to a listener.”
Ms. Juntwait, who grew up in Ridgewood and Upper Saddle River, died of ovarian cancer, the Metropolitan Opera said.