Opera singer Lili Chookasian dies at 90

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The contralto Lili Chookasian, who sang with the Metropolitan Opera for 24 years, has died. The Branford, Conn., resident was 90.

Chookasian was a 41-year-old mother of three in March 1962 when she made her Met debut as La Cieca in a production of "La Giocanda." She received raves, with The New York Times noting her "dark, rich voice, used with great sensitivity." "She had everyone muttering, 'a real contralto,' " the reviewer wrote.

The velvety-voiced Chicago native once recalled how she had come to the Met's attention. A tape of her portrayal of Adalgisa in an Arkansas State Opera production of "Norma" fell into the hands of the conductor Thomas Schippers.

He tracked her down in Baltimore and asked her to come to New York, but Chookasian had only enough rail fare to reach Trenton. The train conductor let her slide.

Chookasian sang numerous principal contralto roles during her Met career, in operas including "The Flying Dutchman," "Hansel and Gretel," "Aida," "Falstaff" and "The Last Savage." She also traveled widely to perform with top symphony orchestras and recorded for CBS Masterworks, Decca, RCA, MGM and other labels.

A reporter who visited Chookasian at home in Tenafly, N.J., in 1969 found her to be the antithesis of a prima donna: an unpretentious wife and mother occupied with cooking, laundry, bridge lessons and taking the family Maltese terrier, Gretel, to obedience school.

Asked how she tended to her family while fulfilling her stage obligations at the Met and on the road, she said: "I don't want to be left out of anything, really. I've come to the conclusion that if you're busy or not, you'll find time for things that are important to you."

Chookasian lent her talents to the Tenafly Community Orchestra and also sang for residents of an Armenian retirement home in Emerson, N.J.

She stopped performing professionally in 1986 to teach voice at the Yale University School of Music.