Opera singer Maria Ewing, wife of Peter Hall, dead at 71

DETROIT (AP) — Maria Ewing, a soprano and mezzo-soprano noted for intense performances who was the wife of director Peter Hall and the mother of actor-director Rebecca Hall, has died at age 71. Spokeswoman Bryna Rifkin says Ewing died Sunday at her home in Detroit. Ewing married Peter Hall in 1982 and they divorced in 1990. Her family noted in a statement that she was “an extraordinarily gifted artist” who reached “the most rarefied heights of the international opera world.” She was noted for her performances as Salome in which she stripped nude and for Carmen, which caused a stir when Metropolitan Opera music director dropped a televised performance with Ewing and instead broadcast one with Agnes Baltsa.