Enriqueta Legorreta | |
|---|---|
 Legorreta in 1943 | |
| Born | Enriqueta Legorreta López 25 July 1914 Mexico City, Mexico |
| Died | 15 December 2010 (aged 96) Aguascalientes, Mexico |
| Education | Conservatorio Nacional de Música |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1941–1998 |
| Children | 5, including Enriqueta and Rodrigo |
Enriqueta Legorreta (25 July 1914 – 15 December 2010) was a Mexican soprano and activist. She grew up in Mexico City and studied opera at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música. Debuting in 1941, she earned praise for her portrayal of Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre and was noted as the first Mexican woman to sing a Wagnerian opera. She was one of the pioneering singers who joined and performed in the inaugural season of the Ópera Nacional (National Opera), performing Leonora in Beethoven's Fidelio in 1943. During her career, which lasted into the mid-1970s, she sang with many well-known conductors and musicians, including Claudio Arrau, Leonard Bernstein, Pablo Casals, Igor Stravinsky, and Isaac Stern. She was also involved in protests against the opera association to ensure that singers were paid for their professional work, rather than their affiliations with officials.
From the 1980s, Legorreta became concerned about links between pollutants and health. She volunteered for clean-up efforts at the Parque Real de San Lucas (Royal Park of San Lucas) sponsored by the Asociación Ecológica de Coyoacán (Ecological Association of Coyoacán). After the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, she and her family participated in humanitarian efforts to help victims of the disaster. Seeking healthier surroundings, the extended family moved to Aguascalientes in 1987. Concerned at the lack of interest in addressing environmental issues, she organized recycling measures and related projects. These led in 1992 to the establishment of the Asociación Conciencia Ecológica (Ecological Consciousness Association), for which she served as director until 1998 and as life president until her death in 2010. She was twice recognized with the Aguascalientes state prize for Environmental Merit, in 2007 and posthumously in 2019.