Duluth native and well-known opera singer Ruth Jacobson died Wednesday in Las Vegas.
Jacobson, 55, was general artistic director of Lyric Opera of the North in Duluth and taught voice at the University of Minnesota Duluth, the University of Wisconsin-Superior and Bemidji State University during the past few years.
"She was enormously gifted and highly accomplished, with an international singing career," said her sister, Jean Jacobson.
She moved to Las Vegas toward the end of last summer to teach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma in November.
She founded Lyric Opera of the North, directing "Semele" in June, "The Magic Flute" in 2006 and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in 2007. She also worked with Colder by the Lake.
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Her career included singing the roles of Violetta in "La Traviata," Musetta in "La Boheme" and Gilda in "Rigoletto." A soprano, she sang supporting roles for theaters including the Opera de Monte Carlo, the Michigan Opera Theatre and the American Opera Center at Lincoln Center.
"She had some innovative programming," said Stan Wold, a music professor at UMD and director of Arrowhead Chorale. "She was doing some operas not everyone was doing. Her students will certainly miss her."
Jacobson worked with the area's well-known singers, including Bill Bastian, whose Northland Opera Theatre Experience led to Lyric Opera of the North, as well as Cal Metts and Hope Koehler.
"I think that as a singer and a teacher, and I think among her colleagues, she was recognized as the foremost voice teacher in Duluth," Jean Jacobson said.
She is survived by her daughter, Georgia Jacobson; sisters Susan Crawford of Las Vegas and Ann (Louis) Jenkins and Jean Jacobson, both of Duluth; and brothers Thomas Jacobson of Brest, France, and Bryn Jacobson of Duluth.
Her family is planning a late March memorial in Duluth, in what they hope to be a "musical extravaganza."
