Ruth Welting (November 5, 1948 – December 16, 1999[1][2]) was an American operatic soprano who had an active international career from the early 1970s through the mid-1990s.
[3] Endowed with a powerful coloratura voice, she is remembered as one of a few sopranos capable of singing the Mad Scene ("Il dolce suono") from Lucia di Lammermoor in the original F major key.
While a student at Messick High School she won the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Gold Medal from the National Guild of Piano Teachers.
After graduating from Messick in 1966, she spent three years studying piano on full scholarship at the University of Memphis where she also sang leading roles in student opera productions.
In 1968 she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and debuted there in 1976 as Zerbinetta in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos.