Mezzo-Soprano Joanna Simon has died at the age of 85.

Simon died from thyroid cancer in Manhattan on October 19, 2022, a day before her 86th birthday.

Born on Oct. 20, 1936 in New York City, Simon grew up in  Riverdale, Bronx. Her father, Richard L. Simon, was the founder of the Simon & Schuster publishing company and she had two younger sisters, singer Carly Simon and singer-composer Lucy Simon, and a brother, Peter Simon, a photographer.

Simon went to school at the Riverdale Country School and the Sarah Lawrence College where she graduated with a degree in philosophy in 1962. She went on to study with Marion Freschl who reoriented her career towards opera.

Later she went to the Zurich-based International Opera Studio under the leadership of Herbert Graf and with composer Gian Carlo Menotti at the Spoletto Festival and made her debut in November 1962 with the New York City Opera in Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” where she played the role of Cherubino.

That same year she won both the regional division of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Marian Anderson Award.

In 1965 she made her debut with the New York Philharmonic under conductor William Steinberg and recorded the Beethoven Symphony No. 9 for Command Records, this time with Steinberg conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. That would be followed by performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. There would also be a recording of Claude Debussy’s “Le Martyre de saint Sébastien” and performances at the Tanglewood Music Festival.

In 1967 Simon performed in the world premiere of Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera’s “Bomarzo” at the Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C. for the Washington Opera Society. The role would garner her praise and she later sang opera with the New York City Opera and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. The opera would also be recorded for CBS Records in 1968 with conductor Julius Rudel.

From there she debuted with the Salzburg Festival, Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, The Little Orchestra Society, and the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta in Tel Aviv.

In 1970 Simon sang the role of Irene for the first recording ever made of Handel’s “Tamerlano” with conductor John Moriarty and the Chamber Orchestra of Copenhagen.

She also sang with the Vienna Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Museum of the City of New York, Nevada Opera, and the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.  In 1972 she created the title role in the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri’s “Black Widow” at the Seattle Opera and in 1975 she sang the world premiere of Robert Starer’s “The Last Lover” at the Caramoor Music Festival.

She would continue singing internationally and in 1985 Simon was one of several singers from the New York City Opera hired to perform in a concert of the music of Richard Rodgers at Carnegie Hall.

From 1986 until 1992 Simon was the arts correspondent with the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour and she had an extended interview with tenor José Carreras about his battle with leukemia. She won an Emmy Award in 1991 for her work on that program creating a documentary about manic depression and creativity.

In 1999 she returned to the stage to perform in a concert of Weill’s music at Weill Recital Hall with soprano Angelina Réaux and baritone Kurt Ollmann.

Simon also appeared on TV on numerous occasions including as a presenter at the 13th Annual Grammy Awards and was a featured performer on the very last episode of The Ed Sullivan Show.

Simon’s sister the Tony and Grammy Award-winning Lucy Simon, 82, died of metastatic breast cancer on On Oct. 21 and Carly released a statement, “I am filled with sorrow to speak about the passing of Joanna and Lucy Simon. Their loss will be long and haunting. As sad as this day is, it’s impossible to mourn them without celebrating their incredible lives that they lived. We were three sisters who not only took turns blazing trails and marking courses for one another, we were each other’s secret shares. The co-keepers of each other’s memories.”