The following is extracted from Volume IV of the 1986 edition of South African Music Encyclopedia (J.P. Malan, ISBN 0 19 570311 1)
RITA ROBERTS (Mrs Juul de Bruyne), soprano, born 10 September 1931 in Uitenhage
Rita Roberts took lessons in voice production from the age of 13 and won a number of awards at eisteddfodau on the Witwatersrand and in Pretoria. Her first stage performance was in 1955 in the role of Lady Katherine in The Vagabond King (Rudolf Friml). Since 1957 she interpreted leading roles for the National Opera Association, the Operavereniging van Suid-Afrika, The South African Opera Federation, and the Rota Opera Company. The operas included La Traviata, Madama Butterfly, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and The Telephone (Menotti). When the Civic Theatre was inaugurated in Johannesburg in 1962, she had a part in Un Ballo in Maschera, and she sang the role of Eppie in the first radio performance of John Joubert's Silas Marner.
After a period of inactivity she resumed her operatic work for the Regional Councils of the Transvaal and the Cape in 1970. This period lasted until 1977, when she retired from the stage. During these seven years she interpreted parts in six operas staged by the two Councils. In addition, she was chosen to sing the title role at the premiere of Eva Noel Harvey's opera Esther in the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg (1975). The composer staged the opera herself.
