Reviewing her Olympia in The New York Times in 1946, Olin Downes wrote, “She has a brilliant coloratura, and good stage business in the representation of the stiff gestures of the mechanistic doll.”  Mrs. Alarie-Simoneau also sang with the New York Philharmonic, the Paris Opéra-Comique and the Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence and Glyndebourne Festivals.  Her roles over the years included Rosina in Rossini’s “Barber of Seville” and the title roles in “Lakmé,” by Léo Delibes, and “Lucia di Lammermoor,” by Donizetti.  Pierrette Marguerite Alarie was born in Montreal on Nov. 9, 1921. Her father, Sylva, was a choirmaster; her mother, Amanda, a singer and actress.  Pierrette began acting on local stages as a child and as a teenager sang popular songs on Canadian radio. She later studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia with the distinguished soprano Elisabeth Schumann.  After retiring from the opera and concert stages, Mrs. Alarie-Simoneau worked as an opera director and teacher. In 1982 she and her husband founded Canada Opera Piccola, a training company in Victoria.  Mr. Simoneau died in 2006. Mrs. Alarie-Simoneau is survived by two daughters, Isabelle Simoneau and Chantal Simoneau, and a sister, Marie-Thérèse Meloche.  Among her recordings, one particularly esteemed by critics is a 1950s collection of Mozart arias and duets, sung with her husband and available in re-release from the Hamburger Archive for Song Art.  A version of this article appears in print on July 25, 2011, on Page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: Pierrette Alarie-Simoneau, 89, a Star at the Met. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Mrs. Alarie-Simoneau, an internationally known Canadian soprano, made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1945 and appeared 26 times there.