Gulbranson, Ellen (neé Norgren)

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Gulbranson, Ellen (neé Norgren)

Gulbranson, Ellen (née Norgren), Swedish soprano; b. Stockholm, March 4, 1863; d. Oslo, Jan. 2, 1947. She studied at the Stockholm Cons, and with M. and B. Marchesi in Paris. In 1886 she made her concert debut in Stockholm, and in 1889 her operatic debut at that city’s Royal Opera as Amneris. She gained distinction as a Wagnerian, singing Brünnhilde at every Bayreuth Festival from 1896 to 1914; she also appeared as Kundry. She sang in Berlin from 1895 and in Vienna from 1896; in 1900 she appeared as Brünnhilde at London’s Covent Garden, returning there in 1907-08. She also sang in other major music centers until her retirement in 1915.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire