Helm, Anny

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Helm, Anny

Helm, Anny, Austrian soprano; b. Vienna, July 20, 1903. She was a student of Gutheil-Schoder and Gertrude Förstel in Vienna, and of Grenzebach in Berlin. In 1924 she made her operatic debut in Magdeburg, and then appeared at the Berlin State Opera (1926–33) and at the Bayreuth Festivals (1927–31). In 1933 she settled in Italy, where she sang under the name Army Helm-Sbisa (her husband, Giuseppe Sbisa, was director of the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste). In 1939 she appeared at London’s Covent Garden. She devoted herself mainly to teaching from 1941. Her finest roles included Donna Anna, Brangäne, Isolde, Brünnhilde, Turandot, and Elektra.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire