Kemp, Barbara

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Kemp, Barbara

Kemp, Barbara , German soprano; b. Kochern an der Mosel, Dec. 12, 1881; d. Berlin, April 17, 1959. She studied at the Strasbourg Cons. (1902–05). In 1903 she made her operatic debut as the Priestess in Aida in Strasbourg. She then sang in Rostock (1906–08) and Breslau (1908–13) before being engaged as a member of the Berlin Royal (later State) Opera (1913–31); made her first appearance at the Bayreuth Festival as Senta (1914), and returned there as Kundry (1924–27). She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Mona Fiordalisa and the Wife in Max von Schilling’s Mona Lisa (March 1, 1923), and married the composer that same year; sang there until 1924, and then continued her career in Europe. She later taught voice in Berlin.

Bibliography

O. Bie, B. K. (Berlin, 1921).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire