Irma Beilke

Irma Beilke was a German soprano who studied in Berlin and made her debut in 1926 at the Städtische Oper as a Bridesmaid in Der Freischütz. After a period in Leipzig she returned to Berlin in 1936, singing there until 1958, and also appeared in Vienna from 1941 to 1945. In 1942 she created an Italian Singer in the Munich premiere of Strauss's Capriccio. She sang Blonde at Glyndebourne in 1936, Papagena, Marzelline and Sophie at Covent Garden in 1938, Blonde, Susanna and Pamina at Salzburg between 1939 and 1943, and Mimì and Violetta in Dublin in 1950. Her repertory also included Rosina, Norina, Nicolai's Mrs Ford, Butterfly and Zerbinetta. She took her farewell as Mimì in 1958 and went on to teach at the Berlin Hochschule.