Adelaide von Skilondz

Showing talent for the piano, she trained initially as a concert pianist, with Felix Blumenfeld at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where she also studied composition with Anatoly Lyadov and harmony with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

In 1909 she sang the role of the Queen of Shemakha in the Saint Petersburg premiere of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Golden Cockerel.

[1] Although there was no opening in Dresden, she won a contract with the Berlin Hofoper where she succeeded Frieda Hempel, singing leading roles until the start of World War I.

Among the roles she sang in Berlin was that of Zerbinetta in the premiere of Ariadne auf Naxos, under the baton of the composer Richard Strauss.

At the start of the war, as a Russian in Germany she was considered ‘the enemy’ so moved to Stockholm where she joined the Royal Swedish Opera.

[5][6][7] In September 1939, the employers’ association confiscated her apartment, but she was able to move to another at Strandvägen 31 and continue teaching; it was also big enough to host concerts for up to 250 guests.