Berthe Kal

Endowed with a great vocal ease and absolute pitch, she naturally turned to singing, which she practiced first in choir, in the Chorale Populaire de Paris.

[3] She then entered the Schola Cantorum de Paris to study harmony, counterpoint, and vocal technique with Irène Joachim later Jane Bathori.

From 1952, she was hired as soloist with the ORTF, to do most of her career there, participating in numerous musical programs (Plaisirs de la musique of Roland Manuel; Livre d'or on France Culture), concerts, and radio creations.

From 1960 to 1965, she joined Vladimir Jankélévitch for a series of concerts-conferences in Paris, on musical romanticism in Russia, within the framework of the conferences Connaissance de l'URSS organised by the Association France-URSS [fr].

Kal met Nadia Boulanger in 1961, during a concert in Nice for Prince Rainier of Monaco, then took part, in 1964, in lessons of musical interpretation of Mozart's works in her apartment of the rue Ballu (9th arrondissement of Paris).

As Jesus Aguila points out, Berthe Kal is one of the few specialists of the contemporary repertoire of the 1960s; she belongs to the circle of singers such as Cathy Berberian, Helga Pilarczyk, Ethel Semser,[5] Marie-Thérèse Cahn,[6] who participate in the creations of the Domaine musical.