Else Brems (1908–1995) was a Danish contralto opera singer who is remembered in particular for her interpretations of Carmen, a role she performed not only in Denmark but in Vienna, Warsaw, Budapest, Stockholm and London.
[1][2] The daughter of the concert singer Anders Lauridsen Brems (1877–1974) and the pianist Gerda Emilie Rasmussen (1880-1967), Else was born in Copenhagen on 16 July 1908.
Thanks to her successful début, she went to Berlin to be trained by the American opera singer Sara Cahier, famous for her Carmen performances.
In Vienna, she performed the role in German under Bruno Walter, in London in English, and in Prague, Budapest, Warsaw and Stockholm in French.
Until 1967 she was dean of Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium after which she joined Copenhagen University's Musikvidenskabeligt Institut where one of her most successful students was the soprano opera singer Elisabeth Meyer-Topsøe.
[4] In addition to receiving the Tagea Brandt Travel Scholarship in 1945, Brems was elevated to the status of Royal Court Singer by Christian X in 1946.