Emma Fursch-Madi

At the end of her second season at the Grand Opera, she was chosen by Verdi to be the first representative of Aida in Europe.

It opened at the Theatre Royal in Brussels and was a great success, running for 72 straight performances.

In 1879, Fursch-Madi appeared at the Covent Garden, and the London Globe called her "…greatest dramatic prima donna of the present day.

"[1] In 1882, she came to the United States, where she appeared under the management of James Henry Mapleson at the Academy of Music in New York City.

She became a permanent fixture in various musical capacities in the United States; she was for a while the head of Jeannette Thurber's National Conservatory,[2] and a member of the short-lived American Opera Company.