She made an international career based at the Bavarian State Opera for decades, where she first appeared as Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlos.
About a year later, Benningsen made her debut at the Salzburger Landestheater, as Bostana in Der Barbier von Bagdad by Peter Cornelius.
[3] She sang alongside Erika Köth, Leonie Rysanek, Marianne Schech, Josef Metternich, Kurt Böhme and Hans Hopf, among others.
[1] At the Vienna State Opera, she appeared as Amneris in Verdi's Aida, the title role in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, and as the Buriya in Janáček's Jenůfa.
[5] She took part in the UK premiere of Die Liebe der Danae by Richard Strauss at the Royal Opera House in London in 1953.
A reviewer wrote: "Lilian Benningsen offers an extremely successful and attractive interpretation which displays Bach's undoubted genius for word painting.