[1][2] She said that she decided to become an opera singer at age twelve, inspired by a film version of Puccini's Madama Butterfly with Maria Cebotari in the title role.
[4] That same year women with children were evacuated from the bombed-out centre of Berlin, and the Frankes were sent to the Spree Forest region roughly 90 km (50 miles) to the east of the city.
Appreciative of her new surroundings, she spent the rest of her childhood around the village of Ragow [de] where her mother served as local mayor and registrar.
[5] After World War II, the region ended up administered as part of the Soviet occupation zone, which in October 1949 was relaunched as the Soviet-sponsored German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
By winning the contest, she caught the attention of the RIAS, an American-sponsored radio station set up in West Berlin to provide an alternative source of broadcast news and entertainment.
She had just received an invitation to star as Eliza Doolittle in the German premiere of My Fair Lady at the Theater des Westens in Berlin, but was more interested in pursuing a career in opera.
[1] Holm appeared in many of the world's great opera houses, performing alongside Rudolf Schock, Fritz Wunderlich, Hermann Prey and Peter Minich, among others.
[12] She appeared at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires from 1961, as Blonde, Susanna, Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Papagena, and Isotta in Die schweigsame Frau by R.
She appeared there with the operetta specialist Franz Marszalek conducting, including rarities such as Wenn Liebe erwacht by Eduard Künneke.
[14] She served as president of the Weinviertler Kultursommer, an annual festival, in 1986 and 1987, on the recommendation of its founder Gerhard Gutruf [de],[15] and gave there master classes in singing between 1983 and 1990.
She participated in festivals such as the Elblandfestspiele Wittenberge [de] in Germany, and in 2006 played Viktoria in the premiere of Mich hätten Sie sehen sollen at the Theater in der Josefstadt.