Else Brems

Else Brems (16 July 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.

Early life and education 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. She was raised in a musical family. Her maternal grandfather, Peter Rasmussen, was an organist and composer, her uncle Alfred Rasmussen a French hornist, and her father, initially a clarinettist, later became known as a singer, premiering many of Carl Nielsen's songs.

Brems also performed in many other roles while at Copenhagen's Royal Theatre. These included Orpheus in Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice (1939), Lola in Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana (1946), Cornelia in Handel's Julius Caesar (1947), Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro (1948), and Lucretia in Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia (1955). Her last role at the Royal Theatre was that of the mother in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann in 1961. In addition to opera, Brems was a successful concert performer, singing works by Bach and Handel and frequently appearing as an acclaimed lied singer, interpreting works by Schubert and Brahms. She also sang songs by Ravel and Debussy and by the Danish composer Peter Lange-Müller.

Awards 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. In 1953, she received Denmark's highest award for artists, writers and performers, the Ingenio et Arti.