Ilona Durigo

Ilona Durigo (13 May 1881 – 25 December 1943) was a Hungarian classical contralto and an academic voice teacher. She appeared internationally, mostly in concert, singing Lieder and oratorios. She is known for singing Lieder that Othmar Schoeck composed for her, and is regarded as one of the leading concert contraltos of her era.

Life Born in Budapest on 13 May 1881, Durigo was a pupil of Bianca Malezcky as the vox Christi.

Her many collaborations with Schoeck included his settings of poems by Hesse. 2=Frau Durigo sang these and all other songs (with those added there were nineteen) ... with the deepest sensitivity. Her own experience of the songs shone through, not only in the musical differences of enunciation (such wonderfully fine, such poetry-transfigured tones of the head−voice were never heard before from any singer), but also in the sparkle of her eyes, the true mirror of the soul, as it came and went. And the perfect harmony between her splendid singing and the exceptionally beautiful piano playing of Schoeck showed that her interpretation throughout captured the intentions of the composer.

Durigo was a voice teacher at the Zürich Conservatory from 1921 to 1937, where one of her students was Maria Stader. She was a friend of Hermann Hesse, the composer and conductor Fritz Brun, and the violinist Alphonse Brun.