Inge Borkh

Inge Borkh (born 26 May 1917 or 1921) is a German soprano.

Borkh was born as Ingeborg Simon in Mannheim, Germany, in 1921. She was initially an actress and had some training in dance, both of which served her well in opera: she became known both for her voice and for her dramatic intensity - the "singing actress" exemplified, years before the term became common usage.

She studied singing in Milan and made her debut in 1940 at the opera in Lucerne as Czipra in Johann Strauss II's Der Zigeunerbaron. She remained in Switzerland until 1951, when she sang a sensational Magda in the first German-language performance of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul in Basel. It was her key to international stardom, leading to engagements in the world's great opera houses: Vienna, Munich, Berlin, London, New York, and San Francisco.

She triumphed in her portrayals of the most challenging dramatic roles: Aida and Lady Macbeth (Verdi); Tosca and Turandot (Puccini); Fidelio (Beethoven); Medea (Cherubini); Elsa, Sieglinde and Senta (Wagner); Helena, Empress and Dyer's Wife (Richard Strauss); Euryanthe (Weber); and Antigone (Carl Orff). But it was as Salome and Elektra - both by Richard Strauss - that she gained her greatest fame. None of her performances were captured on film—except for the Dyer's Wife from Munich—but some of her great performances were recorded, and both complete works as well as excerpts from a wide array of performances are now available on CD. The complete works include Antigone, Turandot, Iphigénie, Medea (Gui), Die Frau ohne Schatten (Keilberth), Die Walkuere (Sieglinde / Bayreuth, Keilberth 1952), and her famed Elektra and Salome (Mitropoulos).

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