I was sorry to hear today of the death of the great Swedish soprano Elisabeth Söderström.  Her obituary can be found here.

I only heard her sing live once, in a performance of Der Rosenkavalier in the early 1980s.  She played the Marschallin (although at various points in her career, she had also sung the other principal roles of Octavian and Sophie). The other leading ladies that night, in Cleveland’s cavernous Public Auditorium, were Frederica Von Stade and Kathleen Battle.  She was a great artist, later known for her performances of Janacek’s operas, especially in the recordings for Decca conducted by Charles Mackerras.