Anna-Lisa Björling, née Emy Anna-Lisa Berg (March 15, 1910 – November 24, 2006), was a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 opera singer and actress. She was married to tenor

Tenor

The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

, Jussi Björling

Jussi Björling

Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th Century, Björling appeared frequently at the Royal Opera House in London, La Scala in Milan, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City as well as at other major European opera...

, from 1935 until his death in 1960.

Born in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, Anna-Lisa was a soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 who had studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music

Royal Swedish Academy of Music

The Royal Swedish Academy of Music or Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien, founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...

. After her marriage to Jussi Björling

Jussi Björling

Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th Century, Björling appeared frequently at the Royal Opera House in London, La Scala in Milan, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City as well as at other major European opera...

 in 1935, Anna-Lisa focused on her family life and their children for ten years. When the children were older she resumed her musical studies, and made a very successful comeback at the Royal Swedish Opera

Royal Swedish Opera

Kungliga Operan is Sweden's national stage for opera and ballet.-Location and Environment:...

in 1948, where she performed various roles until the late 1960s.

In Sweden, and occasionally abroad, she performed duets with her husband Jussi Björling, for television specials and other events. She had also appeared in some Swedish films, both as an actress and singer in the 1930s.

She was sometimes credited as Anna-Lisa Berg or Anna-Lisa Björling Barkman.

She died in Stockholm in 2006, at age 96.

Selected filmography

• 1932 - Svarta rosor
• 1932 - Landskamp
• 1932 - Hans livs match
• 1931 - Skepp ohoj!
• 1931 - Falska miljonären

Sources

• SvD - Anna-Lisa Björling Barkman död (short news report of her death with a mini biography) (from TT Spektra - Sweden)
• Björling, Anna-Lisa: Mitt liv med Jussi (My Life with Jussi), Stockholm, Bonnier, 1987 (Sweden).