Fohström, Alma

Born Jan. 2, 1856, in Helsinki; died there Feb. 20, 1936. Finnish coloratura soprano.

Fohström studied in Helsinki, with H. Nissen-Saloman in St. Petersburg (1873–77), and with F. Lamperti in Milan. In 1878 she began performing as an opera and concert singer in Europe and the USA. She was a soloist at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow from 1890 to 1899, taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1909, and toured Russia. She worked in Helsinki from 1917 to 1920 and in Berlin in 1920. Fohström had a pure rich voice, brilliant technique, and fine musicianship. Among her best roles were Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and principal parts in operas by G. Verdi, C. Gounod, and M. I. Glinka.