Miliza Elizabeth Korjus (18 August 1909 - 26 August 1980) was an Estonian/Polish coloratura soprano opera singer, who later appeared in Hollywood films.

Early life

Miliza Korjus's father was Arthur Korjus, an Estonian lieutenant colonel in the Imperial Russian Army and later Chief of Staff to the War Minister of Estonia. Her mother was Anna Gintowt, who was descended from Lithuanian-Polish nobility. Miliza was born in Warsaw, Poland (then part of the Russian Empire) during her father's military posting there in 1909; later the family moved to Moscow. She was the fifth of six children (she had one brother, and four sisters). Her mother and father separated during the Russian Revolution of 1917 and in 1918 she moved from Moscow to Kiev with her mother and sisters where she began her musical training.

Career

While a teenager, Korjus toured the Soviet Union with the Dumka Choir. In 1927, while performing in Leningrad, she managed to cross the border into Estonia, where she was reunited with her father. She then began touring the Baltic countries and Germany, and, in 1929, married Kuno Foelsch, a physicist. Korjus continued her concert career as a soprano in Germany and was eventually engaged by the Berlin State Opera in 1933. Her operatic appearances and recordings quickly propelled her to the forefront of European singers and earned her the nickname "The Berlin Nightingale". Film producer Irving Thalberg heard her recordings and signed her to a ten year film contract, sight unseen.