Astrid Varnay

Ibolyka Astrid Maria Varnay (25 April 1918 – 4 September 2006) was a Swedish-born American dramatic soprano of Hungarian descent. She spent most of her career in the United States and Germany. She was, along with Birgit Nilsson, Martha Mödl, Kirsten Flagstad, and Gertrud Grob-Prandl, one of the five leading Wagnerian heroic sopranos of her generation. Her voice on record is readily recognisable by its fiery tone and seemingly limitless upper register.