Records of Astra Desmond (contralto)
Astra Desmond studied singing under Blanche Marchesi. Within a few days of her debut at Steinway Hall she was engaged to sing at an Albert Hall ballad concert. She has sung in opera with the Royal Carl Rosa Opera Company and at
Covent Garden and Sadler's Wells, and she is equally at home in concert work and oratorio. She was a friend ef Elgar s and sang every one of his contralto parts under his baton.
She first broadcast in 1924 and listeners have heard her frequently ever since. It is characteristic of her thoroughness that she worked for two and a half years at Grieg's songs and learned Norwegian before giving a Grieg recital some years ago.