Lillian Nordica

American opera singer (born December 12, 1857 in Farmington, Maine, USA – died May 10, 1914 in Jakarta, Java, Indonesia [then Dutch East Indies])

One of the best-known dramatic sopranos of her time with an unusually wide repertoire, Nordica studied first at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and later in Milan, Italy. Termed Giglia Nordica ("Lily of the North") by one of her Italian professors, she turned this moniker into her stage name, Lillian Nordica.

Nordica had a major international career, performing at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden, in Bayreuth (where she sang the role of Elsa in Wagner's "Lohengrin"), and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City (1891-1910, with some interruptions).

In 1913, Nordica toured Australia. Her return trip to the United States was interrupted by a shipwreck. Nordica never fully recovered from the hypothermia that she suffered during her ship's accident and finally died from pneumonia in Jakarta.