Julie Berwald

Julie Mathilda Berwald (14 October 1822 in Stockholm – 1 January 1877) was a Swedish concert and opera singer.

Born to the concert singer Mathilda Berwald and the musician Johan Fredrik Berwald. She and her sisters Fredrique and Hedvig Eleonora was educated to singers by their mother and sang with her at their fathers concerts. They performed in Finland (1842), Copenhagen (1844) and Berlin (1847). The three siblings were also a popular singing trio. In 1847, she was employed a the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. In 1848, she was contracted as "premier actress". During her years at the Opera, she became one of the greatest stars of the Swedish opera. Julie Berwald was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, seat nr 337, the 16 December 1853. In 1852, she married baron Georg Gustaf Knut Åkerhielm. Her marriage did not met with any resistance from the nobility, and this can be regarded as an attitude change in the wiev (badword) upon singers and actresses, who were long looked down upon socially.

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