Alma Voedisch

Voedisch was born in Menomonie, Wisconsin,^[1][2] the daughter of Christian Voedisch and Eula (Julia) V. Koethke. Her parents were both born in Germany. She studied piano as a young woman.^[3]

Voedisch was business manager of the Western Musical Herald before 1912.^[3] She managed and booked musical acts in the midwest, including Julia Claussen,^[4] Yvonne de Tréville, Saba Doak, Theodore Spiering, George Hamlin, Theodora Sturkow-Ryder,^[5] and Leopold Godowsky.^[6] She also booked tours for the Minnesota Orchestra,^[7][8] the Ukrainian National Chorus,^[9] Sibyl Sammis-MacDermid,^[10] and the Boston Grand Opera.^[11][12] She opened an office for theatrical management in New York in 1917.^[13] She encouraged and supported the development of local music associations,^[14][15] and credited clubwomen for their flourishing: "Were it not for the women's clubs, which back attractions at considerable financial risk, appearances of world famous artists would be confined to only a few of the larger cities", she said in 1922.^[16]

Voedisch led her first group tour of Europe in 1926, touring factories and palaces, and attending concerts, pageants, and operas.^[17] She continued traveling in Europe annually into the late 1930s.^[2][18][19] She wrote about seeing Hitler and Mussolini in Nurnberg in 1937.^[20] In her later years she took charge of her family business, Voedisch Bros. Wholesale Sporting Goods, after her brothers died.^[21]

Voedisch died in Chicago in 1949, aged 70 years.^[21]