Nelli Gardini

Gardini was a distant relative of Edvard Grieg and used a pseudonym throughout her career.^[1] She was a native Chicagoan of Norwegian heritage whose real name was Grace Nelson Stensland.^[1] Gardini chose an "Italian" name in order to link her singing to opera traditions.^[2] Gardini was a soprano.^[3]

Gardini went to study singing in Paris in 1901.^[4] In 1903, Gardini married Theodore N. Stensland and they had one son, named after his father.^[1] She was divorced in 1909.^[5] She began to sing again under the name of Grace Nelson in 1908.^[6] She began to appear in the news as Nelli Gardini as early as 1915.^[7] In 1917, she sang with the Boston English Opera Co. where she appeared as Lenora from Il Trovatore.^[8] She went on to specialize in singing Grieg's music through the 1920s.^[1] She became head of the voice department of the Chicago Musical College in the early 1930s.^[9][10] Some of her students included Carol Fox, Dennis Morgan, and John Carroll.^[1]

Gardini died at age 93 on January 8, 1970, in Coral Gables, Florida at the Musicians Club of America.^[1]

• Archive of correspondence (Box 28)