Early Life and Education
Born in Monessen, Pennsylvania in 1915, Thebom was the daughter of Swedish parents who had immigrated to the United States. Her year of birth is sometimes incorrectly given as 1918. She was raised in Canton, Ohio where she studied ballet and was active as a singer in her church's choir. She continued to take ballet lessons into her 40s. She completed business college and then took a job as a secretary at an industrial firm in Canton.
In 1938, while working as a secretary, Thebom traveled with her parents to Sweden. During the boat trip from America to Europe, she was overheard singing in the ship's lounge by pianist Kosti Vehanen. Vehanen was Marian Anderson's regular accompanist and vocal coach, and he was highly impressed with Thebom's talent. Accordingly, he arranged for Thebom to become a pupil of Giuseppe Boghetti in New York, who was Anderson's voice teacher, and also eventually got her signed with talent manager Sol Hurok who also managed Anderson's career. After Boghetti's death in July 1941, she studied with retired Metropolitan Opera mezzo-sopranos Edyth Walker and Margarete Matzenauer in New York City.
Read more about this topic: Blanche Thebom
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