 She appeared in many operas by Richard Strauss, including the premiere of his "Die Liebe der Danae" at the Salzburg Festival in 1952.Born Anna Maria Felbermayer-Szekely in Vienna to a family of craftsmen, she attended a "Handelsschule".She studied piano and voice privately, then at the Wiener Musikakademie, with E. Rado, P. Mark-Neusser and J. Witt, graduating in 1949.