Burseryd is a tiny farming parish in Western Sweden. By 1855, the year Inga was born, her family had lived in
the area for centuries. Inga would likely have
spent her life there too, where it not for the fact
that she was a gifted singer, and that changed everything. In the spring of 1871, Inga left Burseryd to study at the prestigious Royal Music Academy in Stockholm. I drove past the Royal
Music Academy, I've seen it. I did not know that I had a
family member who studied there. So this was not a family
story that was passed down. Not to, not to my- not to me. She moved more than 250
miles away from home when she was only 16 years old. Wow. Can you imagine? Wow. What are you feeling? This is a big deal. Yeah, it is a big deal. It is a big deal. Yeah, it's incredible to imagine. And, so looking back and understanding what came of, you know, how our family developed,
but to think about her having no idea what is to come in generations ahead and just setting out, just setting out to pursue your craft and try to make a life for yourself, especially away from
your family, in the arts. When Inga enrolled in the Royal Academy, the school had only been
open to women for 15 years, and opportunities for female
musicians were quite limited. But Inga didn't seem to care about that. In 1873, when she was still a teenager, she joined what became known
as the Swedish Ladies Quartet and began to tour Europe. Just three years later, the
group arrived in America to considerable fanfare. "It is safe to say that in all its long and honorable career, no performance has occurred in every respect
so perfect as was this. The Swedish ladies sang
the difficult part songs of Schumann artistically and with surprising effect,
the quaint national songs which they gave in the last half of the concert were charmingly sung and elicited a hearty encore." Not a bad review. Not at all. That's a wonderful review. See, Inga performed with
the New York Philharmonic, the oldest symphony orchestra
in the United States, and her quartet was a smash. What do you think she was feeling, was she terrified, exhilarated? I think both, I think
certainly exhilarated and at some level we're all terrified when you're putting your neck out there. So, that's bravery, and you know what? The more I look at her,
the more I see a couple members of my family
in her face, actually. Yeah, looks like my cousin. This concert was the beginning of an extended tour that would take Inga's quartet to some of the largest stages
in the United States. It would also prove to be the
high point of Inga's career. In 1883, 6 years after
arriving in America, she married a fellow Swede
in Chicago, started a family and saw the quartet disband. So what does that tell you about what it was like to be a
female artist in those days? Right, right. You become, I imagine to
some degree of a kept woman or your aspirations are subject to the man's aspirations. Yeah, if she were alive today, do you think she would've wanted to do both work and have a family? Yeah, I would imagine,
especially when it seems to be bringing you joy and success and you're this young. Mm-hmm. Wow, this is mind blowing. I did not know any of this. Inga and her husband would eventually settle down in Minnesota, where they raised five children. And though she would never
again perform on the big stages of her youth, Inga did
not abandon her gift. Records show that she
worked as a voice teacher and even gave concerts as a soloist. It brings me joy to see that
she continued with music, not just as a teacher, but
she was able to still perform. Yeah, despite the fact that she had five kids. Wow. Do you think you inherited
anything from this ancestor? I'd like to think I
inherited some bravery, some risk-taking, you
know, ability and talent. But I think that, to be
able to set a course like that for yourself and take advantage of the confidence and faith of others. A lot of us can get it and squander it, but to take advantage
of it and to honor it and to see it through at that time, as a young woman. Yeah, that's pretty, that's incredible.
