Opera Singer. A soprano of wide repertoire, she is remembered for her long career in Vienna. Born in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, she trained in her native city and later in Vienna prior to her 1934 debut with the Hungarian State Opera as a Shepherd in Wagner's "Tannhauser". Esther refined her craft in Budapest for three seasons during which she earned particular praise as Micaela from Georges Bizet's "Carmen"; engaged by the Vienna State Opera in 1937 she bowed as Margarete from Charles Gounod's "Faust" and sang a variety of roles including two Puccini leads, the tragic Mimi in "La Boheme" and Lauretta from the comic masterpiece "Gianni Schicchi", the Countess Almaviva of Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" and Pamina in the same composer's "The Magic Flute", Agathe from Weber's "Die Freischutz", at least three of Verdi's characters, the doomed Desdemona in "Otello", Violetta of "La Traviata", and Alice Ford in "Falstaff", and Eva from Wagner's "Die Meistersinger". Able to sing in French, Italian, German, Hungarian, and Czech, Esther was in demand throughout Europe and was heard frequently at the Salzburg Festival where her portrayals included Susanna in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro", Sophie of Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier", and Donna Elvira from Mozart's "Don Giovanni". Though she was to earn rave reviews at the Bavarian and Berlin State Operas she was prevented from making her scheduled 1940 appearances at New York's Metropolitan Opera by the onset of World War II. Following the conflict Esther concentrated on operetta; acclaimed as Rosalinde in a Vienna State Opera performance of Johann Strauss II's "Der Fledermaus" under the baton of Maestro Herbert von Karajan, she sang at the Vienna Volksoper from 1948 thru her 1968 retirement, her repertoire including Carl Millocker's "The Beggar Student", Franz Lehar's "The Merry Widow" and "The Count of Luxembourg", and Johann Strauss II's "Wiener Blut". After leaving the stage she was a respected voice teacher in Vienna; her awards were many among them designation with the honorary title of Kammersangerin in 1948, the Gold Medal of the Republic of Austria in 1958, the Medal of Honor of the Federal Capital, Vienna Gold, in 1978, and the Golden Diploma of the Franz Liszt College in 1983. Using the name of her second husband Dr. Vincent Imre in private, she was buried as Esther Rethy-Imre. A portion of her recorded legacy remains available on CD.