- Profession: Singer.
- Relation to Mahler: Worked with Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) in the Vienna State Opera
- Correspondence with Mahler:
- Born: 13-02-1867 Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Died: 02-11-1950 Frederiksberg, Denmark. Aged 83.
- Buried: 00-00-0000 Bispebjerg Cemetery, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Rasmus Emil Holm was a Danish singer and Statsradiofonien’s (now DR) first chief, as he was the operating manager 1925-1937.
He was the son of a wholesaler, shipowner H.P.I. Holm and his wife f. Hansen and were first trained as a merchant. Then he came to Hornemans music conservatory and from Fritz Arlberg in Stockholm. He made his debut as a concert singer in the Music Society on March 4, 1892. Then he was opera singer at Det Kgl. Theater (debut as the countryman in Tannhäuser) and traveled to Germany, where he was recruited at the Hofopera in Dresden, in Chemnitz and Leipzig.
He participated in the Wagner festivals under Cosima Wagner’s leadership in 1893. In 1893-1896 he was at the Nuremberg Opera and in 1896-1898 he was back at the Royal Copenhagen. Theater. Holm was in Breslau in 1898, Düsseldorf in 1899 and was 1901-1914 at The Royal Institute of Technology. Hof opera in Stuttgart, Württemberg, where he became royal chamber singer.
His great music interest is reflected among other things. in that he initiated the establishment of the DR Radio Symphony Orchestra and of the Thursday concerts. He was a strong and visionary leader who laid the foundation for Denmark’s radio-cultural infrastructure. When the Radio Symphony Orchestra turned 75 years in the year 2000, the 2-binder work Holm’s vision was published by Martin Granau.
He was chairman of the Danish Soloist Association 1920-25 and became honorary member in 1925. He was Knight of the Dannebrog and had received foreign orders.
To further honor DR’s charismatic founder, DR Byen in Ørestaden has been given the address Emil Holms Kanal.