Opera Singer. A contralto, she is remembered for her three decades at Munich's Bavarian State Opera (BSO). Raised in the city of her birth, she was trained by Elisabeth Rado and by the noted Wagnerian soprano Anna Bahr-Mildenburg. After taking top honors at the 1947 Vienna Friends of Music Society competition, she made her professional debut in Salzburg, refined her skills in Gottingen and Cologne, and in 1951 bowed at the BSO in a guest appearance as Princess Eboli from Verdi's "Don Carlos". Engaged by the company, she spent her entire career there and was eventually designated Kammersangerin (KS), though she was on occasion heard in Vienna, Salzburg, London, and elsewhere. During her time before the public, Lilian sang most of the lead roles of her voice range including Fricka from Wagner's "Ring Cycle", the jealous Princess Amneris of Verdi's "Aida", Dorabella in Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte", Klytemnestra of Richard Strauss' "Elektra", Briggita/Lucienne in Erich Korngold's "Die tote Stadt", Larina from Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin", Magdalene of Wagner's "Die Meistersinger", Frena in Verdi's "Nabucco", Marcellina from Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro", and what were perhaps her signatures, Octavian in Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier" and the title bad girl of Georges Bizet's "Carmen". Over the years she also was a busy concert and recital artist, earning praise with Mahler's "Kindertotenlieder" and with several of Bach's cantatas; following her retirement, she remained in Munich where she was a respected voice teacher and where she used her married name, Benningsen-Reischl. At her death from the effects of age, a portion of her recorded legacy, including complete preservations of "Die Meistersinger" and "Eugene Onegin" remained available on CD.