The following is extracted from Volume I of the 1986 edition of South African Music Encyclopedia (J.P. Malan, ISBN 0 86965 586 8)
DORIS BRASCH (Mrs Nathan Cooperman), soprano, born 19 September 1929 in Johannesburg
Doris Brasch received vocal training since the age of fourteen, and when her family settled in Johannesburg in 1947, she studied with a former pupil of Lili Lehmann, Sophie Ginkewitz. Since then she has become known through Lieder recitals and by her interpretations in radio performances of works such as Amelia Goes to the Ball (Menotti) (in Afrikaans), Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky), and Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart).
She has undertaken frequent tours with the baritone Bob Borowsky, appeared with the Symphony Orchestras of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, and made numerous commercial recordings. The roughly 30 recordings of children's songs in which she is partnered by Dawie Couzyn (for the Afrikaans songs) and by Bob Williams, Jimmy Rayson and Ronnie Wilson (for the English songs) were in great demand. Most of these songs were written and composed by Betty Misheiker. As soloist, and in conjunction with Dawie Couzyn, she has also recorded Afrikaans traditional and popular music. Since the Regional Councils have been launched, Doris Brasch has toured for PACT and NAPAC and also visited South West Africa under the auspices of the SA Association of Arts.
She was soloist at the investiture of the Republic's first State President (1961) and sang the part of the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel (Humperdinck) at the Inaugural Festival of the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg. Since 1973 she has presented educational music programmes at schools.
