The award-winning German actress and singer has passed away aged 92.

German actress and singer Gisela May has passed away aged 92. May is best known for her performances of political songs by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.

Born in Wetzlar, Germany, in 1924, May was the daughter of actor and writer Käte May and writer Ferdinand May and attended drama school in Leipzig from 1942 to 1944. She performed in theatres across Germany, including the State Theatre of Schwerin, the State Theatre in Halle and the Deutsches Theater Berlin.

She was a member of the Berliner Ensemble – the East German theatre company founded by Bertolt Brecht – from 1962 until 1992, where among other roles she played Frau Peachum in The Threepeny Opera. She was best known however for her performance as Mother Courage in Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children – a role she played for 13 years.

Running parallel to her acting career was her career as a singer, working with the composer Hanns Eisler who ‘discovered’ her in 1962. She also sung the title role in Hello, Dolly! at the Metropol-Theater in Berlin and sung Miss Schneider in Cabaret at the Theatre des Westens. Her performances of songs by Kurt Weill became a regular fixture at the Berliner Ensemble.

May became a member of East Germany’s Academy of the Arts in 1972 and received the German Democratic Republic’s National Prize in both 1973 and 1988. She also played a number of roles in German television series such as Adelheid und ihre Mörder, Die Hallo-Sisters and Frau Jenny Triebel.

May also performed internationally, with concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York, La Scala, Milan and the Sydney Opera House.