Erich Kleiber
Danco was born in Brussels and grew up in a Flemish background, although French was her native language. She studied piano, music history and singing at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, and in 1936 won a vocal competition in Vienna after which conductor Erich Kleiber recommended that she continue her studies in Prague with Fernando Carpi. Grove notes that "the unusual breadth of her culture was shown by her command of many different styles".