She was born in
Saint Petersburg, the daughter of daughter of Colonel Leo Andreyev and Adelaide Christman. Showing talent for the piano, she trained initially as a concert pianist, with
Felix Blumenfeld at the
Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where she also studied composition with
Anatoly Lyadov and harmony with
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. She later switched to study voice, and began her career in 1904. In 1909 she sang the role of the Queen of Shemakha in the Saint Petersburg premiere of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera
The Golden Cockerel. She had married Vladimir von Skilondz, a government official, in 1905, thereafter being known by either his surname or hers, or both. In 1910 she left him and her career in Russia, initially hoping to join the
Dresden Court opera. Although there was no opening in Dresden, she won a contract with the
Berlin Hofoper where she succeeded
Frieda Hempel, singing leading roles until the start of
World War I. Her marriage was formally dissolved in 1912. Among the roles she sang in Berlin was that of Zerbinetta in the premiere of
Ariadne auf Naxos, under the baton of the composer
Richard Strauss. She recorded several excerpts from the opera shortly after the premiere, which are among the c.60 records she made for the Gramophone company, Parlophone, Ariel and Pathé mostly in the years 1912-1913. At the start of the war, as a Russian in Germany she was considered ‘the enemy’ so moved to
Stockholm where she joined the
Royal Swedish Opera. During 1915 she performed at the
Finnish National Opera in
Helsinki. In the summer of 1915 she returned to St Petersburg, but she also found herself regarded with suspicion there for her German connections, so returned to Stockholm where, after the death of
Anna Oscàr, she took on the leading roles at the Royal Opera. She performed in Stockholm in opera up until 1920, continuing to give occasional guest performances until 1925, and in concert performances until 1931. Her roles included the Queen of the Night in Mozart's
The Magic Flute (64 times), the title role in Donizetti's
Lucia di Lammermoor, and Gilda in Verdi's
Rigoletto. She sang in 252 performances before retiring. She also sang in Berlin, Dresden and Helsinki again, and in Czechoslovakia, France and England before her retirement in 1931. In 1917 she received the order
Litteris et Artibus, and in 1921 she was elected a member of the
Royal Academy of Music, initially as Foreign Member No. 247 and, after taking Swedish citizenship in 1930, as Member No. 601. Skilondz was painted three times by
Ilya Repin, and had one of the portraits in her Stockholm apartment. ==As singing teacher==