Panvini made her opera debut as Rosina in
The Barber of Seville at the
Central City Opera in 1936, and was also heard that season as Casilda in
Gilbert and Sullivan's
The Gondoliers. In 1937 she gave a national concert tour in conjunction with baritone
Conrad Mayo with stops in
Pennsylvania,
Maryland,
Alabama,
North Carolina,
New Hampshire, and
Maine. The singers performed a concert of opera arias and duets. In 1938 Panvini created the role of the Marquis in
Frederick Loewe's short-lived Broadway musical
Great Lady at the
Majestic Theatre. That same year she performed the aria "Una voce poco fa" in concert with the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra under conductor
Reginald Stewart, recording the work with them for broadcast on
NBC Radio. In 1939 she was a soloist in Toronto's
Promenade Symphony Concerts, performing "The Bell Song" from
Léo Delibes's
Lakmé under the baton of
Adrian Boult. In the 1940s Panvini was a leading soprano of the
San Carlo Opera Company (SCOC), a professional company that routinely toured throughout the United States. and Gilda in
Rigoletto (1942). A petite woman of just , In August 1942 the SCOC debuted a new version of
The Barber of Seville that used contemporary American English in a new
libretto by
Laszlo Halasz. First performed at the theater of
The Watergate Hotel in
Washington D.C., the production starred Panvini as Rosina. The production moved to Broadway where it was performed under the name
Once Over Lightly at the Alvin Theatre. This work was an Americanized version of
The Barber of Seville that used contemporary American English in a new book by
Laszlo Halasz. The work failed with New York audiences, but was a precursor to the later successful
Carmen Jones which successfully adapted Bizet's
Carmen a year later for Broadway. Panvini later performed the role of Rosina under Halasz's baton during the first season of the
New York City Opera in 1943–1944. She repeated the role to sold out crowds at the
Rockefeller Center's
Center Theatre in May 1945. In January 1943 Panvini began a national tour with
Sigmund Romberg and his orchestra, singing Romberg tunes with the composer conducting. Panvini also sang German operetta arias on this tour. The tour made stops in
West Virginia,
Ohio,
Texas,
South Dakota,
Indiana,
Iowa,
Mississippi,
Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, and
Washington D.C. After the conclusion of the tour with Romberg, she joined the Columbia Opera Company of New York with whom she toured as Gilda in
Rigoletto. In November 1943 she sang the title role of Donizetti's
Lucia di Lammermoor at the
Broadway Theatre with SCOC with
Stefano Ballarini as Lord Enrico Ashton. Panvini performed the role of Gilda again on tour with the SCOC in 1944–1945 with
Carlo Morelli in the title role,
Mario Palermo as the Duke of Mantua, and
William Wilderman as Monterone. By April 1944 she was starring in a show entitled
Cover Girl at
Radio City Music Hall. For the fall of 1945 Panvini was once again with SCOC, this time as Rosina in
The Barber of Seville with Morelli as Figaro, Palermo as Almaviva, and
Mario Valle as Bartolo. She sang Rosina again with SCOC in 1950, and also performed Rosina in 1947 at the
Florida Grand Opera with
Tito Schipa as Almaviva,
Virgilio Lazzari as Don Basilio, Lloyd Harris as Bartolo, Ivy Dale as Berta, and Angelo Pilotti as Figaro.
Voice teacher and mentor Panvini retired from performance in 1952. She then opened a voice studio in New York City with her husband, the operatic baritone Curtis Rice. In the early 1960s the couple co-founded the non-profit Lyric Arts Opera Inc. (LAOI), which was an organization dedicated to staging an annual season of operas with young American singers to help develop them towards a professional career. Several of their students were able to obtain professional contracts with companies like the
New York City Opera after scouts saw them in productions staged by the LAOI. The company's final opera season was in 1970. Grace Panvini Rice died at the age of 91 on February 12, 1999, in
Lighthouse Point, Florida. ==References==