Grazia Panvini (April 6, 1907 – February 12, 1999), also known by her married name Grace Panvini Rice, was an American soprano and voice teacher. She had an active performance career from 1931 to 1952. On stage, her career spanned from opera to musical theatre and the concert repertoire. She performed in the Broadway musicals Music in the Air (1932–1933) and Great Lady (1938), returning later to Broadway as Rosina in an English language adaption of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia entitled Once Over Lightly in 1942. As a coloratura soprano, she spent several years as a leading performer with the San Carlo Opera Company, and was particularly celebrated for her performances in the roles of Rosina in The Barber of Seville and Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto. She also appeared in operas with other American companies like the New York City Opera, Central City Opera, and Cincinnati Opera.
After retiring from performance in 1952, Panvini and her husband, the operatic baritone Curtis Rice, worked jointly as voice teachers out of a studio in New York City during the 1950s and 1960s. In the early 1960s, they founded the non-profit organization Lyric Arts Opera Inc. which was established as a training ground for young American opera singers. This organization presented several seasons of operas in New York City with casts of developing opera singers. It remained active until 1970, when the Rices moved to South Florida. There the couple continued to teach and mentor young opera singers. The couple co-established the Young Artist Program at the Florida Grand Opera, a company Panvini had performed with during her career. Still teaching in the 1990s, she died in Lighthouse Point, Florida, in 1999 at age 91.
Panvini began performing in the 1930s. In 1931 she made her recital debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, giving a program of coloratura soprano arias which Musical Advance described as very successful.[6] In 1932–1933 she was a member of the Endorf Walking Ensemble in the original Broadway production of Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern's Music in the Air which opened at the Alvin Theatre before transferring to the 44th Street Theatre.[7] Kern wrote music specifically for her voice to display her skills singing high coloratura.[8] After this production closed she began working as a singer on American radio.[9][10]
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.[3] Early roles she performed with the SCOC included Micaela in Carmen (1942)[18] and Gilda in Rigoletto (1942).[19] A petite woman of just 4 ft 11.75 in (151.77 cm),[20] the Washington Evening Star critic felt her short stature was a particular advantage in her portrayal of Gilda, adding credibility to the youthful appearance of the character.[21]
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.[22] 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.[23] Panvini later performed the role of Rosina under Halasz's baton during the first season of the New York City Opera in 1943–1944.[24] She repeated the role to sold out crowds at the Rockefeller Center's Center Theatre in May 1945.[25]
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.[46] She sang Rosina again with SCOC in 1950,[47] 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.[48]
Voice teacher and mentor
Panvini retired from performance in 1952.[5] 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.[49] The company's final opera season was in 1970.[50][3]
In 1970 Panvini and her husband left New York and moved to South Florida.[3] There, they continued to teach and mentor young opera singers. The couple co-founded the Young Artist Program at the Florida Grand Opera, and frequently gave masterclasses to singers associated with that program into the late 1990s.[20]
