 She made her professional opera debut in 1911 at the Teatro Ponchielli in Cremona as Mimì in Giacomo Puccini's "La bohème" to the Rodolfo of Tito Schipa.She was then active as principal artist at the Mariinsky Theatre (then known as the Petrograd Opera) in Saint Petersburg where she starred in several operettas and was heard in various works from the concert repertoire.Some of the roles she sang there were Dolly in Franz Lehár's "Endlich allein", Elvira in Lehar's "Die ideale Gattin", Helen in Oskar Nedbal's "Polská krev", and Laura in Karl Millöcker's "Der Bettelstudent".