Grace Panvini | |
|---|---|
 Grace Panvini as Gilda in a 1942 San Carlo Opera production of Rigoletto | |
| Born | April 6, 1907 Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Died | February 12, 1999 (aged 91) |
| Occupations | |
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.