He notably portrayed Scarpia in Tosca with the company for the grand opening of the newly built War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco in 1932.
In New York he had supporting roles in the world premieres of Arrigo Pedrollo's La Veglie (1924), Deems Taylor's Peter Ibbetson (1931) and Howard Hanson's Merry Mount (1934).
[1] In 1911 he made his professional opera debut in Turin at the Teatro Vittorio Emanuele as Lord Enrico Ashton in Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.
[4] In 1914 he portrayed Amfortas in the first staging in Italy of Richard Wagner's Parsifal at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna with Giuseppe Borgatti in the title role and Elena Rakowska as Kundry.
[10] Gandolfi and Apfel next went to work for the World Film Company where together they made The Grouch (1918),[11] The Rough Neck (1919),[12] The Crook of Dreams (1919),[12] The Little Intruder (1919),[13][5] Bringing Up Betty (1919),[12] The Oakdale Affair (1919),[12] and Me and Captain Kidd (1919).
[14] For Selznick Pictures he worked for varying directors as the cameraman for The Woman God Sent (1920),[15] The Greatest Love (1920),[16] A Divorce of Convenience (1921),[5] and Conceit (1921).
[21] On January 29, 1922, Gandolfi gave his first public concert in the United States at DeWitt Clinton High School in New York City.
[34] He made an unexpected debut at the Chicago Civic Opera (CCO) on November 17, 1923, replacing an ailing Giacomo Rimini as Lord Ashton in Lucia di Lammermoor with Florence Macbeth in the title role.
[39] In April 1924 Gandolfi portrayed the title role in Verdi's Rigoletto for performances at the Crescent Temple in Trenton, New Jersey,[40] and the Broad Theater in Newark.
[41] In May 1924 he appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra on tour to the 25th Annual Spartanburg Music Festival in South Carolina where he performed the role of the Count di Luna in Verdi's Il trovatore with Frances Peralta as Leonora.
[43] He performed the role of the Count di Luna at the 28th season of the Maine Music Festival in October 1924 with Joan Ruth as Inez and Marcella Roeseler as Leonora.
[44][45] On December 20, 1924, Gandolfi created the role of Mike Dara in the world premiere of Arrigo Pedrollo's one-act opera La Veglie (English: The Wake) which was given at the Hotel Pennsylvania with Giuseppe Bamboschek as the music director.
[47] He later appeared with that company as Rafaele in I gioielli della Madonna (1925),[48] Escamillo in Carmen (1925),[49] Manfredo in The Love for Three Oranges (1925),[50] Scarpia (1926),[51] the Count di Luna (1927),[52] Alfio (1927[53] and 1928),[54] Pierre in Le Chemineau (1929),[55] and the title role in The Marriage of Figaro (1929).
[57] In May 1926 he portrayed Scarpia in Tosca at the Gran Teatro de La Habana in Cuba with Bianca Saroya in the title role as part of this tour.
[60] In September 1926 he starred in a concert version of La Juive given at the Coney Island Stadium as a benefit for the Jewish Sanatorium (now Zucker Hillside Hospital).
[1][65] His other repertoire at the Met in his first season with the company included Donner in Das Rheingold,[65] The Imperial Commissioner in Madama Butterfly,[66] Ruiz in Il trovatore, and Zuàne in La Gioconda.
[82] Other roles Gandolfi performed at the SFO included Alfio (1932),[83] Count Gil in Il segreto di Susanna (1933),[84] Lescaut in Jules Massenet's Manon (1933[85] and 1934),[86] Melot in Tristan und Isolde (1933),[87] Silvio in Pagliacci (1933),[84] Sharpless (1934),[88] Donner in Das Rheingold (1935),[89] Schaunard in La bohème (1935),[90] and Fra Melitone in La forza del destino (1936).
[98] In July 1933 he sang the role of Germont in La traviata with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Robin Hood Dell with conductor Alexander Smallens.
[101] In August 1933 he performed arias from Carmen with his future wife, the soprano Alice Kurkjian, and the New York Philharmonic (NYP) at Lewisohn Stadium,[102] which were broadcast on American radio.
[106] In September, October, and November 1934 he performed with the St. Louis Grand Opera Company in multiple roles, including Escamillo in Carmen,[107] Marcello,[108] Scarpia,[109] Sharpless,[110] and Telramund in Lohengrin.