[1] Ferraris was a child prodigy and began her career as a professional concert pianist at the young age of 12 after studying piano with Antonio Quartero.

That same year she sang Sophie at La Scala in Italy's first production of Der Rosenkavalier, a role she later reprised at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome in 1914.

She notably sang the title role in South America's premiere of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's Il segreto di Susanna at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

The following year she created the role of Lisette in the world première of Puccini's La rondine at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.

Ferraris retired from the stage in 1934, after which she taught singing for many years at numerous conservatories including the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello in Venice, the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, and lastly at the Milan Conservatory.