Born in Alessandria,[1] Magda Piccarolo was trained at the Conservatorio Antonio Vivaldi in her native city where one of her teachers was the opera composer and conductor Guglielmo Zuelli.
[2] With the aid of Zuelli she began a career as an operatic soprano;[2] and on February 11, 1933 she made her professional opera debut in Alessandria at the Piccolo Teatro in the title role of Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.
[4] In 1934 Piccarolo appeared in the world premiere of the revised version of Ottorino Respighi's La bella dormente nel bosco in Turin as both the Blue Fairy and the Nightingale.
[1] In 1938 she gave a critically lauded performed at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon as Adina in L'elisir d'amore.
[8][9] Some of her pupils in her private voice studio included sopranos Emilia Cundari[8] and Neva Rego;[9] tenor Georgi Cholakov; and Spanish mezzo-soprano Carmen Gonzalez.