Marguerite Bériza

She performed extensively in the United States from 1914 to 1917 and was also heard as a guest artist at theatres in the French provinces, Monaco, Portugal, and Switzerland during her career.

She made her professional opera debut in 1900 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris where she was heard mostly in comprimario roles from the mezzo-soprano repertoire during the early part of her career.

In 1906, she sang the role of Kate Pinkerton in the French premiere of Giacomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly; later taking over the part of Suzuki in successive performances.

[4] Some of the roles that Bériza sang during her early years at the Opéra-Comique were the 2nd Priestess in both Christoph Willibald Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide and Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride, Gertrude in Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, The Marquise of Birkenfeld in Gaetano Donizetti's La fille du régiment, and The Muse in Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann.

She also continued to perform roles traditionally sung by mezzo-sopranos like Anita in Jules Massenet's La Navarraise and Mallika in Léo Delibes's Lakmé.

[7] She performed in several operas at Ravinia Park, Illinois (with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra), in July–August 1916, including singing Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Marguerite, Santuzza, Tosca, and the title role in Georges Bizet's Carmen.

[8] She returned to Ravinia in the summer of 1917 to sing the French national anthem, Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore, and, with Orville Harrold, Santuzza and the title role in Massenet's Manon.

[15] With her company she portrayed the title role in the world premiere of Jacques Ibert's Angélique at the Théâtre Fémina in Paris on 28 January 1927.