Lina Abarbanell’s expressive voice inspired more than one light opera, but even after she retired from the stage, her talent for casting and directing other performers shaped powerful performances like the world tour of Porgy and Bess. Abarbanell made her debut with the Berlin Court Opera at the age of fifteen, selling out performances of Die Fledermaus and making command appearances before European royalty. After a stunning performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, she performed in Broadway shows and national tours for almost thirty years. She had a gift for lighter musicals and operettas with complicated, Viennese flourishes, and a number of composers wrote parts specifically for her distinct soprano. Abarbanell stopped performing after the death of her husband, becoming a respected casting director who chose the players for shows like the world tour of Porgy and Bess. She produced a number of Broadway shows and even directed several musicals herself, working steadily in the theater world until the end of her life in 1963.