The Hungarian-born soprano first studied music under her sister Irene Pewny, a noted opera singer, and later at the Raff Conservatory in Frankfurt. She made her debut in 1890 at the Leipzig Opera as Pamina in The Magic Flute, but soon continued her studies in Paris. In 1893 she toured the United States with her sister, which led to an engagement at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She was a member of the Met from 1893 to 1895 and again from 1898 to 1900. There, she developed a Wagner repertoire, including the roles of Elisabeth and Venus in Tannhäuser, as well as the Woodbird, Third Norn, Woglinde, Helmwige, and Gutrune in The Ring. Between her New York engagements, she performed from 1895 to 1898 at the Darmstadt Hoftheater and also appeared as a guest at other German opera houses.
After returning from the United States, she was invited to Bayreuth in 1902 for the only time. In 1904 she ended her stage career after marrying Breslau (present-day Wrocław) lawyer Jacques Schäfer, though she continued working as a voice teacher in Breslau until the early 1930s.
Both she and her husband were Jewish. Olga Pewny disappears from the historical record after Schäfer’s death on February 21, 1937. No details are known about the course of her later life.
1872 Pančevo