nezhdanova was born in kryva balka, near odessa, ukraine, then in the russian empire. in 1899, she entered the moscow conservatory. upon her graduation three years later she joined the bolshoi theatre, rapidly becoming its leading soprano. she often sang, too, at the mariinsky theatre in st petersburg and also in kiev and odessa. paris heard her in 1912, when she appeared opposite the great tenor enrico caruso and caruso's baritone equivalent, titta ruffo.