while still barely a teen, kalich sang in the chorus for la traviata in the lviv polish theatre opera. a fellow actor, max gimpel then offered her a job at his pioneering yiddish-language theater group, "yankev ber gimpel". during this period of her life, kalich had been performing in polish, russian, and german, but when gimpel's leading lady left for america, kalich became his prima donna, winning the title role in avrom goldfaden's operetta "shulamis".