Rains studied at the National Conservatory in New York in 1890, which he left as a prize student, a pupil of Oscar Saenger. He studied further from 1896 in Paris with Jacques Bouhy. First he worked as a concert and oratorio singer in America. He made his operatic debut in 1897 with Frank Damrosch's troupe, appearing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, and touring the U.S. to 1899. There he acted as a serious bass, singing his roles in Italian, German, French and English, always in the original language of the operas. U.S. critics at the time described him as the most promising bass singer since Karl Formes. He also performed as an assistant artist on a U.S. tour of Nellie Melba.
