| Biography | The English singer was born at Hampton Court on 15 February 1951 and went on to study with Constance Shacklock at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She made her concert debut at Londons Royal Festival Hall in 1977 and her operatic debut followed in 1982 as Leonore with the Welsh National Opera. She would return to the company in 1984 for Sieglinde in Die Walküre and as Gutrune in Götterdämmerung in 1985.
In 1983, she made her debut at the English National Opera as Irene in Rienzi and would perform multiple roles with the company including Eva, Kâta Kabanovâ, and Donna Anna. Harries made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1986 as Kundry and went on to perform 16 times with the company. She would also sing in productions of Götterdämmerung alongside Hildegard Behrens and Capriccio alongside Kiri Te Kanawa. Her final performance with the company was in 1998.
Harries also performed at the Scottish Opera where created the title role in Edward Harpers Hedda Gabler and also sang at the Royal Opera House in the British premiere of Berios Un re in ascolto.
Following her career on stage, Harries was appointed Director of the National Opera Studio. She raised money for a number of organizations across the sector, devising the Opera Walk to support staff at WNO and ENO, and devoted a huge amount of time to teaching.
Harries was awarded the OBE in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to Opera.
Kathryn Harries OBE died aged 72 on May 26 in the Royal Surrey Hospital, Guildford, following a two-year battle with cancer. |