Summary: Leading dramatic soprano Kathryn Harries has recently announced she is stepping down at the end of the year as director of the National Opera Studio in London after nearly a decade in the role. Harries says she was going to be a pharmacist like her dad, but "mercifully, I decided on a career in music and with that single decision I saved countless lives". She fell in love with New Zealand during a visit in 1989, was here as a judge for the Lexus Song Quest in 2014, and has been back again as director of The Kiri Programme, in its first year of nurturing young singers.
