Harries, Kathryn

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Harries, Kathryn

Harries, Kathryn, English soprano; b. Hampton Court, Feb. 15, 1951. She was a student of Constance Shacklock at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1977 she made her concert debut at London’s Royal Festival Hall. Her operatic debut followed in 1982 as Leonore with the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff, where she returned as Sieglinde in 1984 and as Gutrune in 1985. In 1983 she made her first appearance at the English National Opera in London as Irene in Rienzi, and returned there in such roles as Eva, Kât’a Kabanovâ and Donna Anna. She created the title role in Edward Harper’s Hedda Gabler at the Scottish Opera in Glasgow in 1985. Her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. followed on April 10, 1986, as Kundry, where she returned as Gutrune in 1989. In 1987 she sang Berlioz’s Dido in Lyons and Senta at the Paris Opéra. She made her first appearance at London’s Covent Garden in 1989 in the British premiere of Berio’s Un re in ascolto, and returned there in 1991 as Gutrune. Following engagements as Dido in Brussels and as Carmen in Orange in 1992, she appeared as Brangäne at the Scottish Opera in 1994. In 1997 she sang Kundry at the Opéra de la Bastille in Paris, a role she sang again at the English National Opera in 1999.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire