The designation of voice types in opera is always a hazardous business, but a minority of singers simply defy categorisation. One such was Kathryn Harries, who has died aged 72 of cancer. When she auditioned as a teenager for the Royal Academy of Music in London, she told a sceptical panel that her range was from C below middle C to F above top C. That range of three and a half octaves enabled her to glide effortlessly through both soprano and mezzo-soprano roles, her best known including Sieglinde (Die Walküre), Dido (Les Troyens) and Kostelnička (Jenůfa). Although she later concentrated on a somewhat narrower pitch range, she continued to sing both soprano and mezzo roles, gradually settling more on the latter.
Her tonal quality was similarly unique, as she was well aware: “They either like me or don’t like me. It must be very nice to be Renée Fleming, because everyone loves you,” she once said. It was not only that vocal quality but also her manner of delivery (in early years she was sometimes criticised as an overly cerebral performer) that polarised opinion. Nonetheless she remained faithful to her instinctive approach, winning countless admirers for her intelligent and psychologically penetrating portrayals.
