Trained in Madrid, Vienna, Milan and Paris, she appeared internationally in opera and especially zarzuela, but retired from the stage at age 32.

[4] She also performed the same year at the Teatro Principal, as Amneris in Verdi's Aida,[1] alongside María Clara Alcalá, Cristóbal Altube, Pablo Vidal and Vela.

[3] She performed at the Teatro de Arriaga in Bilbao in 1946, as Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, in the title role of Bizet's Carmen, and again as Amneris, alongside Mario Filippeschi as Radames.

She took part in the world premiere of the zarzuela La duquesa del candil by Jesús García Leoz there the same year.

She lectured at the Concurso Internacional de Canto Francisco Viñas and about the Arte Lírico Español y Zarzuela at the University of Portland.

It runs the International Zarzuela Competition Ana María Iriarte, with recipients of prizes including Alejandro del Cerro, Miren Urbieta and Eduardo Aladrén.

[7][8] Throughout Iriarte's career she received many awards, including the Lucrecia Arana National Singing Prize, from the Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid.