Anna Leese

[2] This was followed by study at the Benjamin Britten International Opera School at the Royal College of Music in London.

[3][1][2] Leese sang the part of Tamiri in Mozart's Il re pastore in 2006 at the Lindbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

[10] Other roles she has performed are Fiordiligi in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni.

[17] Leese with other singers and a pianist formed the Tākiri Ensemble which made its debut tour in 2015, singing a programme of lieder.

It was based on the book of the same name by Alexander Aitken, who was a soldier in the Otago battalion and later professor of mathematics at Edinburgh University.

[18][19] The oratorio had its European premiere, with Leese as a soloist, at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford in June 2018.

[25] Leese married Italian winemaker Stefano Guidi in 2014 and the couple returned to live in New Zealand.