Malvina Major
Dame Malvina Major is an opera singer of international standing
As well as being an acclaimed opera singer, Dame Malvina is the patron of the Dame Malvina Major Foundation which supports and trains young NZ artists.
Dame Malvina Major was born in Hamilton,New Zealand. After winning the New Zealand Mobil Song Quest and the Melbourne Sun Aria, Dame Malvina went to London to study at the London Opera Centre. She won the Kathleen Ferrier competition while studying at the London Opera Centre.
In New Zealand her singing teacher was Dame Sister Mary Leo, and in London she was taught by Ruth Packer from the Royal College of Music.
Dame Malvina has performed in Mexico City, Brasilia, Buenos Aries and Santiago, Salt Lake City, London, Saltzburg and Brussels. Career highlights include performing for the King and Queen of Belgium, in Jordan for the Queen Noor Festival, in Japan where she met the Empress of Japan, and at New Zealand Embassy concerts in Washington, Paris, London, The Hague, and Brussels. She has performed for both the summer and winter Salzburg festivals, the Campden Town festival and at Covent Garden where she replaced Dame Joan Sutherland in Die Fledermaus