Yvonne Kenny was born in Sydney and made her operatic debut in London in 1975 in Donizetti’s Rosmonda d’Inghilterra. After winning the Kathleen Ferrier Competition she joined The Royal Opera, Covent Garden. She has won international renown in the great Handel roles, notably Semele, Alcina, Romilda (Serse), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) and Armida (Rinaldo). She has sung many operatic roles with major opera houses and festivals worldwide, appears regularly in concert throughout Europe, Australia and North America, and performs at the Edinburgh, Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence festivals, at Carnegie Hall and at the BBC Proms. Yvonne Kenny was made a Member of the Order of Australia for Services to Music in 1989 and in 1999 received an honorary Doctorate of Music from the University of Sydney.