The soprano Claire Rutter was born in South Shields, County Durham, and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at the National Opera Studio sponsored by The Friends of English National Opera. Her operatic career has taken her to leading opera houses around the world (Aida in Sydney, Don Giovanni in Dallas, Un ballo in maschera in Helsinki and La traviata in Oslo) but she has also enjoyed enormous success in Britain, notably with bel canto repertoire at Grange Park Opera (Norma) and English National Opera (Lucrezia Borgia).