ARTIST BIO

Young New Zealand entertainer Kelly Lim Harris is known for her captivating stage presence, pearlescent vocals, and remarkable versatility. Classically trained but seduced by contemporary music, you’ll find Kelly dazzling audiences with crystal clear classical arias, belting brassy show tunes, channelling pop-divas - and even indulging audiences with a little dancing.

Kelly is best known as a beloved full-time Resident Artist with Operatunity Concerts and Travel, one of New Zealand’s largest entertainment players reaching over 70,000 concertgoers a year, with over a million tickets sold. Don't let the 'opera' in the company's name fool you however, with concerts spanning repertoire from pop, rock, opera, musical theatre, big band and beyond, reflecting the shifting musical tastes of their devout audiences.

Kelly landed the coveted role of Resident Artist the same week she graduated university and is now a veteran of life on the road, with 14 national tours and 300+ performances under her belt. Kelly is lucky enough to host many of Operatunity's luxury musical travel tours, where audiences get to experience exceptional destinations with their favourite artists. 2023-2024 will see Kelly host trips to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Bali, and Australia.

Outside of Operatunity, Kelly was delighted to begin work in 2023 as the voice of ‘Eel’ for a new musical - Hana the Glowworm, a collaboration between the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and Angel Star Publishing. The first song to be released, ‘World of Wonderful’, is available on streaming platforms.

In 2022 she was a member of the New Zealand Opera Chorus performing in their production of Macbeth. In 2021 she was selected as a singer for New Zealand Opera’s 6.24 Voices of Aotearoa new opera development project and performed the role of Ada Wells in rock musical That Bloody Woman with Auckland Music Theatre. During the 2020 pandemic lockdown live performing came to halt, but Kelly was featured on the TV3 6pm National News for her role as a presenter and performer in Operatunity's online concerts, amassing over 200,000 views.

An accomplished actress as well as singer, Kelly won the Sam Wanamaker award for Most Promising Actor at the SGCNZ National Shakespeare Festival and subsequently was invited to perform as Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe Theatre in London as part of the SGCNZ Young Shakespeare Company. Kelly stepped once more onto the Shakespearean stage performing as Don John in Much Ado About Nothing at the Pop-Up Globe. She has also performed with Proudly Asian Theatre, worked on screen projects, and as a voiceover artist.

Kelly holds a Bachelor of Music and Arts in Classical Voice Performance and European Studies from the University of Auckland where she was a recipient of the prestigious University of Auckland Scholarship, Evelyn M Harrison Scholarship, and Palazzo Italia Scholarship funding her studies in Venice, Italy. Highlights of her time at university include performing the title role in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges, spending a summer at the Auckland Art Gallery giving patrons 'The Gift of Song’ as part of the exhibition Lee Mingwei and His Relations, and performing as a soloist with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra as an APO Young Achiever. 

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Committed to connecting with a diverse audience Kelly held several prominent positions as a young arts influencer during her studies, including Auckland Student Ambassador for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Coordinator of the Young Friends of New Zealand Opera, and President of the School of Music Student’s Association.