At 11 she released an album, at 18 she set up a charitable foundation, and now at 21 Tayla Alexander is a lyric soprano. Before that, she's about to perform in a short comique opera in Brisbane. It's part of the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Programme for emerging professional singers from New Zealand and Australia. On top of all that, this year she's been studying for an honours degree at the University of Auckland before going overseas for her Masters in music. She was also a semi-finalist in the 2022 Lexus Song Quest. Like her mentor Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Tayla tells Lynn Freeman, she's a "crossover artist", singing a wide range of genres - opera, classical, pop and music theatre.