Award-winning Sri Lankan soprano Danielle de Niese said talent has protected her from racism in the opera industry.
"I'm aware of racism now but I've never felt that it is something that has ever limited me. I think music, like sport, sees things more democratically. Talent is talent," she told Radio Times.
De Niese, who is currently performing at Glyndebourne opera house, said that her parents "sheltered" her from racism during a childhood in Melbourne and Los Angeles so she was not held back.
However she admitted that women face a tougher challenge than men: "I just think if you're good, you'll rise to the top, but there are some biases against women."
The opera singer is married to Glyndebourne's chairman Gus Christie and said that her decision to return to work only three weeks after giving birth to her first child left people "gobsmacked" and asking questions about women trying to "have it all".
She also shares four stepsons with Christie from his first marriage and remains adamant that it is possible to juggle a career and family.
"I do want it all. I want the happy marriage, and the beautiful children, a great career ... I want all of those things, so I shall have all of these things. I'll just have to work it out," she said.
She added: "People ask women more questions about 'having it all'. Give me a hedge-fund manager who is a man and has five children - no one says to him 'So, it looks like you just want to have it all, don't you?'"
De Niese's career is in its ascendancy as she plays a dual role in Glyndebourne's Ravel double bill, including taking on the part of small boy in Ravel's L'Enfant Et Les Sortileges, described as her "Meryl Streep moment".
"I'm stepping into a new era of my career, where I'm not going to be put in a box," she said.
The soprano will next perform in the Last Night of the Proms on September 12, singing a medley from The Sound Of Music at the Albert Hall.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here