Born in
Dunedin, Payne was educated at
Otago Girls' High School. she continued her studies in London. She was a student at the
London Opera Centre from 1967 to 1968, and also studied with
Roy Henderson,
Hans Hotter and
Vera Rózsa. She appeared at the
Bayreuth Festival in 1977, as Schwertleite and First Norn in the
Jahrhundertring, the centenary production of Wagner's
Der Ring des Nibelungen, conducted by
Pierre Boulez and staged by
Patrice Chéreau. She made her debut at the
Metropolitan Opera in 1980, as Cieca in Ponchielli's
La Gioconda. In 1978, she appeared at
La Scala in Milan as Ulrica, a role that has been called her signature role. She performed at the
Opera North in Leeds in 1987 in the English premiere of
Daphne by Richard Strauss, singing the role of Gaea. In 1995, she appeared at the
Tel Aviv Opera as Clarissa in Prokofiev's ''
L'Amour des trois oranges'', and as Auntie in the first performance of Britten's
Peter Grimes in New Zealand. After her singing career, she became a visual artist, creating icons, paintings of fish and other creatures from the natural world, and medieval scenes. ==Honours==