As part of our Women’s History Month series, AGMA’s Communications Coordinator interviewed Chorister Harriet Fraser. The conversation highlights her uniquely multifaceted career. A British soprano and longtime member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Fraser trained as a family physician in London while simultaneously pursuing advanced vocal studies and performance opportunities. After relocating to Los Angeles in 2008, she rebuilt her musical career from scratch, joining the Chorale in 2009 and remaining an active AGMA member ever since. Though she stepped away from practicing medicine, her commitment to caregiving continued, leading her to train as a birth doula, where she draws on both her clinical background and breathwork developed through singing. Fraser’s story underscores the value of embracing a nonlinear path and allowing multiple passions to evolve alongside one another.
AGMA Chorister Harriet Fraser’s career has been anything but linear. As a British soprano, former family physician, certified birth doula, and published author, Harriet has held many positions with remarkable grace. But behind that grace is a story of perseverance, a gift for holding multiple lives at once, and two women who told her she was worth betting on.
“I’ve always been a juggler; I find it stimulating, actually,” she says. “Being a mom, a singer, and a doctor all at once means you’re never doing just one thing.”
Fraser trained as a doctor in London, specializing in family medicine, yet even through grueling hospital shifts, music was never far away. She would drive down the motorway after a full day with patients to attend choral rehearsals, perform oratorio solos across England, and do recitals on the side. For years, she held both identities in careful balance, never quite ready to choose between them.
“All through my time as a doctor, singing was my escape and passion. It kept me going. Once I became a family doctor, my music teacher suggested I could pursue my singing further, so I actually applied to a music college in London while still working as a General Practitioner. I would see 30 patients in the morning, then go to a French song class or a singing lesson in the afternoon. I did that postgraduate program for two years,” she adds.
She credits her dedication to singing to two women who saw in her what she hadn’t yet fully seen in herself. The first was her school choir teacher in Norwich, whose exacting standards shaped Fraser’s sense of discipline from the age of eleven. Though never harsh nor cruel, her choir teacher prepared her for the often cutthroat world of the performing arts. The second was her vocal teacher, who encouraged her to advance her career by enrolling her in several Royal Academy graded exams, hoping Harriet would see what others saw and gain the confidence that music was a path she could pursue.
When her family relocated across the Atlantic in 2008, she arrived in Los Angeles without a medical license and a professional music network. She began again from scratch, performing at the Ebell Theater, building connections, and eventually auditioning for the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The director, Grant Gershon, pointed her toward the right people and encouraged her to audition again when there wasn’t a spot her first year. She joined LAMC in 2009 as a roster member and has been with the Chorale and AGMA ever since, performing as an oratorio and recital soloist and singing with the Street Symphony Chamber Singers as well. Medicine took a back seat for the time being.
But caregiving never really left her. As her children grew older and that particular pull returned, Fraser trained as a birth doula. This decision reconnected her with both her medical roots and, unexpectedly, her work as a singer. She also noticed that her creative life made her a better practitioner; thinking like an artist helped her see clinical situations differently. Moved by what she saw as a culture of fear around childbirth in the U.S. healthcare system, she channeled that conviction into a book, Pregnancy and Birth Made Calm, a guide for pregnant people, grounded in calm, aimed at replacing anxiety with confidence.
“The breathing techniques I’ve developed through singing have been incredibly helpful as a doula,” Harriet explains. “So much of birth support is about breathing the baby down, so that training transfers directly. Music itself can also be so helpful in the birthing space, and I always encourage people to work with it. Additionally, having a creative practice can help you think outside the box in medicine and birth work. My creative side has genuinely helped me see situations differently.”
Her music teachers are two women in her life who gave her that push and the space to grow, ensuring that her love for caregiving did not overshadow her vocal talent. For Harriet Fraser, it seems like the most natural thing to be constantly balancing the many facets of her life, and it certainly never gets boring! Three children, medicine, a singing career, a new vocation, and a book: none of it followed a blueprint, yet it all shapes who she is, both professionally and socially. Her advice to other artists navigating a non-linear path is to find the space, however small, and see how it grows.