Let's get one thing out of the way: Greta Bradman is Australian cricketing legend Sir Donald Bradman's granddaughter. It's a subject that comes up every time the singer is interviewed, something to which she is good-naturedly resigned.

She is, understandably enough, a little weary of interviews that are supposed to be about music veering onto the subject of cricket and staying there.

So while acknowledging The Don, we won't linger in his shadow. Instead, let's ask if there are other musicians in a family known for sport.

"Yes, there are," Bradman says. She reels off a list, including cousins who play with the Sydney Symphony or sing with The Song Company and a grandmother who toured with a vocal trio, The Menzies Sisters, before bringing up the fact that she had a vocal trio of her own, Eve Vocal Trio, in her late teens and early 20s.

And how old is she now?

"I'm now approaching my mid-30s – terrifying!"

We won't linger there, either. Instead, let's talk about Bradman's upcoming tour that coincides with her recent CD, My Hero, released on Decca last year. It was the highest-selling Australian core classical music album in 2015 and Bradman was named Limelight magazine's Australian Artist of the Year.

Canberra is the third destination on the tour, which begins in Wagga Wagga and will include regional centres as well as capital cities, and focus on performances in intimate venues, such as churches.

"I love Canberra," Bradman says.

"I've been to Canberra a number of times – for a couple of song recitals and I've presented a number of concerts with the Canberra Choral Society with Tobias Cole. I was last in Canberra for Handel's Theodora in 2013 – I was Theodora."

Bradman organised the financing of My Hero – "a passion project" – herself, from a variety of sources, and licensed the recording to Decca, both to maintain artistic freedom and to keep the copyright. She recorded the album – a mix of popular songs and opera arias – in Britain with the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by fellow Australian Richard Bonynge, who was married to legendary soprano Dame Joan Sutherland.

"I loved every second," Bradman says.

"It was an experience I'll never forget. Richard was absolutely wonderful. He's in his mid-80s but when he's at the podium conducting, you wouldn't know – he's completely ageless."

After a few days' piano rehearsal – about half spent talking and listening to recordings – the album was recorded in 16 hours over four days. It was a busy schedule, but Bradman says she learned a lot from Bonynge's depth of knowledge and experience, particularly of the bel canto repertoire. And he taught the singer, who says she likes soft singing, about not shying away from her sound, and projecting her voice in a refined way.

The album title comes from one of the songs on the album. Bradman says she was talking to Universal Music (parent company of Decca) general manager Cyrus Meher-Homji about the album's possible names and when My Hero was raised, "We looked at each other and both of us had an 'Aha!' moment."

On the tour, Bradman will be accompanied on the piano and organ by Rhys Boak and will perform a selection of numbers from the album, as well as some surprises. You might hear, for example, Casta Diva from Bellini's Norma or When You Wish Upon A Star, from the Disney film Pinocchio.

While the former is an operatic staple, the latter might seem a surprising choice for a classical singer, but Bradman sees the concert as an opportunity for people to enjoy a range of beautiful music and thinks the song lends itself quite well to being performed in the Italianate bel canto style.

The tour will take up much of April and all May, with further dates to be determined, but Bradman has plenty of activities scheduled for the year.

She'll be performing in Opera in the Vineyards in the Hunter Valley in October alongside singers Richard Hobson, Natalie Aroyan and Richard Troxell and in the same month will sing on a cruise ship with Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. She's also got a Sydney concert lined up with Rhodes in November.

She does charity work, focusing on a few charities each year, especially ones that help children, including Save the Children and the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, because "young people and kids are the future".

And she will be spending time with her family in Melbourne – her husband, Didier Elzinga, who runs an international software company, and their young sons.

Bradman has come a long way since her early days in Adelaide as a young singer and piano student with a wide range of musical interests.

"I had a little bit of eclectic taste – I love Madonna," she says.

Bessie Smith, Maria Callas, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Joan Sutherland, Enrico Caruso and Dolly Parton were also among her favourites.

Initially, she didn't think she would pursue music professionally, so she studied psychology as well as music and even did four years of a doctorate, but finally decided she couldn't not keep singing. The opportunities were still there to perform and in 2010 she decided to throw herself into them wholeheartedly.

At first, it was only going to be a temporary thing, but as the offers kept coming, she kept taking them.

She does work with Opera Scholars Australia, conducting workshops and masterclasses with young singers, where her psychology background comes in handy. Now, she says, in the unlikely event she ever did resume her PhD, it would be on a new thesis topic entirely.

"Something applicable to the performing arts," she suggests.