Kiri Te Kanawa

Dame Kiri Janette Te Kanawa ONZ, AC, DBE (born March 6, 1944), is an internationally famous New Zealand opera singer. In 1981, she was seen and heard around the world by an estimated 600 million people when she sang Handel's "Let the Bright Seraphim" at the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.

Te Kanawa was born in Gisborne, on New Zealand's North Island. She has both Māori and European ancestry but little is known about her birth parents as she was adopted as an infant; She is the adopted daughter of an Irish mother and Māori father. In her teens and early 20s, Te Kanawa was a pop star and popular entertainer at clubs in New Zealand.

She was formally trained in operatic singing by the celebrated Dame Sister Mary Leo, who was New Zealand's best-known opera coach. She began her singing career as a mezzo-soprano, but later developed into a soprano. Her recording of the "Nuns' Chorus" from the Strauss operetta Casanova was New Zealand's first gold record.

Career

In 1965 she won the prestigious Mobil Song Quest, entered by all types of singers, jazz, pop and classical, with her performance of Puccini's "Vissi d'arte" from Tosca. As the winner, she received a grant to study in London.

Early years in London

In 1966, without an audition, she enrolled at the London Opera Centre to study under James Robertson. Jenkins and d'Antal quote Robertson as having said that te Kanawa did not have any singing technique when she arrived at the school but did have a gift for captivating audiences.

She first appeared on stage as the "Second Lady" in Die Zauberflöte, as well as in performances of Dido and Aeneas in December 1968 at the Sadler's Wells Theatre. In 1969, she sang "Elena" in Gioacchino Rossini's La donna del lago at the Camden Festival. Praise for her "Idamante" in Mozart's Idomeneo led to an offer of a three-year contract as junior principal at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden where she made her debut as 'Xenia' in Boris Godunov and a 'Flower Maiden' in Parsifal in 1970, and was also heard as the "Voice from Heaven", an off-stage role, at the end of Verdi's Don Carlo. Also, during 1969, she was offered the role of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro after an audition in which the conductor, Colin Davis said "I couldn't believe my ears. I've taken thousands of auditions, but it was such a fantastically beautiful voice". (Gilbert and Shir). Under director John Copley Te Kanawa was carefully groomed for the role for a December 1971 opening.

International career

Meanwhile, word of her success had reached John Crosby at the Santa Fe Opera, a summer opera festival in the U.S. state of New Mexico then about to begin its fifteenth season. He cast her in the role of the Countess in Figaro, which opened on 30 July 1971. "It was two of the newcomers who left the audience dazzled: Frederica von Stade as Cherubino and Kiri te Kanawa as the Countess. Everyone knew at once that these were brilliant finds. History has confirmed that first impression" (Scott).

But on 1 December 1971 at Covent Garden, Kiri te Kanawa repeated the Santa Fe triumph and created an international sensation in the same role: "with 'Porgi amor' Kiri knocked the place flat" (Lebrecht). It was followed by performances of the Countess at the San Francisco Opera in autumn 1972, while her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1974 as Desdemona in Otello took place on short notice, replacing an ill Teresa Stratas at the last minute.

In subsequent years, she performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Paris Opera, Sydney Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, San Francisco Opera, Munich and Cologne, adding the Mozart roles of Donna Elvira, Pamina, and Fiordiligi, in addition to Italian roles such as Mimi in La bohème.

Te Kanawa has a particular affinity for the heroines of Richard Strauss. Her first appearance in the title role in Arabella was at the Houston Grand Opera in 1977, followed by the roles of the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and the Countess in Capriccio. Many performances were given under the baton of Georg Solti and it was with him that she made her first recording of Figaro.

Te Kanawa retired from the opera stage after her performances in Samuel Barber's Vanessa with the Washington National Opera and the Los Angeles Opera in November/December 2004, but she still performs in concert halls.

Honours awarded

Te Kanawa has been overwhelmed with honours. She was created a Dame Commander of The Order of the British Empire in 1982, invested with the Companion Order of Australia in 1990 and awarded the prestigious Order of New Zealand in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours List. She has also received honorary degrees from the following universities in the UK: Cambridge, Dundee, Durham, Nottingham, Oxford, Sunderland, Warwick as well as these universities worldwide: Chicago, Auckland and Waikato as well as being honorary fellow of Somerville College, Oxford and Wolfson College, Cambridge. She is also patron of Ringmer Community College, a school in the South-East of England.

Controversy

Te Kanawa has always been popular among New Zealanders, but when she said in 2003 there is dependency culture among Māori ^*, some Māori were highly critical.

Career highlights:

Born 6 March 1944 in Gisborne.
Studied under Sister Mary Leo 1959-1965 at St Mary's College in Auckland.
Had New Zealand's first gold disc, with a popular classical tune.
Was second to Dame Malvina Major in the Mobil Song Quest in 1963, won it in 1965.
Won the Melbourne Sun Aria in 1965, and was awarded an Arts Council of Great Britain bursary to study at the London Opera Centre.
Made her US debut with her performance as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro in summer 1971, and became internationally famous at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London after singing the role on 1 December 1971.
Sang at the San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and La Scala in Milan, Italy.
In 1981 sang at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in St Paul's Cathedral.
Created Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in 1982, and has returned to New Zealand to sing several times, including the New Year millennium concert at Gisborne in January 2000.
In 1994 celebrated her 50th birthday, culminating in a spectacular Birthday Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
November 1999, released a new album, Maori Songs.
Sang in her last opera, Vanessa, in 2004, but continues with recitals and concerts and organising the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, to help young music students.
On March 15, 2006, Te Kanawa played a role in the 2006 Commonwealth Games. She sang a medley of "Happy Birthday" to Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition of her upcoming birthday, and God Save the Queen.

Discography

Albums

Vedi & Puccini Arias (1982, CBS) - two Puccini arias "O mio babbino caro" (Gianni Schicchi) and "Chi bel sogno di Doretta" (La Rondine) were used in the Merchant Ivory Film A Room with a View
French Songs and Arias (1997)
Maori Songs (1999)
Kiri - The Best Of (2001)
The Very Best Of (2003)

Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation

Vision

The vision of the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation is that talented young New Zealand singers and musicians with complete dedication to their art may receive judicious and thoughtful mentoring and support to assist them in realising their dreams.

The Foundation's mission is to establish, build and manage a trust fund to provide financial and career support to such talented New Zealanders.

References

D'Antal, Stephen and Jenkins, Gary, Kiri: Her Unsung Story, New York, Harper Collins, 1998
Christchurch City Libraries, Famous New Zealanders.
Gilbert, Susie and Shir, Jay, A Tale of Four Houses: Opera at Covent Garden, La Scala, Vienna and the Met since 1945, London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2003. ISBN 0-00-255820-3
Lebrecht, Norman, Covent Garden, The Untold Story, Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2000. ISBN 1-55553-488-0
Scott, Eleanor, The First Twenty Years of The Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe, New Mexico: The Sunstone Press, 1976.

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