Kiri Te Kanawa

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Kiri Te Kanawa (2013)

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa , CH , DBE , ONZ (* 6 March 1944 as Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron in Gisborne , New Zealand) is a New Zealand opera singer ( soprano ).

Life

Kiri Te Kanawa is New Zealander with an Irish mother and a Māori father, who grew up as an adopted child in the Te Kanawa family, in which the father was also Māori and the mother was also of Irish descent. Kiri Te Kanawa received her first singing lessons from Sister Maria Leo in Auckland . A few years later she won a singing competition in Melbourne, Australia and was then able to travel to London to study singing . Your first minor role, she received in London in the Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . In 1969 she sang her first leading role: Elena in Gioachino Rossini's La donna del lago . She made her debut at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in 1970 as Xenia in Boris Godunow . Over the next few years she sang on all the major opera stages in the world. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came about in 1974 when the singer Teresa Stratas fell ill . In just a few hours she had to prepare for the role of Desdemona in Giuseppe Verdi's Otello . At the Salzburg Festival in 1979 she sang the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro under Herbert von Karajan and Bernhard Klee .

Te Kanawa also made a name for herself as a song interpreter. Her concert repertoire includes songs by Henry Purcell as well as by Richard Strauss and Franz Liszt .

She sang at the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

In 1984 she became known to a wider audience beyond opera when Leonard Bernstein gave her the role of Maria in his only studio recording of the West Side Story . Josep Carreras sang the role of Tony at her side . Bernstein cast the orchestra with jazz musicians and selected what he believed to be the best voices for the roles in the musical . A documentary was made about the record .

In 1991 Kiri Te Kanawa sang the anthem for the rugby World Cup with World in Union . The single reached number 4 on the UK charts and number 5 in Ireland. The University of Waikato awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1996 . In 1997 she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge .

In August 2009 she announced the end of her operatic career. She gave her last performance on April 17, 2010 at the Cologne Opera House as Marschallin in Richard Strauss' Rosenkavalier . On September 4th, 2012 she gave a gala concert in Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou . In April 2013 she appeared in a revival series of the Donizetti opera La fille du régiment as Duchesse de Crakentorp at the Vienna State Opera . In the same year she embodied this pointed role at the Met . In the fourth season of the British TV series Downton Abbey , she appeared soon after in a guest role in which she played the Australian soprano Nellie Melba .

Discography

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE UK UK US US NZ NZ
1979 Strauss: Four Last Songs -
Orchestra Songs
- - - NZ25 (2 weeks)
NZ
with Andrew Davis and the
London Symphony Orchestra
1983 A Royal Occasion ... - - - NZ47 (1 week)
NZ
Verdi and Puccini Arias - - - NZ11
platinum
platinum

(15 weeks)NZ
1985 West Side Story - UK11 (32 weeks)
UK
- -
Blue skies - UK40
gold
gold

(29 weeks)UK
US136 (16 weeks)
US
-
1986 Highlights from West Side Story - UK72 (6 weeks)
UK
- NZ42 (2 weeks)
NZ
with Leonard Bernstein and José Carreras
South Pacific - UK5 (24 weeks)
UK
- -
with José Carreras, Sarah Vaughan
and Mandy Patinkin
Christmas with Kiri - UK47
gold
gold

(4 weeks)UK
- -
with Carl Davis
1987 Kiri Sings Gershwin - - - NZ9 (11 weeks)
NZ
with John McGlinn and
The New Princess Theater Orchestra
My fair lady - UK41 (12 weeks)
UK
- -
1988 Kiri - UK16
gold
gold

(7 weeks)UK
- NZ14th
gold
gold

(6 weeks)NZ
Chart entry in NZ only in November 1989
1990 Kiri's homecoming - - - NZ15 (4 weeks)
NZ
1991 Heart to Heart - - - NZ3
gold
gold

(13 weeks)NZ
with Malcolm McNeill
1992 The Essential Kiri - UK23
silver
silver

(10 weeks)UK
- -
Kiri Sidetracks: The Jazz Album - UK73 (1 week)
UK
- -
1994 Kiri: A 50th Birthday Celebration of
Her Greatest Hits - Live
- - - NZ26 (5 weeks)
NZ
1995 Christmas with Kiri Te Kanawa - UK91 (1 week)
UK
- -
Recording: Coventry Cathedral , December 3rd 1994
1996 Classic Christmas Album DE48 (4 weeks)
DE
- - -
with Domingo and Pavarotti
1999 Maori songs - - - NZ4th
Triple platinum
× 3
Triple platinum

(32 weeks)NZ
with Māori (choir)
2004 The Gala Concert - - - NZ23
gold
gold

(6 weeks)NZ
Dame Kiri and Friends with
The Auckland Philharmonia

More albums

  • 1991: Best Of Domingo, Te Kanawa And Pavarotti (UK:goldgold)

Singles

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE UK UK US US NZ NZ
1991 World in Union - UK4 (11 weeks)
UK
- NZ10 (7 weeks)
NZ
Title song of the ITV broadcasts on the
rugby world championship

supporting documents

  1. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in: Encyclopædia Britannica Online, accessed May 17, 2009
  2. ^ List of honorary doctorates from the University of Waikato
  3. Honorary Doctorates from the University of Cambridge
  4. Dame Kiri to end opera career . In: New Zealand Herald , August 14, 2009. 
  5. a b Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US1 US2 NZ
  6. a b Gold / Platinum database UK NZ

Web links