Dame Kiri Te Kanawa | Academy of Achievement

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She worked as a telephone operator and performed at weddings and in night clubs to save the money she needed to travel from New Zealand to London. From those hardscrabble beginnings, she rose to dazzle critics and audiences alike with her performances of the classic operatic works by legendary composers such as Mozart, Strauss, and Verdi. She made her debut at Covent Garden in 1970, but it was a last-minute substitution in 1974 — as an understudy for the role of Desdemona in Verdi's Otello at New York's Metropolitan Opera House — that propelled her into opera's exclusive legion of greats when she was barely 30 years of age. Her lush and lyrical soprano so entranced England's royal family that she was personally invited to perform at the wedding ceremony of Prince Charles and Lady Diana -- before a live television audience of some 600 million -- and later for Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee. She was also honored as a Dame Commander of the British Empire by the Queen. Having made her mark in performances across the globe, Te Kanawa, a deeply patriotic New Zealander with a strong Maori heritage, is now helping to mentor other talented young New Zealand singers and musicians through her Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation."/> <meta name="robots" content="index, follow"/> <meta name="googlebot" content="index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1"/> <meta name="bingbot" content="index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/dame-kiri-te-kanawa/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Dame Kiri Te Kanawa | Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">Before she became an internationally celebrated opera star, Kiri Te Kanawa struggled to earn money to pay for her singing lessons. She worked as a telephone operator and performed at weddings and in night clubs to save the money she needed to travel from New Zealand to London. From those hardscrabble beginnings, she rose to dazzle critics and audiences alike with her performances of the classic operatic works by legendary composers such as Mozart, Strauss, and Verdi.</p> <p class="inputText">She made her debut at Covent Garden in 1970, but it was a last-minute substitution in 1974 — as an understudy for the role of Desdemona in Verdi's <i>Otello</i> at New York's Metropolitan Opera House — that propelled her into opera's exclusive legion of greats when she was barely 30 years of age.</p> <p class="inputText">Her lush and lyrical soprano so entranced England's royal family that she was personally invited to perform at the wedding ceremony of Prince Charles and Lady Diana -- before a live television audience of some 600 million -- and later for Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee. She was also honored as a Dame Commander of the British Empire by the Queen. Having made her mark in performances across the globe, Te Kanawa, a deeply patriotic New Zealander with a strong Maori heritage, is now helping to mentor other talented young New Zealand singers and musicians through her Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation.</p>"/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/dame-kiri-te-kanawa/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2019-10-05T00:37:31+00:00"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/tekanawa-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="2800"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1120"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@achievers1961"/> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@achievers1961"/> <script type="application/ld+json" class="yoast-schema-graph">{"@context":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/#organization","name":"Academy of Achievement","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/","sameAs":["https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-academy-of-achievement","https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChe_87uh1H-NIMf3ndTjPFw","https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_Achievement","https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://twitter.com/achievers1961"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/12.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Academy of Achievement"},"image":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/#website","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/","name":"Academy of Achievement","description":"A museum of living history","publisher":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/search/{search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/dame-kiri-te-kanawa/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/tekanawa-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg","width":2800,"height":1120},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/dame-kiri-te-kanawa/#webpage","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/dame-kiri-te-kanawa/","name":"Dame Kiri Te Kanawa | Academy of Achievement","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/dame-kiri-te-kanawa/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2016-08-24T06:31:29+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-05T00:37:31+00:00","description":"Before she became an internationally celebrated opera star, Kiri Te Kanawa struggled to earn money to pay for her singing lessons. 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feature-area__blurb">Beloved Opera Singer</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#profile" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Profile">Profile</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#interview" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Interview">Interview</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#gallery" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Gallery">Gallery</a> </li> </ul> </nav> <article class="post-3208 achiever type-achiever status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry careers-opera-singer"> <div class="entry-content container clearfix">  <div class="tab-content"> <div class="tab-pane active" id="biography" role="tabpanel"> <section class="achiever--biography"> <div class="banner clearfix"> <div class="banner--single clearfix"> <div class="col-lg-8 col-lg-offset-2"> <div class="banner__image__container"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-it-takes/id1025864075?mt=2" target="_blank"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <img class="lazyload banner__image" data-src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/WhatItTakes_tekanawa-256-190x190.png" alt=""/> </figure> </a> </div> <div class="banner__text__container"> <h3 class="serif-3 banner__headline"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-it-takes/id1025864075?mt=2" target="_blank"> Listen to this achiever on <i>What It Takes</i> </a> </h3> <p class="sans-6 banner__text m-b-0"><i>What It Takes</i> is an audio podcast produced by the American Academy of Achievement featuring intimate, revealing conversations with influential leaders in the diverse fields of endeavor: public service, science and exploration, sports, technology, business, arts and humanities, and justice.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">That's been my sort of aim in life, to never miss an opportunity.</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">A Stunning and Lyrical Voice for the Ages</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> March 6, 1944 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><p>The internationally famed soprano, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, was born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron in the small New Zealand seaside town of Gisborne, where Captain James Cook first made landfall. Just at the edge of the international dateline, it prides itself as the first city in the world to greet the sun.</p> <figure id="attachment_63056" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-63056" style="width: 1405px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-63056 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/wp-young-kiri-butterfly-wings-side-by-side.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-63056 size-full lazyload" alt="" width="1405" height="1076" data-sizes="(max-width: 1405px) 100vw, 1405px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/wp-young-kiri-butterfly-wings-side-by-side.jpg 1405w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/wp-young-kiri-butterfly-wings-side-by-side-380x291.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/wp-young-kiri-butterfly-wings-side-by-side-760x582.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/wp-young-kiri-butterfly-wings-side-by-side.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-63056" class="wp-caption-text">1950: Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron (later Kiri Te Kanawa) at age six. She was born on March 6, 1944, in Gisborn, NZ.</figcaption></figure> <p>Here, the birth child of a native Maori man and a woman of European extraction was adopted at five weeks of age by a local couple, Tom and Nell Te Kanawa, he also a Maori and she with family ties to the British Isles. The Te Kanawas named their daughter Kiri, the Maori word for bell. She was to be their only child. The family came from modest circumstances: Tom Te Kanawa ran a truck contracting business, while his wife stayed home with Kiri. Some of the soprano’s earliest recollections are of blissfully swimming in the sea with her father and of fishing. On one outing, she nearly drowned when a boat capsized, trapping her underneath, until her father managed to dive down and rescue her. And for almost as long as she can remember, she sang. Her first performances were on a little stage jerry-rigged in the Te Kanawas’ house, complete with a curtain; “the curtains would come back,” she recalled, “and I’d get up and sing.” Without a television in the home, music and singing quickly became the primary entertainment. But although her mom played piano, from early on, Kiri eschewed command performances: “I was rather sort of miffy about it even then. I’d only sing when I felt like it.”</p> <figure id="attachment_63065" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-63065" style="width: 1405px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-63065 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/wp-Kiris-blood-father-and-mother-side-by-side.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-63065 lazyload" alt="" width="1405" height="1076" data-sizes="(max-width: 1405px) 100vw, 1405px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/wp-Kiris-blood-father-and-mother-side-by-side.jpg 1405w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/wp-Kiris-blood-father-and-mother-side-by-side-380x291.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/wp-Kiris-blood-father-and-mother-side-by-side-760x582.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/wp-Kiris-blood-father-and-mother-side-by-side.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-63065" class="wp-caption-text">Kiri Te Kanawa’s biological father, Jack Wawatai, in 1937, and her biological mother, Noeleen Rawstron, in 1940.</figcaption></figure> <p>Yet where Te Kanawa had a breezy indifference to her own voice, her mother heard something magical: the raw beauty and talent of her dulcet tones. She told her daughter one morning that she had seen a wondrous vision of Kiri singing at London’s Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Soon, for Te Kanawa’s mother, transforming that vision into a reality became her own life’s dream. But the journey from the languid, peaceful New Zealand coast to top billing in London and New York, and then super-stardom literally around the globe, was a long and arduous one. Te Kanawa says simply that it would take “years and years” to detail how much her parents sacrificed for her, adding with genuine emotion, “the reasons that I’m here today is because of the sacrifice of my parents.”</p> <figure id="attachment_17247" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17247" style="width: 1861px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-17247 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-with-parents-11.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-17247 size-full lazyload" alt="Kiri Te Kanawa with her adoptive parents, Tom and Nell Te Kanawa, at a party in their garden at Blockhouse Bay, New Zealand, one the eve of Kiri's departure for London in 1966. (Courtesy of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa)" width="1861" height="1242" data-sizes="(max-width: 1861px) 100vw, 1861px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-with-parents-11.jpg 1861w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-with-parents-11-380x254.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-with-parents-11-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-with-parents-11.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17247" class="wp-caption-text">Kiri Te Kanawa with her adoptive parents, Tom and Nell Te Kanawa, at a party in their garden at Blockhouse Bay, New Zealand, on the eve of Kiri’s departure for the opera stages of London in 1966. (Credit: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa)</figcaption></figure> <p>Te Kanawa began her remarkable rise in the most ordinary of venues, singing at a local school. From there, she would go on to perform at weddings and funerals. The money she pocketed helped pay for her basic necessities, like clothes, as well as for her singing lessons. By 1956, wanting to do whatever they could for their daughter’s talent, the Te Kanawas had packed up for Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, so Kiri could study with a former opera singer turned nun, Sister Mary Leo, at St. Mary’s College for Girls. The schedule was brutal and the schooling, more often than not, a disaster. Te Kanawa was routinely plucked from class in the middle of her lessons to work on her singing whenever Sister Mary was free, and as a consequence, her grades suffered. Within two years, Te Kanawa was asked to leave St. Mary’s.</p> <p>Undaunted, she enrolled in a business school, where she learned to type and write in shorthand. But she never gave up on her singing. She took a job as a receptionist and then as a telephone operator so she could work at night and study singing during the day. And with pluck and daring, she began to enter competitions. Her breakthrough started in 1960, when she won the Auckland Competition. From there, it was on to voice competitions in Australia. By 1965, she had won most of the South Pacific’s major vocal prizes. She also sang in music show choruses and nightclubs — during one memorable performance, Te Kanawa, dressed all in white, serenaded a drunken club crowd with “Ave Maria.” Then, at age 21, having banked her prize money and earnings, not to mention a scholarship from the New Zealand government, she set off across the globe to England. There, she would finally sing in her first opera.</p> <figure id="attachment_17242" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17242" style="width: 1855px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-17242 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-HU056893.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-17242 size-full lazyload" alt="Kiri Te Kanawa in the role that brought her fame, the Countess Almaviva in Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro." (Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS)" width="1855" height="2802" data-sizes="(max-width: 1855px) 100vw, 1855px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-HU056893.jpg 1855w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-HU056893-252x380.jpg 252w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-HU056893-503x760.jpg 503w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-HU056893.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17242" class="wp-caption-text">1971: Kiri Te Kanawa in the role that brought her fame, the Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s <em>The Marriage of Figaro</em>.</figcaption></figure> <p>Te Kanawa enrolled at the London Opera Centre and began her formal instruction in earnest. After a master class at the Centre, it was the celebrated Australian conductor, Richard Bonynge, who told Te Kanawa that she was a soprano, not a mezzo soprano. In 1967, she married Desmond Park, an Australian engineer whom she met in London, and within seven years, her life would be utterly transformed. Her first milestone was finding former Vienna opera star Vera Rozsa, who became her singing coach. Rozsa systematically schooled her in interpretation and stage acting, as well as the technical aspects of operatic singing. By 1970, fulfilling her mother’s dream, Te Kanawa made her debut at the famed Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, singing the roles of Xenia in Mussorgsky’s <em>Boris Godunov</em>. She also appeared that season as a flower maiden in Wagner’s <em>Parsifal</em>, but the performance that began her stratospheric rise was as Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s <em>The Marriage of Figaro</em> in December of 1971. For that, she earned 50 to 100 English pounds per week, a salary that remained unchanged for the rest of her five-year contract.</p> <figure id="attachment_17248" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17248" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-17248 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ001098.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-17248 size-full lazyload" alt="Kiri Te Kanawa plays another Countess, the title role in the Royal Opera production of "Arabella" by Richard Strauss. (© Robbie Jack/CORBIS)" width="2280" height="3548" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ001098.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ001098-244x380.jpg 244w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ001098-488x760.jpg 488w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ001098.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17248" class="wp-caption-text">Kiri Te Kanawa plays another Countess, the title role in the Royal Opera production of <em>Arabella</em> by Richard Strauss.</figcaption></figure> <p>Critics have described Te Kanawa’s voice as having a “platinum tone and regal aura,” but she herself is far more regular than regal; she has often said that she prefers rehearsals with her fellow cast members to full operatic performances. Indeed, Te Kanawa describes opera, which requires not simply singing talent, but the ability to act and move in concert with all the other performers on the stage as, quite simply, “a mess.” She explains, “There’s the music. There’s the coaching. There’s the instruction. There’s the language. There’s the stage movements, the conductor, the agents, singing teachers, and everybody else.” It is, in her view, nothing short of “a circus.” Actually, Te Kanawa marvels, “You feel as though your brain is going to break.” Her answer, she says, is to retreat into her “typical South Pacific, Polynesian mode” of just going “whoo” and not taking any notice of the whirlwind around her.</p> <figure id="attachment_17240" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17240" style="width: 1536px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-17240 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-0000275690-001.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-17240 size-full lazyload" alt="Kiri Te Kanawa shooting a music video in 1992. (© Michael Le Poer Trench/Sygma/Corbis)" width="1536" height="1024" data-sizes="(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-0000275690-001.jpg 1536w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-0000275690-001-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-0000275690-001-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-0000275690-001.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17240" class="wp-caption-text">Internationally famed soprano Kiri Te Kanawa shooting a music video in 1992. (Michael Le Poer Trench and Sygma)</figcaption></figure> <p>In 1974, Te Kanawa was released by Covent Garden to journey to New York’s Metropolitan Opera as the understudy for noted soprano Teresa Stratas, who was headlining as Desdemona in Verdi’s <em>Otello</em>. Te Kanawa watched a dress rehearsal, ran through the entire staging on a cold and snowy Friday and then went home to bed. The next morning, she awoke and contemplated a day of shopping. Stratas, after all, was the one who was the marquee star, and the one who was set to take the stage. Then the telephone rang. Jokingly, she told a friend who was staying with her that if it was the Met to tell them that she had indeed “gone shopping.” The friend took her at her word and hung up. The next call, from Te Kanawa’s agent, was far more frantic, telling her to get down to the opera house. Without even so much as a dressing gown in hand, she hailed a cab on the snow-covered New York streets and hopped in. The cabbie, it turned out, was from Brooklyn and had never been to the Met. Te Kanawa ended up directing him herself and raced through the front door. The matinee curtain was rising imminently, and the backstage staff bundled Te Kanawa into her wig and costume and makeup. The performance was scheduled to be broadcast across the United States. There was, she remembered, no time for nerves, only “all-out panic.” This one illustrious performance made Kiri Te Kanawa an international sensation. Remarkably, she made her New York debut with not a single friend or family member in the audience. “I went on, the loneliest person in the world.”</p> <figure id="attachment_17250" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17250" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-17250 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002638.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-17250 size-full lazyload" alt="Kiri Te Kanawa and Rodney Gilfry of Richard Strauss's "Capriccio," in London, July 1998. (Robbie Jack/CORBIS)" width="2280" height="3432" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002638.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002638-252x380.jpg 252w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002638-505x760.jpg 505w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002638.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17250" class="wp-caption-text">July 1998: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Rodney Gilfry in Richard Strauss’s <em>Capriccio </em>in London. (Robbie Jack/Corbis)</figcaption></figure> <p>Te Kanawa still has mixed emotions about that unprecedented debut, describing it as akin to being “in a jumbo jet going faster than anybody else in the entire planet on that day.” And even the charmed career that followed — demanding performances around the globe, media profiles, numerous recordings, the legendary status as one of the world’s greatest opera stars, and in 1981, the personal invitation to sing at the wedding of England’s Price Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at Westminster Abbey before a record global audience of over 600 million — has left her with an imprint of surprisingly ambivalent feelings. An early riser, Te Kanawa never enjoyed late-night post-performance parties or suppers, preferring instead to return home and go to bed. Almost indifferent to the public eye, she dismisses many of her accolades, saying that praise simply “comes and goes.”</p> <figure id="attachment_17238" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17238" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-17238 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_662.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-17238 size-full lazyload" alt="Academy members Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and John Williams with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as they perform before a movie screen backdrop at 20th Century Fox Studios during the 2006 International Achievement Summit." width="2280" height="1283" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_662.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_662-380x214.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_662-760x428.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_662.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17238" class="wp-caption-text">2006: Academy members Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and composer John Williams with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as they perform before a movie screen backdrop at 20th Century Fox Studios during the 45th Achievement Summit.</figcaption></figure> <p>There also remains in Te Kanawa a wistful sadness about the high price of a career that required her to live out of suitcases for months on end. In fact, for all the thunder and noise of the opera stage, she hears with equal and even keener precision the silence, describing the loneliness of leaving the stage after being cheered and handed flowers: “Then you go back to the hotel and all the flowers are dying. And it’s very lonely in the hotel room. There’s nothing there.”</p> <p>Her own life too has had its quiet hurts and tragedies. Te Kanawa’s mother died not long after her 1971 debut at Covent Garden. After a serious bout of illness that forced her to quit performing for three months, Te Kanawa and her husband adopted a daughter, Antonia. Three years later, they adopted a son, Thomas. But the marriage ultimately could not hold; she and her husband divorced in the late 1990s. She zealously guards her private life, but cryptically says, “if you’re going to have a career like this, I think there’s huge problems.” In part, she blames her career for the break-up of her marriage and suggests that it took a toll on her children. Moreover, at more reflective moments, she wonders if she should have given it all up and left the stage. “Sometimes in the darkest time, when I regret a lot, in that dark part of the night when it’s really black, I just see this stinking career took so much. Yet it gave me so much.”</p> <figure id="attachment_17239" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17239" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-17239 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_686.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-17239 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1628" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_686.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_686-380x271.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_686-760x543.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_686.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17239" class="wp-caption-text">June 2006: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa receiving the Gold Medal of the Academy of Achievement from Awards Council member Dame Julie Andrews at 20th Century Fox Studios during the 45th International Achievement Summit.</figcaption></figure> <p>Glamorous, elegant, stunningly beautiful, Kiri Te Kanawa is still a household name. The little girl from a tiny corner of New Zealand ultimately rose to become a Dame Commander of the British Empire and the recipient of distinguished honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. A concert she gave in Auckland attracted a record-breaking 140,000 fans, and she sang the first song of the new millennium in Gisborne, to a global audience in over 80 countries of some one billion. She was also invited to perform at Buckingham Palace for Queen Elizabeth II’s Jubilee.</p> <p>As an artist, she is most at home among the works of Mozart, Verdi, and Strauss; Mozart, she has often been told, is the perfect match for her voice. She once described Strauss as “music that fits me like a glove, lyrical and passionate at the same time.” Yet for her own pleasure, Te Kanawa prefers the sounds of the instruments alone; in periods of solitude, she listens to Wagner’s orchestral music, rather than having “to pay attention to voices.”</p> <figure id="attachment_17253" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17253" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-17253 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek34.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-17253 size-full lazyload" alt="Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has created her own foundation to assist talented young musicians from her native New Zealand. (Photo by John Swannell)" width="2280" height="3420" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek34.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek34-253x380.jpg 253w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek34-507x760.jpg 507w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek34.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17253" class="wp-caption-text">In 2004, Dame Kiri founded The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation to assist outstanding young New Zealand singers and musicians who have complete dedication to their art, with mentoring, financial support and career assistance.</figcaption></figure> <p>Te Kanawa remains a deeply patriotic New Zealander, who seeks solace and rejuvenation in the lush, green north coastal region, where the ocean amiably wanders in and out of peaceful inlets. Ironically, the diva who made her mark singing the roles of royalty in elaborate costumes on ornate stages, is a self-described tomboy, who enthusiastically fishes, hikes, boats, plays golf and tennis, and even shoots clay pigeons. Now retired from the operatic stage, she has gradually reduced her engagements, but continues to perform in concert. Her current passion is the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, which she founded to help support promising young New Zealanders with musical talent. The Foundation provides them with mentoring, coaching, and some financial support. She hopes to open doors for them, something she lacked early in her own career. She shares her simple formula for her own success, that she “never ever missed a green light.” She adds that, walking down the street, she would not stop for a red light. “I’m sort of criss-crossing to get to the green light all the time. And that’s been my aim in life: to never miss an opportunity.”</p> </body></html> <div class="clearfix"> <figure class="achiever__video-block"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/MCFy-MvNcjE?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=170&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Kiri-Te-Kanawa-performs-O-mio-babbino-caro.00_01_46_06.Still003-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Kiri-Te-Kanawa-performs-O-mio-babbino-caro.00_01_46_06.Still003-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video__copy m-t-1"> <p>Dame Kiri Te Kanawa performed at the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles, accompanied by Academy member John Williams and the L.A. Philharmonic. Watch Dame Kiri sing “O mio babbino caro” from <em>Gianni Schicchi</em> by Giacomo Puccini.</p> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 2006 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.opera-singer">Opera Singer</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> March 6, 1944 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p class="inputTextFirst">Before she became an internationally celebrated opera star, Kiri Te Kanawa struggled to earn money to pay for her singing lessons. She worked as a telephone operator and performed at weddings and in night clubs to save the money she needed to travel from New Zealand to London. From those hardscrabble beginnings, she rose to dazzle critics and audiences alike with her performances of the classic operatic works by legendary composers such as Mozart, Strauss, and Verdi.</p> <p class="inputText">She made her debut at Covent Garden in 1970, but it was a last-minute substitution in 1974 — as an understudy for the role of Desdemona in Verdi’s <i>Otello</i> at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House — that propelled her into opera’s exclusive legion of greats when she was barely 30 years of age.</p> <p class="inputText">Her lush and lyrical soprano so entranced England’s royal family that she was personally invited to perform at the wedding ceremony of Prince Charles and Lady Diana — before a live television audience of some 600 million — and later for Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee. She was also honored as a Dame Commander of the British Empire by the Queen. Having made her mark in performances across the globe, Te Kanawa, a deeply patriotic New Zealander with a strong Maori heritage, is now helping to mentor other talented young New Zealand singers and musicians through her Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation.</p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/cdYfRqfHUbk?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=3159&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_22_45_27.Still015-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_22_45_27.Still015-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">A Stunning and Lyrical Voice for the Ages</h2> <div class="sans-2">The Metropolitan Opera House, New York City</div> <div class="sans-2">April 9, 2008</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p class="inputtextfirst"><b>Tell us about your debut as the Countess in <i>Marriage of Figaro</i> at Covent Garden, in December 1971. Did you have a feeling this was going to be a very big night for you?</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Kiri Te Kanawa: No, no. Not at all. I knew that things were working up to it. But you know, when you’re in it, you’re in sort of a mess, because there’s the music, there’s the coaching, there’s the instruction, there’s the language, there’s the stage movements, the conductor. And then you’ve got everybody else coming. You’ve got agents, you’ve got singing teachers. You’ve got this whole world, a circus. You feel as though your brain is going to break, and I think I’m just going to go crazy. I just went into my typical South Pacific, Polynesian mode. I just wouldn’t take any notice of it. I just sort of let it all fly over me. That’s the only way I could cope with it. There’s only so much you can take in in a day. I was coming in from the country. My journey was an hour and a half. I was working long hours, so I could only take in so much.</p> <p class="inputtext"><b>You were pretty well prepared. You’d done the role before, albeit in English.</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes.</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/AOfldzcT5is?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=31&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_36_29_04.Still018-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_36_29_04.Still018-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/preparation/">Preparation</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">I’d actually done the Countess, which was very important. I’ve actually done it on stage, yes, with a director. Yes, I worked for several weeks in Santa Fe, which was a wonderful experience. I mean, it was very precious, that experience. I look back and always remember that glorious time. That gave me the strength to do the Covent Garden one. Because I’d done it. I’d been there. And yet, I was in a more superior production, of course. Everything was just super-super-duper. It was really fantastic.</p> <p></p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><p class="inputtext"><b>That night in December of 1971, when you first sang the Countess at Covent Garden, did you realize immediately what a big deal this was for your career?</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Kiri Te Kanawa: No. I don’t think I thought about that until it really took off. Suddenly, you’ve got agents and jobs, and you’re doing this and doing that. You’re wanted everywhere. And there’s interviews and newspapers. And the Met’s calling and Covent Garden is booking you again. And then Glyndebourne suddenly wants you. Once again, this melee, and I just went into my little spot of just going into cuckooland and not taking too much notice of it for awhile. And then you can cope with it. There was a time when I couldn’t cope a couple of years later. I just overdid everything and decided to take a huge break because it was all too much.</p> <figure id="attachment_17252" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17252" style="width: 1500px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-17252 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek33.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-17252 size-full lazyload" alt="Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, beloved around the world for her soaring voice and elegant stage presence. (Photo by John Swannell)" width="1500" height="1874" data-sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek33.jpg 1500w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek33-304x380.jpg 304w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek33-608x760.jpg 608w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek33.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17252" class="wp-caption-text">Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, beloved around the world for her soaring voice and elegant stage presence. (John Swannell)</figcaption></figure> <p class="inputtext"><b>When you’re in that kind of demand and you’re fairly new in your career, it must be hard to say no to very prestigious invitations.</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it’s harder today. It’s harder today to say no, because there’s less around. And there are a lot more singers who will agree to do anything and sometimes not be capable of doing it. That’s what I’m more worried about, the singers who do a job, an opera, performance of whatever type, and then after the performance, they’ve basically killed their voice off. That’s what I’m more worried about today.</p> <p></p> <p class="inputtext"><b>When you approach a role like the Countess in <i>Marriage of Figaro</i>, do you approach it all together, the singing, the acting, the words? Or do you just learn the music first?</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Kiri Te Kanawa: Gosh. Now that you ask me the question, it’s going to be hard to answer.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/JnBkS0-QTmg?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_36_32_21.Still019-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_36_32_21.Still019-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/preparation/">Preparation</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">First of all, of course, you’ve got to know the music. You’ve got to know all the different things. And so the music came, of course, first with me. Then you had to know what you were doing, then you have to know what your colleagues were doing. You had to know what they were talking about and how they were moving around you. And then you have to make sure that your timing — and your colleague was not, as they say, upstaged during what you were doing. So you had to sort of take your place in the jigsaw puzzle. And the jigsaw puzzle was doing your job within the job. But yet, always being part of the action and having the energy behind all you were doing. So you all live with the same mission, was to complete the story and tell it to the audience. That was my thing all the time. Make sure the audience knows what we’re doing. Of course, you know, surtitles and subtitles have come out. And I think that’s wonderful. Because the audience, if they don’t speak the language, they’re right in it with you. You say, “I understood every word!” And I think, “Yes. Of course, you did.” That’s fantastic.</p> <p></p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p class="inputtext"><b>Can you talk about performing “Porgi, amor” in <i>Marriage of Figaro</i>, and the effect it had on the audience? How did you prepare yourself for that, and how did you react when the audience went crazy?</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I never ever believed in any accolades. Because I sort of thought if my singing teacher says it’s okay, and the people who are really, really close to me — and there are only one or two — if they say it’s okay, then I wait for that signal. I wasn’t really taken in by it, and still haven’t been taken in by it because accolades come and go. It’s how you feel about yourself.</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/hd70IOttANE?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_06_54_23.Still004-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_06_54_23.Still004-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/preparation/">Preparation</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">I do remember the preparations every night, and during the dress rehearsal, that the pianist would come to my room and we’d go up, walk up two or three flights above the dressing room. And I’d literally sing that aria four times through. And then I’d be in costume. And I’d walk. I’d have my costume on. I was all ready. And from that point of work, singing it through three or four times, very softly — never sing full voice — I walked straight down to the stage, sit in position and I was ready. And that’s how I did it. And I continued to do that for many years, every time I did <i>Figaro</i>.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><p class="inputtext"><b>So you went through the whole aria four times before singing it onstage?</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Kiri Te Kanawa: It was just another time through by the time I got on stage. It wasn’t more important than the first one or the sixth one I was going to do. I was singing it and singing it and singing it and singing it. It’s one of the most difficult arias in the repertoire. It sits horribly for the singer because it’s a long wait. You’ve got to wait out the first act, and you’re listening to what’s going on, and of course you’re getting more nervous. But there wasn’t time to get nervous because I was too busy singing the aria through. So I had no time to think about anything. That’s what the whole thing is when you’re occupied, you just go on and do it.</p> <p></p> <figure id="attachment_17249" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17249" style="width: 3564px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-17249 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002465.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-17249 size-full lazyload" alt="Kiri Te Kanawa as Amelia in Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra" at the Royal Opera, 1997. (© Robbie Jack/CORBIS) " width="3564" height="2346" data-sizes="(max-width: 3564px) 100vw, 3564px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002465.jpg 3564w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002465-380x250.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002465-760x500.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002465.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17249" class="wp-caption-text">Dame Kiri Te Kanawa as Amelia in Verdi’s <em>Simon Boccanegra</em> at the Royal Opera in 1997. (Robbie Jack and CORBIS)</figcaption></figure> <p class="inputtext"><b>You had a remarkable debut at the Metropolitan Opera, when you went on as a last minute substitute for Teresa Stratas in <i>Otello</i>. What was that like?</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Kiri Te Kanawa: Gosh. I was brought over to cover Teresa Stratas and watch the production. Covent Garden had released me but I think they resisted my coming here. They weren’t too pleased that I was coming to the Met. They said it was too soon, and I think there was a little bit of opposition there. But anyway, that was fine. I came. And I was going there, watching rehearsals, watching everything they did. I went through the dress rehearsal, watched it, and thought, “Gosh. This is fairly amazing,” and then went home and that was it. That was the end of it. Jon Vickers came into one or two of the rehearsals, and they said, “Let’s go through the whole thing with Jon,” which I did. And it was a horrible afternoon. I went home and it was starting to snow. And I thought, “Well, that’s that.” I woke up the next morning and I thought, “Well, I’ll just go shopping or something.” And then I was going to go to the afternoon performance. And I had someone staying with me.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/KyrklDgjPDg?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_38_55_06.Still021-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_38_55_06.Still021-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">The telephone rang, and I said, “If it’s the Met, tell ’em I’ve gone shopping,” or whatever it was, and she did. And it was the Met, and she hung up on them. I thought, “God damn it.” I said, “What did they want?” “Oh, they want you to call.” I said, “What? They called?” And I thought it seems like, you know, my antennae went up, and I thought something’s gone wrong. Anyway, I think my agent called me and said, “I think you’re going to have to get down there.” Well anyway, I sort of threw some clothes on. I didn’t have a dressing gown or anything. So he went to the store, got something for me to wear in the dressing room. All hell went loose. I got in a taxi — who came from Brooklyn, didn’t know where the Met was. I said, “But it’s straight down this street here.” I didn’t know where the street was. I was up on 79 or something. And I thought, “This is getting worser and worser.” It was snowing, it had snowed all night and there was snow all on the road. And the guy was saying — I said, “Look. Just stop here. That’s the Met. If you ever need to know it again, there it is.”</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p class="inputtext">And so I rushed across the square or the plaza, straight through. I think you were able to go through the front door by that time. And I did.</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/6KK9Seteqjk?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_37_18_21.Still020-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_37_18_21.Still020-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/courage/">Courage</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I just went like a mad thing through the front door. And everyone was there. Of course, it’s once again the circus. That “bzzzz” that’s going on. And there’s every man and his dog is there trying to give you information. And there’s the director trying to do something and the conductor’s there. Of course, Jimmy’s there. And Jon Vickers is there. And they’re all there. And you think, “Shut up and get out!” And I just said, “I just need time.” So somehow people threw a wig on me and some makeup and we were on. We’re on the number 52 bus to heaven. So it was like that. It was just this absolute panic. And then I got through the first act. And I thought, “Thank God!” And you know, no one — none of my family — my singing teacher was going to be there in a few weeks to come and see my first performance. And my husband, who was then, was going to come. And all my friends were going to come. And I couldn’t get them, because it was snowing. And it was just — it was impossible. So I went on, the loneliest person in the world.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><p class="inputtext">And I did this performance. And it just went crazy. And I thought, “I think this is what it’s like to hit the jackpot.” It was just the most crazy day in my life. And then for two days after that, it just went sort of crazy. And I thought, “I’m going to have to come down to earth soon. I’m just going to have to start being realistic.”</p> <figure id="attachment_17251" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17251" style="width: 3328px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-17251 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek32.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-17251 size-full lazyload" alt="Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, cool and elegant, on stage and off. (Photo by John Swannell)" width="3328" height="4992" data-sizes="(max-width: 3328px) 100vw, 3328px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek32.jpg 3328w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek32-253x380.jpg 253w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek32-507x760.jpg 507w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek32.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17251" class="wp-caption-text">Legendary soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, cool and elegant, both on the stage and off. (Photo by John Swannell)</figcaption></figure> <p class="inputtext"><b>Were you nervous?</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Kiri Te Kanawa: There was no time for nerves. I was absolutely in a panic. Nerves, I was past that. It was beyond that. I was in a panic.</p> <p class="inputtext"><b>But you knew the role of Desdemona, and you’d had at least some rehearsal.</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Kiri Te Kanawa: I think so. I was young and stupid. I was not even 30. When you’re young, you’re invincible. You can do anything you like. And I’ve certainly thought back, and I look at young people now, and I think, “God, they’re young!” I was young, and you could do anything you liked, and I thought, “I can handle this. I’m fine at all this.” And I did. I handled it. Then I had to wait another month to go on for my real performance. Of course, I was more nervous then, so it was a crazy time. It was one of the most exciting two or three days of my life.</p> <p class="inputtext"><b>Desdemona is a very beautiful and demanding role, dramatically as well as musically.</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Kiri Te Kanawa: Oh yes, it’s one of the best. And I wouldn’t have changed a single moment in all of it. And then having someone like Jon Vickers sitting next to you, that’s amazing. People have done debuts like that before, but I don’t think anything as extraordinary as that. For someone who least expected to go on at 11:00 in the morning, and I’m on at 2:00. That was so far out of my zone, I was not there. But I made it. I made it. And I did it.</p> <figure id="attachment_17237" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17237" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-17237 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_661.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-17237 size-full lazyload" alt="Legendary opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa performs with Awards Council member John Williams and the L.A. Philharmonic at the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles. (© Academy of Achievement)" width="2280" height="1520" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_661.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_661-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235235im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_661-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_661.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17237" class="wp-caption-text">Legendary opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa performs with Awards Council member and composer, John Williams, and the L.A. Philharmonic at the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles. (© Academy of Achievement)</figcaption></figure> <p class="inputtext"><b>After that, you must have really been in demand.</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, then it all started. That’s basically what happens in a career if you’re lucky enough to have that sort of start. You’d like it to go a little slower of course, as I would have done. I would have been happy. Two years before, I had a little Covent Garden debut basically, but nothing as whiz bang. I was sort of in a jumbo jet, going faster than anybody else in the entire planet on that day. I look back, and I think, just a moment of that again would have been nice to sort of experience. Because when you’re in it, it’s just going too fast. But I could relive it sometimes, which was nice.</p> <p></p> <p class="inputtext"><b>In 1981, you were invited to sing at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Six hundred million people around the globe were watching on television. What was that like?</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Kiri Te Kanawa: I suppose it wasn’t quite as bad as the debut at the Met, but it was close. It was, once again, a huge melee of people, and the right things to do and the wrong things to do, and where you had to be. And there’s no toilet. So be sure you know what you’re doing. And I thought, “Well, I have to drink.” I think if there had to be a down side of it — I did the silliest thing in my entire life, but I wanted to do it. Because I’d done it sort of the way I wanted to.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/d9BFNkJM6Mg?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=76&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_08_21_28.Still007-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_08_21_28.Still007-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/perseverance/">Perseverance</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">I decided to do <i>Cosi</i> and<i> Don Giovanni</i> side by side. One night would be <i>Don Giovanni</i>, one night would be <i>Cosi fan tutte</i>. One night off. One night it would be <i>Cosi fan tutte</i> and one night it would be <i>Don Giovanni</i>. Night off. I did that four times, and nearly killed myself, because we all did. There was a little bit of a pact amongst us, Tom Allen, and I can’t remember who the others were. But we all decided to do these roles, two of them, for Covent Garden. It was like a Covent Garden fest. I think there was most probably (Magic) <i>Flute</i>, <i>Don Giovanni</i>, <i>Cosi</i> and <i>Figaro</i>. I’m not sure if I — I’m pretty sure I did the <i>Don Giovanni</i> and the <i>Cosi</i>. I can’t remember exactly. And in the middle of it, I did the royal wedding. And I thought, “How dumb is this, to have got myself to this stage that I’ve just actually wiped myself out? There’s going to be no voice left.” So I went and stayed up in London for two weeks in a hotel. So I’d go and do the performance, I’d walk down back to the hotel. It wasn’t very far from Covent Garden. And I’d get in that bed and I’d sleep all day. And I’d get up, get up for air, go and have a meal and go back to bed. And I’d shut up for the whole two weeks and just stayed in bed and sang, bed, sang. And that was it.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p class="inputtext">And I got to the royal wedding by chance. I can’t remember the exact day, what my schedule was. But Covent Garden and then the royal wedding! I thought, “Oh God. I’ll never do this again!” Because it was already set in stone. The productions were set in stone. I was booked to do it. Then the royal wedding came up, and I thought, “Oh my God, how am I going to get through this?”</p> <p class="inputtext"><b>How did you receive the actual invitation? </b></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235235if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/13wOI4xpzBk?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=37&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_10_19_23.Still011-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TeKanawa-Kiri-2008-Upscale-1of2.00_10_19_23.Still011-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">It came through Covent Garden. It was John Turley, and he must have rang my agent. Then my agent rang me. And he said, “Charlie wants you to sing at his wedding.” And I said, “Charlie who?” He said, “Charles.” I said, “Charles who?” “Charles Windsor.” “Oh,” I said, “<i>that</i> Charles.” Because I already knew a Charlie. He’s my driver. I thought, “What am I doing singing at Charlie’s wedding? He’s already married. ” It wasn’t that Charlie. It was Charles. So that came through like that. And they said, “And you can’t say a single word.” That was it.</p> </div> </div>     <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>Why?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Because if I told somebody, then it would have got out and all that sort of thing. So I just couldn’t say a single word to anybody, because it would have got to the press. Everyone was trying to find out what was happening at the wedding, and what her dress was like, and who was going to be bridesmaids, and who was going to be all this and that, and who was invited, and all that sort of thing. And of course, the music. No one would have been thinking about that. But as we got close, of course, people would have been thinking, “Who’s going to be singing?” And it was me.</p> <p><strong>Was it Charles’s choice of song?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, very much. He chose that song.</p> <p><strong>He’s a music lover?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, very much, yes. I think most probably music was put before him. Because, as in anything like this, it was such a huge wedding that they’d have to say, “Here are six obvious songs that you could have.” And he had the Bach Choir, and he had the English Chamber Orchestra, and me. It was just exciting.</p> <p><strong>When you received the invitation, did you think it over? I guess you couldn’t possibly turn it down.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Oh, please. No.</p> <p><strong>Did you know that you would be heard by 600 million people on television? Did you have any idea it was going to be that big a deal?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: No. No, I mean that. That didn’t even cross my mind until I came up to the church that day, and I thought, “Oh my God! All these people. It was just unbelievable.</p> <p><strong>Were you more nervous for that than for an opera debut?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: No. I know what those notes are like. This one was a bit more specialized because, you know, there’s timing. I certainly had to be there on time and in the right position. I mean, if I was behind the Queen’s carriage, I was done for. I had to be in front of her. Because behind her, everything shut down. So you have to be in front of the carriage. So I got in a taxi, or Charlie, my driver, took me to the church.</p> <p><strong>What did you wear?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: I wore an outfit which I bought in Paris, and they made it specially for me. A man called Philip Somerville wrote to me and said that he makes hats and could he make my hat. So I took the dress to him and I put the dress on. He put this hat on me as if to say, “That will do.” Of course, everyone says I looked like a bird of paradise, but I thought I looked fine. So now that dress and the hat are in the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa. A lot of my things have gone into the museum now, like letters from Prince Charles and letters from other members of the royal family who I’ve received letters and invitations and Christmas cards from, will all go into the Museum of New Zealand, which is very important for our own little history.</p> <p><strong>You’ve sung for other royal events as well, haven’t you?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: A lot, yes. I’ve sung for the Queen. I’ve sung for all of them.</p> <p><strong>How did you first become involved with music? What is your earliest memory of singing?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Oh, gosh. That’s a long way back. Because we didn’t have any television when I was growing up — we didn’t have television for a very long time — we used to do little performances, or <em>I</em> used to do little performances. I had a little stage in my parents’ house, and the curtains would come back, and I’d get up and sing. But unfortunately, I would only sing when I felt like it, not when my mother felt like I should be singing. So I was always a bone of contention there. “Come along, Kiri. Come and sing.” I said no, and I wouldn’t sing. So I was sort of miffy about it even then, way back. I’d only sing when I felt like it. So I’d stage my own little performances and sing for her.</p> <p><strong>Was there a lot of music in your home?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, yes. My mother came from a family of 15, my father from a family of 11. Not that I knew all of them when I was growing up, because I was much, much younger and they were all much, much older. My mother’s sister was a coronet player, one of the very few female coronet players. And, of course, in the South Island, where they grew up, it was all brass. They only played brass. But my mother played piano, which was rather nice. I’d sit around the piano and we’d all sing. That was our entertainment.</p> <p><strong>When did you realize that you might have a gift for singing?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I didn’t. I didn’t realize it at all until I was singing. I was going to my singing teacher in Auckland, and I started with her when I was 14. And then just slowly, slowly was taking singing lessons once a week with her. And then I went into her chorus, or her choir, and we did choir practice every Saturday and Wednesdays, or whenever it was. And then for many, many years, I just stayed in that choir until I left New Zealand when I was 21. So that was my first indication of singing and being part of a choir, part of a team. But I didn’t actually realize this sort of career of mine was going to actually do anything like it’s done.</p> <p><strong>Did you ever dream of being an opera singer when you were a child?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: No. If you know anyone from New Zealand, from Polynesian countries, they’re very laid back. It’s always, “Oh, it will be all right tomorrow. It will be fine.” It’s all very happy. No one stresses themselves out. Then suddenly, you’ve got this thing on your hands, which is a voice in your throat, and suddenly other people are interested in you. Then you get on this treadmill and there’s no end to it.</p> <p><strong>What was it like to grow up in Gisborne, in a harbor town?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: We lived near the sea. I’d go down and we’d swim in the sea on a regular basis, my father and I. I remember one time — because I still go fishing a lot — my father and I went fishing with a friend and the boat upturned and I was under it. And all I could see was my father trying to get down to me, and the boat and all the things coming out of the boat. It’s like this surreal vision. All I could see is this light and the boat on top of me. And I’m looking up and thinking, “Am I going to get out of this?” And somehow my father came down and dragged me out. That was the day I think I almost drowned.</p> <p><strong>Even after that, you still like to fish?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Oh yes. I do like the water.</p> <p><strong>What sort of influence did your parents have on your life and career?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: My mother was a very strong influence. My father just loved me, which was a rather nice combination. But my mother was the driving force. She would teach me songs. She didn’t know how to do it, just sing-along stuff. She somehow had a vision. She says she had a vision. I’m not quite sure about that. But, you know, people do have these ideas. She woke up one day and she said, “I’ve seen you at Covent…” She called it “<em>Convent</em> Garden,” but I’ve since learned it was Covent Garden. “I’ve seen you at Covent Garden. And you’re on the stage there.” And I said, “Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.” That was it. And I went off fishing, most probably, again.</p> <p><strong>Were there teachers that were important to you musically?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: My very first teacher, she was important. I would say my mother and my parents. The reasons that I’m here today is because of the sacrifices of my parents. And I know how much they sacrificed. My father was a very hard worker. He didn’t know what was happening to me. My mother didn’t really know what was happening to me. But they sacrificed. And I can’t tell you how much, because it would go into years and years of what they did do for me. And I look at my children, and I say to them, “You’re here because of my father and my mother. Not because of me.” I did it. And I said to my son the other day, “I can’t actually thank my parents enough because of what they did.” And it really, really was. It was huge. They’ve given me this amazing life, and then I can’t even thank them. So all I can do is help. And I think in lots of ways — with young students, and I’m working with them right now here at the Met — that is, I suppose, my little bit of payback, if you know what I mean.</p> <p>I need to somehow thank everything. The Met has been wonderful to me. Covent Garden is wonderful, Chicago, San Francisco, my own country. My own country helped me with finances and scholarships, and just the way they treated me. I just have to thank so many people for the reasons why I’m here. I think that’s made me sort of overly ambitious for other people, for myself.</p> <p>I always said that I never ever missed a green light. Because if I walked down the street, I never, ever wait for a red light. I’ll only take the green light. So you can imagine how I’m walking. I’m sort of crisscrossing to get to the green light all the time. And that’s been my sort of aim in life, is to never miss an opportunity.</p> <p><strong>Were there singers that you particularly admired when you were growing up?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: My very, very first of the greats was Leontyne Price. I just adored her, and still do. She has a voice of unique sound. She’s a glorious, statuesque person. I always thought that I would like to take that feeling of how I saw her, and I would like people to look at me a little bit like that.</p> <p><strong>What about pop singers when you were growing up. Elvis Presley?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. I never liked him when I was young, because I thought it was all a bit crazy. But you look at it, and he’s still there after all this time, because of his recordings, of course, but he was a great icon. Even though things went wrong for him at the end, but there was a lot of stuff he brought out. I like that sort of thing. But I’m more on the classical side. I’m a classical music lover. I love orchestras. I listen to orchestras forever.</p> <p><strong>When did you give your first public performance?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I was actually paid for it. So I’ll tell you about that one. I went to a school and I sang three or four songs. And I was given a thing called two guineas. I think they still use guineas in horse trading for horse sales. So I was given two guineas to sing my three or four songs. And then I started singing at weddings and funerals, at the reception of weddings and things like that. That’s how I was earning my money to pay for my clothes and my singing lessons, to help my parents out.</p> <p><strong>Were you a serious student at school?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: No. People say, “Oh, she was a dreadful student!” Well, I most probably was. I went to St. Mary’s College in Ponsonby in Auckland. My singing teacher was there. So anytime that she was free, they’d get the call, “Kiri’s to come for singing lessons.” So my ordinary education was constantly broken into by my singing teacher. I never had a definite time. She’d always pull me out of class. Now if I look back on that, it was actually very wrong. They should have put me into classes that were going to advance my education, but it never happened like that. So I just went along with it and the school went along with it, because after a while, they could see that something quite sort of extraordinary was happening. But it wasn’t happening right then.</p> <p><strong>Did you like to read when you were young? Were there any particular books that stood out for you?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, you know, I came from an area in New Zealand where, at that time, there weren’t very many books. Of course, now I’m almost addicted to them. When I went to England, because I didn’t know very much about England, so I was totally in love with history. I read autobiographies. I read biographies. I read about Winston Churchill, any leader of any country, especially in America. All the prime ministers and presidents I really loved to read about. Then, of course, I love reading about kings and queens of the past, Elizabeth I, and then going on with all the different history of things. I loved all that and still do.</p> <p><strong>You didn’t go right into a singing career after St. Mary’s. Is it true that you went to a business school?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, I learned to type and some shorthand. But shorthand is now, of course, gone. Dictaphones came in. Everything has changed. But at least the one thing I can do is type. I don’t have to go clunk, clunk, clunk. I can actually do it properly.</p> <p><strong>Did you work at office jobs?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. I was a receptionist and things like that. All those things got me closer to working on my music. I was a telephonist, routing incoming toll calls and things, which gave me night work so I could do my studies during the day. But you’re awake an awful lot. That was the problem. I got tired.</p> <p><strong>Before you went to London, you won some vocal competitions, didn’t you?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. I won throughout New Zealand. I went to every competition that was possible, which sort of gave me scholarships and money to help me to go overseas.</p> <p>I went to a lot of competitions. And then I went to Australia and I came in second in one particular competition, and I won the next one, which also carried a scholarship. And then I went back to New Zealand and I sang a couple of concerts, which gave me some more money. And then the government gave me a scholarship and I was sort of on my way. It was not very much money at the time, but it was enough. Because nowadays, you’ve got to have at least 30,000 pounds a year to go to England to study. At least.</p> <p><strong>So you were already earning a little money for your singing. Were you also singing pop music or doing musicals or anything like that?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I sang … no, no. I never really sang in a show or anything like that. I sang in — maybe <em>The Student Prince</em> or something like that — but it was just in the chorus. And I sang at nightclubs. And someone said that I sing — I went to a place that was called the Colony. And I came in with my little songs and everything. And these people, of course, they’re well into their — really, really into their cups. I mean it’s… well and well — I mean, all over the place. And here I’m evidently — and I’d forgotten what the impact of this was — I was singing “Ave Maria.” You can imagine! They’re sort of all completely drunk and they must have really thought, “Have I just died and I’m off to heaven?” Because she’s singing “Ave Maria.” So evidently, it was quite surreal, that one too. But I sang my little “Ave Maria” and whatever.</p> <p><strong>You probably looked like an angel as well.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: I was dressed in white. Yes. Now, of course, they’d shoot you. They’d say, “Give her the hook,” and pull her off the stage.</p> <p><strong>Now that you’re so well known, do you suppose any of those people remember who was singing for them?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: They actually do! I’m reminded on a regular basis. They’re still alive. I think they’ve got no liver left at the moment. They were really drunk.</p> <p><strong>What else were you singing in these settings? Were you singing operatic arias for them?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Some, yes. I sang something like “Vissi d’arte,” which was actually stupid in my voice, but I did things that I liked. I do sing a lot of songs from shows, <em>West Side Story</em> and <em>South Pacific</em> and Ivor Novello and things. None of it really hurt my voice, so it was fine.</p> <p><strong>When were you first drawn to opera? Was it when you were starting out in New Zealand, before you went to England?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: It was when I was singing in New Zealand, from 14 years of age, until I left at age 21. I saw <em>Don Giovanni</em> and I saw a couple of other operas. I saw <em>Porgy and Bess</em>, which I consider a complete opera. And I just completely and utterly fell in love with it. And then, of course, I started singing operatic arias, just small ones. But I really never sang in an opera until I sang in England, and I was in a small sort of excerpts from opera in the London Opera Center. That’s the college I studied at. But I really wasn’t singing opera. Because I didn’t think I knew how to do it until I got to England. And then I started to really concentrate on it very seriously, and of course, it is the only thing for me.</p> <p><strong>You started training as a mezzo soprano. When did you make the leap to soprano?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: I don’t think there was a leap. I think it just was a natural progression. I’d looked after my voice for such a long time and always sang within the area I thought my voice could sing, the scale of my voice. And then when I came to England, I thought it was England that did it, or the air that did it. But in actual fact, it was just the natural progression. My voice just went up. And it was wonderful.</p> <p><strong>Did someone hear it and tell you? Or did you discover it yourself?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: No, I was singing Dorabella in <em>Cosi fan tutte</em>, and Richard Bonynge, Joan Sutherland’s husband, came to our college and gave a master class, which was absolutely wonderful. And I was so thrilled by this. And I thought, “Gosh, just to work with this wonderful man!” And he said, “You’re not a mezzo.” And he looked at me and he said, “You’re a soprano.” And I thought, “Oh yeah, tell me another story.” And I just continued as I did. Then, of course, I found my wonderful singing teacher, Vera Rozsa. And from that point on, I just started working on my voice very carefully and it just went up. It just naturally went up. I never knew I had a top C or a top D or anything like that. I hardly ever, ever sing them. But when I want them, hopefully they’re there. I’m not sure top D is there right now, but certainly top C and top C sharp.</p> <p><strong>What were your first roles with the Royal Opera at Covent Garden?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: I sang with Boris Christoff in <em>Boris Godunov</em> as Xenia. She’s the daughter of the Tsar. That was my first role there, along with being a flower maiden in <em>Parsifal</em>. Then, of course, I went to Vienna and sang with Georg Solti and I recorded with him.</p> <p><strong>It’s a big leap from flower maiden to the Countess in <em>Marriage of Figaro</em>. How did that come about?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I was there to study. They brought me to Covent Garden very, very, very early, and I was to study the Countess for a whole year.</p> <p><strong>What was your status in the company at that time?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: They called us “Junior Principals,” which is a nice title actually. So I studied the Countess. And I was singing Xenia and the flower maiden. There’s all sorts of other little things going on. Singing bits and pieces of concerts. But the most amazing thing is that I learned <em>Figaro</em> in English. They made me learn it in English first, then they sent me off to Santa Fe, New Mexico to sing it in English. And in Santa Fe, I sang with Frederica von Stade. It was her first Cherubino and my first Countess. Then I came back to Covent Garden and had to re-learn it in Italian. How’s that? My head was going “Gong, gong, gong!”</p> <p><strong>How much time did you have to re-learn the role, in between Santa Fe and Covent Garden?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: From the beginning of learning it in English to finally singing it in Italian was about two years. It could have been shorter actually. It might have been eighteen months.</p> <p><strong>You have been very careful with your voice, and it has held up beautifully. Were you aware as a young singer of the need to conserve your voice?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: I’ll tell you a story. I remember there were two wonderful — and I’m still on the story with you, of course — two wonderful front-of-house gentlemen who opened the doors for the clients coming in for the performance. They were huge. I mean, they were the hugest men I’ve ever seen in their big Covent Garden red outfits with the big hat. And they would stand at the front door, and I would slip through there. And they’d let me come through the front of the house rather than going through the stage door. I’ve never really liked stage doors very much. Because I’ve always been a bit scary. I don’t like going into a dark hall, and particularly here at the Met, I don’t like it down there. So I’m always afraid of going through there. Anyway, they let me go through the front of house. And I’d get a lecture every day I’d come through the front of house. “Now, Kiri, you know that singer. Don’t you end up like her. Now, she did this and she did that.” And these two fingers wagging at me telling me, “Don’t you sing like her. Don’t you do what she did. You watch it.” And then they’d mention the singer’s name. And, of course, it was somebody I really, really admired. And I’d get the lecture for years, years and years and years. And I used to enjoy it. And I’d hear about the next singer coming through. “Don’t you be like her.” Or I was to be like this one. “We like this one. She was fine. She was looking after her career.” And so I’d get this lecture from the front-of-house men. It was fascinating. Because those are the people listening there all night. They’re at every performance. And they’re hearing a voice either going up or going down, or degrading, or having good nights and bad nights, and they would have their assessment the next morning and tell me about it.</p> <p><strong>What about your singing teachers? Your teacher Vera Rozsa must have been an influence.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, a major one, along with Sir Georg Solti. Because they’re both Hungarian, I used to call them the Hungarian mafia. He was always onto me. “Have you bring to Vera?” And then she’d say, “Georg, he won’t be liking this bit.” And between the two of them, there was this whish-whish-whish, like sword fighting, and I was being killed by the both of them. But I enjoyed every minute of it. It was good for me.</p> <p><strong>Was she also concerned with protecting your voice and keeping you away from roles that weren’t right for your voice?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Totally. And of course, I learned from her. After a while, I knew she wasn’t going to allow me to sing a role that wasn’t right for me. She wouldn’t even coach me on it. So that was it. I wouldn’t even bother to take it to her. Or if it was difficult and I had taken the job, sometimes the daggers would come at me. “You stupid girl! How could you say yes to this stupid thing?” She said, “Right now we have to work!” That’s the hard grind that is very necessary in this world of opera.</p> <p><strong>We understand that the conductor Sir Colin Davis was knocked out when he first heard you. Was that when you first started at Covent Garden?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: When I first auditioned at Covent Garden, I was going and I was singing for English National Opera. And they didn’t want me, or they couldn’t place me. So I went back to Covent Garden and I sang all sorts of things like <em>Capuleti e i Montecchi</em>. And then they’d say, “Would you please come back and sing this aria?” So I prepared and I’d sing it. Then they’d ask me to sing another aria, so I’d sing that. And then another one and another one. And after nine auditions, I thought, “Can’t they make up their mind?” And at any rate, that was it. So I think after all of that time, they were trying to place what my voice was doing, and then finally decided that I would do these smaller roles, along with doing the Countess. And then from that point on, I stayed at Covent Garden for five years.</p> <p>But the most interesting thing about it was I was paid 50 pounds a week. And that was my salary for the Countess and every role that I did for the next several years. I think my wage was 100 pounds a week at the end of the five years. Can you imagine how much it would cost now?</p> <p><strong>Sounds like they owe you some money!</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Fifty pounds a week for the Countess! Two Countesses a week! And do you know I was pleased? I was actually pleased. It wasn’t about how much money I was or wasn’t getting, it was how much I was learning. I was more than pleased to do that. When I look back, that was my apprenticeship. That’s what you do.</p> <p><strong>For people that are unfamiliar with opera, what is it you find so compelling?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it’s a sense of the beginning and end. It’s something you go into. It’s like a journey for the audience. They go through this and come out at the end, and when they leave, they’re completely — hopefully — satisfied. I think that’s what we like to do is complete it.</p> <p><strong>It’s a very complete art form, isn’t it? It’s like a 3D movie with beautiful music.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, with a glorious orchestra, and sometimes you’ve got a wonderful chorus like you have in <em>Boccanegra</em> or <em>Otello</em>. It’s wonderful.</p> <p><strong>When you prepare for a big performance, what is your day like?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: When I was singing opera, the day was always either a singing lesson or seriously going down to the opera house, wherever I could go, and either working through with an accompanist — certainly, if it was any Mozart, I’d go through all the recits (recitatives), every single recit — because those were the ones that were always the trickiest — and do the whole recit through on the day. Then I’d normally take a singing lesson. If I was in England, I’d take a singing lesson with my singing teacher, then I’d go home, I’d have lunch, then I’d go back into the theater. And that was it. An hour and a half to London and an hour and a half back. I did that twice on performance day. And that’s why I never went out to dinners afterwards. I would just go straight home, because another hour and a half back in the car, and I just was ready for bed, because I’m a very early riser. I don’t sleep very well, so I’m normally awake by at least 6:00 in the morning. So I don’t need to have late nights. I don’t enjoy them.</p> <p><strong>There must be a tremendous amount of trust in your singing teacher to work with her on the day of the performance. Are you learning new things or just practicing?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: It would be vocalizing, tuning in my voice, which is what I tell these students here. They must tune their voice in every day. And then we’d go through the bits in the opera that I was unsure of. There’s little corners. I used to call them the corners, or the top and tail, or the edges. And I’d go through those pieces that I was really unsure of. Or certainly tuning. Sometimes, especially in Strauss, the tuning, I didn’t like what had happened. Because so many of the scales are really tricky. And trying to fit them in with a chord that seems almost discordant. And you’d have to fit your note in somehow. So I’d work on those with her.</p> <p><strong>You’ve been so closely associated with the music of Richard Strauss and Mozart, who both wrote exquisitely for the voice. What drew you to those composers?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Mozart was always my first choice, because I always found it was like doing <em>vocalise</em>. I loved doing <em>vocalise</em>. I would vocalize all the time with my singing teacher. She said to me, “Mozart is the lubrication for your voice.” So the more Mozart I did, the more easily I could do Strauss. So I would warm up with Mozart and then I could do Strauss. My voice was always in the right position at all times with Mozart.</p> <p><strong>You seem to specialize in countesses. There are many countess roles in Strauss, like in <em>Capriccio</em> and in <em>Marriage of Figaro</em>, and <em>Vanessa</em>.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, and <em>Rosenkavalier</em>. She’s sort of a countess, even though she’s a really a Marschallin. Am I a countess? No.</p> <p><strong>But you’re often described as regal. There’s an elegance to your presence. Is that something that comes naturally, or is it something you create on stage?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: I like playing those parts. I really do. But I’m more the opposite. I’m a real tomboy. I mean, you hardly ever see me in a dress unless it’s on stage. I’m only wearing pants, because you can go faster in pants. I’ve always found that. You know, the faster you can go, the more you can get out of trouble or get into whatever. But, you know, I go shooting. I shoot with a gun on a regular basis. And I go fishing a lot. And I go golfing. I do lots of things that I love to do outdoors. So that’s why I’m a countess in non-reality and a tomboy in reality.</p> <p><strong>What are some of the most challenging aspects of an operatic career? You once described it as a lonely life.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it’s lonely, because you either are there with very, very, very good friends — and they can’t always be there in the right country at the right time for you — or you are with people who you only see on a basic sort of — they’re just there for — not the good reasons for you. I don’t want to sort of go into that too much. But it’s lonely when you leave the operatic stage and you’ve been cheered and flowers have been given to you, and then you go back to the hotel and all the flowers are dying and it’s a very lonely hotel room. There’s nothing there. So you have to have a life. You have to make a life, whatever it might be, whether it be books or you sing in a choir, or as I do, go fishing a lot. Go golfing, go (play) tennis. I took up tennis because it was a faster sport than golf. Because golf took a day, whereas tennis takes a couple of hours.</p> <p><strong>You spoke earlier about your experience singing in a choir. What’s the significance of that to you?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, yes. I firmly believe choir singing is gorgeous. You can get some nice friends there. It’s another life away from your ordinary life or whatever you’re doing. If you have a very busy life, it’s another way of life, a way of life away from it. And it’s lovely, just making music with other people and you’re making harmonies and things. I think that’s great. I would still go into a choir. In my dotage, I might very well join a choir and sing along. It would be fantastic.</p> <p><strong>What about balancing personal life and a big career? That’s got to be challenging.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it’s very challenging. There are sacrifices to be made. I have a divorce now. I don’t put that down to necessarily the career, but I think that was part of it. And I’m happy being divorced. I’m fine with that. It’s an actual fact, I’m happier than when I was married, the last part of my life with my ex-husband. But that doesn’t matter. We had some good years together. There are sacrifices. You have to figure out what is good. I think if you’re in a good happy zone, anything can happen. As long as you’re content within yourself, life is good. But if you’re not content within yourself, it’s a mess.</p> <p><strong>You have two children. It’s got to be very difficult to spend time away from them.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: I did my very, very best as a parent. And if you say you’ve succeeded as a parent, I think you’re lying. Because I think if you did your best, and you say, “I know I sort of somehow… they didn’t do drugs and they’re good kids,” I think that’s enough. But I don’t think you can say (that) unless you’re an at-home mom. But if you’re going to have a career like this, I think there’s huge problems, huge problems.</p> <p><strong>So you really have to be clear about what you want.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I could have given up the career, but I didn’t. Do I regret that? What do you do? Maybe I should have, but I didn’t. So I had this career. But sometimes, in the darkest time, when I regret a lot, in the dark part of the night, when it’s really black, and I just see this stinking career took so much. Yet it gave me so much.</p> <p><strong>Are your kids musical?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: No, they’re not. They’re both adopted as well. They haven’t really inherited my singing voice, but hopefully they like music. My children come along to my concerts, which is nice.</p> <p><strong>When you were growing up, was your Maori heritage respected? Was there discrimination?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: I wouldn’t say there was discrimination. But there was certainly something that — you were not allowed to speak anything other than English. Maori was not allowed to be spoken. It was not taught. It was not allowed to be spoken. And I remember one time I went to a birthday party, and I wasn’t invited, and they sent me home. I was the only one sent home. I was “the Maori girl,” and that was the way it was. My mother was devastated, absolutely devastated. She said, “How could they do this to a little child?” Once again, you see, it didn’t really upset me, because nothing really worried me. And it still doesn’t. I think man’s inhumanity to man worries me. But things like that, you know, that’s what people did in those times. And I’m sure they’d be ashamed of what they did, because that would not happen (now). I don’t look at people as being “colored” or whatever. I only look at people if they’re rude. And I think, “Gosh, you’re awfully rude, and look at you. I wouldn’t be very proud of that.” But rudeness is something — disrespect I don’t like.</p> <p><strong>You’ve also written a children’s book, <em>Land of the Long White Cloud</em>, about Maori myths and legends. Was this inspired by your father’s heritage?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. And a little bit because of my mother. We didn’t have books, so my mother would tell me a story every night. She had made it up, and I didn’t know it. I thought it was a real story. And she’d tell me this whole story about the possum up the tree and what he did and what he didn’t do, and then the next night, she’d build up on the story. Week after week, the story was already there, and then, of course, she started making mistakes. I said, “But no. That’s not right. You said it was this.” And she’d have to go back and try to remember the story because she’d kept on making them up. That’s why, in lots of ways, I wrote this book, along with a writer, just sort of making up the stories as I went along, because I wanted it like I had heard it. And I always remembered my mother giving up this story that she had to remember because it wasn’t real. I was constantly correcting her, because she hadn’t remembered some of the animals in the story.</p> <p><strong>You lost your mother shortly after your big Covent Garden debut. That must have been very difficult.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it was, because it was such a shock. I always thought of it as her mission. She got me where she wanted me and that was the end of it. The lights went out. Someone just turned off the switch and said, “Right. You’ve done your job. Now you’re off. You’re up with us now.” I always felt it was a bit like that. She adopted me for a mission. I think sometimes, people in their lives, you suddenly see them… Why did they die so soon? Well, that was their duty. They completed that. That was their reason for being on this earth.</p> <p>My mother had a really tough time when she was young. She came from a very, very poor family. And they all, you know, this is something that she did that was a super thing that did a lot for New Zealand in lots of ways. Because, you know, I am a Maori. And I’m very proud of that and my country is very important to me. Even though I’ve lived away from it for a very long time. But I’ve my finger on the button out there all the time. And I want to do what I can, in the way that I can do it, which is helping young students and singers. For them to find their way in life, whatever it might be, but to inspire, would be an achievement for me, to give somebody direction, to inspire them and to get them to a level that they never thought they could ever get to, and I think that’s what I like to see.</p> <p><strong>You’ve started your own foundation to help young musicians from New Zealand. What do you hope to accomplish through the foundation? What is your vision?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: My vision is promoting singing at the highest standard. Hopefully, doing what I’ve done, as perfectly as possible, as the basis for where they’re aiming for. I’ve raised a lot of money for the foundation, and we’re giving out scholarships, but we’re giving them to young people of a fairly high level. We’re not starting at age 16. We’re looking at young people who are about to launch and go to Juilliard here in America, or the colleges over in England. We may help them with extra coaching. We don’t actually pay for fees at the moment, but we may get there if we find someone that’s extremely high standard. We’re looking for excellence. We’re not looking for someone who’s going to suddenly say, “Oh, I think I’m going to have babies now. ” That’s not on my agenda. I want them on the path to high achievement.</p> <p><strong>And are you personally involved in choosing the recipients of the grant?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, I look at all of them. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a great privilege. When I get back to London, I have three waiting for me that will spend two full days working on <em>The Magic Flute</em>. And another one who’s going to come and sing for me. And then, of course, there’s the third one who’s already at Glyndebourne singing <em>Poppeia</em>. I normally ask the students, if I’m working with them on this basis, that they will help me with raising funds for my foundation. I won’t take any money from them, but I’ll ask them to be involved in a concert to raise funds. That’s their contribution to my foundation.</p> <p><strong>It sounds like you’re also helping singers by giving them more practical advice than you had when you were coming up.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, this is the thing. My foundation has brought out this book. It’s a handbook for all the students for when they get to England. There’s names of singing teachers, their contact numbers, where they can get coaching, there’s coaches’ numbers. There’s the schools, all the places where they can rehearse, there’s the colleges. Everything, even down to coffee shops and how much it costs to travel to these places, and the train fares, and how to get a cheaper train fare as a student and all the different things. So it’s really the handbook of the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation. For instance, it says, “Do not audition with anything by (Gian Carlo) Menotti. Do not.” Or, “You’re doomed if you sing anything in English.”</p> <p><strong>What’s the objection to Menotti? He’s not taken seriously enough?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: It’s just not accepted. Just don’t do it. There’s information on things like the Young Artists Program at Covent Garden, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, the Cardiff International Academy, National Opera Studio, the Jette Parker Young Artist Program, Covent Garden, all these things. It’s all the information you need to know that I never had. That’s why I wanted my foundation to provide this information for these young people.</p> <p><strong>You’ve also been coaching here in New York. How rewarding is that to be working with young singers?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it’s one of the most enjoyable couple of weeks I’ve had so far. I’m looking at the stage and I’m thinking, “Better you than me.” And I just can go and work for the students and tell them the things they need to know and the problems that could arise. They’re very well protected here, but sometimes you get out there and you’ll get under the influence of an agent or somebody you don’t know and they’ll say, “Oh, we think you could do this role.” You’ve got to look at people. I’m going to have a talk with some of them and say, “Look. Just remember, if they’re getting money from you, then they’ve got a real vested interest in you. If you’re not paying them anything, and they’re doing it because they feel good and you’re never going to pay them, possibly you’ve got someone who’s going to be worth listening to.” That’s one of the things, along with a lot of other things I’d like to tell them.</p> <p><strong>So be careful who you take advice from?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Totally. I’d say parents, brothers, sisters, and don’t go far beyond that for the moment. If you’ve had a long-term relationship with an agent, that’s a whole different thing, because that agent is there to care. But a new agent or manager coming in, they’re interested in making money out of you.</p> <p><strong>Is there personal advice you would give a young person who wants to sing opera? What do you need?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Oh, God. Good parents. Good backup. Good family. My parents were right there all the way for as long as they could be. Then I had a husband who did actually help for a little time. He didn’t after a certain time. I had a really, really good manager. He was really super, and cared, seriously cared, about everything I did. There were two of them, because they were partners. So that was the start of it. Then I got into a stage where it all went well. You’ve got to get into the finance, people who look after your finances. You’ve got to be careful about that, because they can be skimming off the top as well. I got another manager and it didn’t work with him. It just sort of started to go downhill. It’s the longevity of being in a long-term relationship with a lot of these people that will give you your stability. I think what you really should do is have some sort of — not a degree — but certainly a deep knowledge of law and accountancy. I think those would be the two things. I suppose the worst thing you can ever do is a quickie degree and those sort of things, but just some good knowledge of accountancy and law.</p> <p><strong>Fascinating. And a good singing teacher you can trust.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: First of all, you’ve got to find that singing teacher. And that’s difficult. I learned from a wonderful singing teacher. While I’m working with these young people, I’m telling them what I’ve learned and what I know. What I say to them is only what I’ve learned. It’s nothing new. So I say to them, “I’ve had a career for 40 years. If I say this is the way I do it, and I show you how I do it, then I can’t do anything other than prove to you that it’s worked for 40 years.”</p> <p><strong>How do you know when you have the right teacher?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I’ve learned through other singers that within a year, you can sing quite well. After a year with the same singing teacher, if things start going wrong, then you know you’ve got the wrong singing teacher. But you see, you’re using up time. As far as I can make out, if it seems difficult but simple, we can work that one out. If it’s natural and you’re not standing on your head trying to get a top note that you shouldn’t be getting in the first place.</p> <p>I’ve said to so many people, all you do is you breathe and you sing. Now, it’s how you breathe and how you sing on top of that is what you have to learn to do. But it’s no more difficult than that. And that’s all I do is I breathe and I sing. But it’s how I do it, and where I put the breath and how high I use the breath, and how low I use the breath, and where I would quickly snatch a breath in order to have just enough to complete the phrase. How I would support when I’m running out of air and to support the next two notes that I’ll need at the end of the phrase to take the next breath. Now, how do I breathe out in order to breathe in? So it’s all those sorts of things that is “breathe and sing.” But it’s the complexities of how to breathe and sing. And as I say to them time and time again, to breathe out is as important as to breathe in, because you take away the tension to breathe out. To breathe in, you build up the breath to put the notes on top of the air. Then I say it’s a bit like a ping pong ball. But the water and the ping pong balls are sitting on the top. That’s where you should be singing.</p> <p><strong>You’ve talked about the rib cage being important.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: It’s below the bust line, the so-called bra line. That’s where I make them breathe. It’s here, and it’s out the back. And I ask them to push the ribs out the back, so it’s like a ballast. And when they want to use the air, that’s all you’re doing is you’re just breathing. And then you expel the air by going inwards. It just a bellows, your lungs.</p> <p><strong>There are certain roles, such as <em>Capriccio</em>, where the longest thing you do happens at the very end. There’s this long, long beautiful aria, so you have to be so careful about conserving your voice for the whole evening. </strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, a long monologue. But the rest of the opera doesn’t tire you. The rest of the opera, it’s just speaking. It’s got nothing to do with over-singing. You wouldn’t do that. And, of course, there’s this whole monologue at the end of it comes out of what you’ve been doing. So there’s no fear of you having sung a huge opera. And then you’ve got the only decent piece in it is at the end. I never felt that that was ever in jeopardy.</p> <p><strong>But in other operas, you must have to conserve. When you sing one aria, you know what’s coming in the next act.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. Well, that’s what I’m hopefully teaching these young people. If you’re going to sing like that at the beginning of the opera, in three hours time, can you do the same amount of volume at the end? Just think about it. There’s an aria coming at the end and you’ve just done three hours. How are you going to get through that?</p> <p><strong>You’re sharing a lifetime of knowledge.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. And good counseling.</p> <p><strong>As you see it, what are the rewards of a career in music?</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: The rewards? I suppose really having completed this career, with never having been canceled very much — I have canceled occasionally — and having come out of it with a voice. I haven’t had to leave the career because of my voice. I think that’s the important thing. I think that’s what I’ve looked at most of all. Then, of course, now having my own foundation and passing on the knowledge that I’ve learned through these years of experience. I think the most important thing that I would say is it’s voice maintenance and voice longevity. That’s what I would like to instill in everybody, with young students, longevity and maintenance.</p> <p><strong>Save that voice.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes.</p> <p><strong>Thank you so much. It’s really been a joy talking to you.</strong></p> <p>Kiri Te Kanawa: Thank you.</p> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>21 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_660.jpg" data-image-caption="Legendary opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa performs with John Williams and the L.A. Philharmonic at the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles. (© Academy of Achievement) " data-image-copyright="wp-06Academy_660" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_660-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_660-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_661.jpg" data-image-caption="Legendary opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa performs with John Williams and the L.A. Philharmonic at the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles. (© Academy of Achievement) " data-image-copyright="wp-06Academy_661" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_661-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_661-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.56315789473684" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_662.jpg" data-image-caption="Kiri Te Kanawa, John Williams and the L.A. Philharmonic perform before a giant movie screen at 20th Century Fox Studios during the 2006 International Achievement Summit. (© Academy of Achievement) " data-image-copyright="wp-06Academy_662" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_662-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_662-760x428.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.71447368421053" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_686.jpg" data-image-caption="Dame Kiri Te Kanawa receives the Gold Medal of the Academy of Achievement from Awards Council member Julie Andrews at the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles. (© Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="wp-06Academy_686" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_686-380x271.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-06Academy_686-760x543.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-0000275690-001.jpg" data-image-caption="Kiri Te Kanawa shooting a music video in 1992. (© Michael Le Poer Trench/Sygma/Corbis)" data-image-copyright="New Zealand Opera Singer Kiri Te Kanawa" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-0000275690-001-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-0000275690-001-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5291750503018" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-HU040772.jpg" data-image-caption="Sir Georg Solti (1912-1997), Hungarian-born conductor, was music director of the Royal Opera when Kiri Te Kanawa joined the company. He directed her in numerous operatic performances and recordings. (Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="wp-HU040772" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-HU040772-249x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-HU040772-497x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5109343936382" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-HU056893.jpg" data-image-caption="Kiri Te Kanawa in the role that brought her fame, the Countess Almaviva in Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro." (Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="wp-HU056893" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-HU056893-252x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-HU056893-503x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5109343936382" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-age-6-1.jpg" data-image-caption="Kiri Te Kanawa, age six. (Courtesy of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa)" data-image-copyright="wp-Kiri-age-6-1" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-age-6-1-252x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-age-6-1-503x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5447154471545" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiris-blood-father-1-1.jpg" data-image-caption="Kiri Te Kanawa's biological father, Jack Wawatai, at age 20 in 1937. (Courtesy of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa)" data-image-copyright="wp-Kiri's-blood-father-1-1" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiris-blood-father-1-1-246x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiris-blood-father-1-1-492x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5605749486653" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiris-blood-mother-1.jpg" data-image-caption="Kiri Te Kanawa's biological mother, Noeleen Rawstron, 1940. (Courtesy of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa)" data-image-copyright="wp-Kiri's-blood-mother-1" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiris-blood-mother-1-243x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiris-blood-mother-1-487x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5109343936382" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-with-butterfly-wings-as-a-child-1.jpg" data-image-caption="Kiri Te Kanawa dressed for an early stage appearance. (Courtesy of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa) " data-image-copyright="wp-Kiri-with-butterfly-wings-as-a-child-1" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-with-butterfly-wings-as-a-child-1-251x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-with-butterfly-wings-as-a-child-1-503x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-with-parents-11.jpg" data-image-caption="Kiri Te Kanawa with her adoptive parents, Tom and Nell Te Kanawa, at a party in their garden at Blockhouse Bay, New Zealand, one the eve of Kiri's departure for London in 1966. (Courtesy of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa)" data-image-copyright="wp-Kiri-with-parents-1(1)" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-with-parents-11-380x254.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Kiri-with-parents-11-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5573770491803" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ001098.jpg" data-image-caption="Kiri Te Kanawa plays another Countess, the title role in the Royal Opera production of "Arabella" by Richard Strauss. (© Robbie Jack/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="Kiri Te Kanawa Performs in Arabella" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ001098-244x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ001098-488x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.65789473684211" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002465.jpg" data-image-caption="Kiri Te Kanawa as Amelia in Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra" at the Royal Opera, 1997. (© Robbie Jack/CORBIS) " data-image-copyright="Soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002465-380x250.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002465-760x500.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5049504950495" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002638.jpg" data-image-caption="Kiri Te Kanawa and Rodney Gilfry in "Capriccio," in London, July 1998. (Robbie Jack/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="Kiri Te Kanawa and Rodney Gilfry in" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002638-252x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-RJ002638-505x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4990138067061" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek32.jpg" data-image-caption="Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, cool and elegant, on stage and off. (Photo by John Swannell)" data-image-copyright="wp-tek32" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek32-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek32-507x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.25" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek33.jpg" data-image-caption="Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, beloved around the world for her soaring voice and elegant stage presence. (Photo by John Swannell)" data-image-copyright="wp-tek33" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek33-304x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek33-608x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4990138067061" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek34.jpg" data-image-caption="Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has created her own foundation to assist talented young musicians from her native New Zealand. (Photo by John Swannell)" data-image-copyright="wp-tek34" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek34-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-tek34-507x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.65657894736842" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Price-Leontyne-Getty-3238346_10.jpg" data-image-caption="American soprano Leontyne Price singing during rehearsal for her farewell performance of "Aida" at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, January 1985. (Photo by Jim Wilson/New York Times Co./Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="Leontyne Price" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Price-Leontyne-Getty-3238346_10-380x249.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-Price-Leontyne-Getty-3238346_10-760x499.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2881355932203" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-price.jpg" data-image-caption="The legendary American soprano Leontyne Price, seen here in 1969, was a heroine and role model for the young Kiri Te Kanawa. (AP Images)" data-image-copyright="wp-price" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-price-295x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wp-price-590x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/wp-Kiri-Ti-Kanawa-1.jpg" data-image-caption="Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, 2014" data-image-copyright="Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, 2014" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/wp-Kiri-Ti-Kanawa-1-380x254.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/08/wp-Kiri-Ti-Kanawa-1-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure>    </div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <footer class="editorial-article__footer col-md-8 col-md-offset-4"> <div 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Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/leymah-gbowee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leymah Gbowee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/murray-gell-mann-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Murray Gell-Mann, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-ghosn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Ghosn</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Glück</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol W. Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-john-gurdon/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir John Gurdon</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/demis-hassabis-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Demis Hassabis, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/kazuo-ishiguro/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Kazuo Ishiguro</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/beverly-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Beverly Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/dereck-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dereck Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-kagame/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Kagame</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/leon-lederman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Lederman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-b-maccready-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul B. MacCready, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/ernst-mayr-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernst Mayr, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/reinhold-messner/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reinhold Messner</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/ralph-nader/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ralph Nader</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/joyce-carol-oates/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joyce Carol Oates</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pierre Omidyar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/larry-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Arnold Palmer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/leon-panetta/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Panetta</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rosa Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/linus-pauling/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linus C. Pauling, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/shimon-peres/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shimon Peres</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/itzhak-perlman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Itzhak Perlman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-david-petraeus/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General David H. Petraeus, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sidney Poitier</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Colin L. Powell, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/harold-prince/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Harold Prince</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/venki-ramakrishnan-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Venki Ramakrishnan, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/lord-martin-rees/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Martin Rees</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/lloyd-richards/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lloyd Richards</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/sally-ride-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally K. Ride, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/sonny-rollins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonny Rollins</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-romero/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony D. Romero</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-rosenquist/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Rosenquist</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/pete-rozelle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pete Rozelle</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/bill-russell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Bill Russell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/albie-sachs/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Albie Sachs</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/oliver-sacks-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Oliver Sacks, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/jonas-salk-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jonas Salk, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/frederick-sanger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick Sanger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-b-schaller-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George B. Schaller, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/barry-scheck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Barry Scheck</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/richard-evans-schultes-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard Evans Schultes, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-h-norman-schwarzkopf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/stephen-schwarzman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen A. Schwarzman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/glenn-t-seaborg-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/neil-sheehan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Neil Sheehan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-alan-shepard-jr/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/ellen-johnson-sirleaf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ellen Johnson Sirleaf</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-slim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Slim Helú</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/frederick-w-smith/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick W. Smith</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/stephen-sondheim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Sondheim</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/sonia-sotomayor/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonia Sotomayor</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/wole-soyinka/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wole Soyinka</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/esperanza-spalding/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Esperanza Spalding</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/martha-stewart/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Martha Stewart</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-james-b-stockdale/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral James B. Stockdale, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/hilary-swank/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Hilary Swank</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/amy-tan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Amy Tan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/dame-kiri-te-kanawa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Kiri Te Kanawa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/edward-teller-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward Teller, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/twyla-tharp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Twyla Tharp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/wayne-thiebaud/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wayne Thiebaud</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235235/https://achievement.org/achiever/lt-michael-e-thornton-usn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. 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