Te Kanawa, Dame Kiri

Te Kanawa, Dame Kiri, brilliant New Zealand soprano; b. Gisborne, March 6, 1944. Her father was an indigenous Maori who traced his ancestry to the legendary warrior Te Kanawa; her mother was Irish. She attended Catholic schools in Auckland, and was coached in singing by a nun. She was sent to Melbourne to compete in a radio show; won 1^st prize in the Melbourne Sun contest. In 1966 she received a grant for study in London with Vera Rozsa. She made her operatic debut at the Camden Festival in 1969 in Rossini’s La Donna del Lago; first appeared at London’s Covent Garden in a minor role that same year, and then as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro in 1971. She made her U.S. debut in the same role with the Santa Fe Opera in 1971; it became one of her most remarkable interpretations. She sang it again with the San Francisco Opera in 1972. A proverbial coup de théâtre in her career came on Feb. 9, 1974, when she was called upon to substitute at a few hours’ notice for the ailing Teresa Stratas in the part of Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y.; it was a triumphant achievement, winning for her unanimous praise. She also sang in the film version of Le nozze di Figaro. In 1977 she appeared as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Paris Opéra. On Dec. 31, 1977, she took the role of Rosalinde in a Covent Garden production of Die Fledermaus, which was televised to the U.S. In 1990 she sang Strauss’s Countess at the San Francisco Opera. She was a soloist in the premiere of Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio in 1991. After singing Mozart’s Countess at the Metropolitan Opera in 1992, she returned there in that role in 1997. In 1998 she sang Strauss’s Countess at the Glyndebourne Festival.

Te Kanawa excelled equally as a subtle and artistic interpreter of lyric roles in Mozart’s operas and in dramatic representations of Verdi’s operas. Among her other distinguished roles were the Marschallin and Arabella. She also won renown as a concert artist. In later years she expanded her repertoire to include popular fare, including songs by Cole Porter and Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. Hailed as a prima donna assoluta, she pursued one of the most successful international operatic and concert careers of her day. In 1981 she sang at the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in London, a performance televised around the globe. In 1973 she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire; in 1982 she was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Bibliography

D. Fingleton, K. T.K.(N.Y., 1983).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire