Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

Renowned for her extraordinary dramatic skill and radiant soprano timbre, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa stands among the preeminent opera figures of her time. A frequent draw at major lyric theaters and recital venues globally, she attained widespread recognition after singing during the nuptials of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Although closely identified with her Mozart and Richard Strauss portrayals, her stage appearances, extensive discography, and artistic scope encompassed works by numerous other composers along with orchestral pieces, Broadway scores, song recitals, and ventures into jazz and blues that extended her appeal far past conventional classical audiences. In 2017 the Gramophone Classical Music Awards presented her with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron on March 6, 1944, in Gisborne, New Zealand, she was adopted in infancy by Thomas and Nell Te Kanawa, who gave her the given name Kiri in honor of Thomas’s father. Under the guidance of Dame Sister Mary Leo Niccol she launched her professional path with engagements in New Zealand nightclubs. Victory at the 1965 Mobil Song Quest supplied funding for studies in London. That same year her debut disc appeared—an EP pairing the Nuns’ Chorus from Johann Strauss II’s Casanova with Handel’s “Let the Bright Seraphim” from Samson—and became the first gold record ever manufactured in New Zealand. In 1966, after performing in the motion picture Don’t Let It Get You and capturing the Sun Aria competition in Melbourne, she entered the London Opera Center to work with Vera Rózsa and James Robertson. Not long afterward she made her initial stage appearance as the Second Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte.

During 1969 Te Kanawa portrayed Elena in Rossini’s La donna del lago at the Comden Festival and, the next year, bowed at Covent Garden as Xenia in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. Her American debut occurred in summer 1971 at the Santa Fe Opera, where she sang the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro opposite a young Frederica von Stade. The role propelled her career forward when she repeated it later that year at Covent Garden under Sir Colin Davis; after the audition Davis remarked in The Royal Opera House in the Twentieth Century, “I couldn’t believe my ears…. Let’s hear her again and see if we’re not dreaming.” While the Countess brought her prominence, she rapidly broadened her parts to include further Mozart heroines in Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, and Die Zauberflöte. Her Metropolitan Opera entrance took place in 1974 when she stepped in at short notice for Teresa Stratas as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello. Throughout the remainder of the 1970s she continued securing significant house debuts, and in 1977 at Houston Grand Opera she first assumed the title role in Richard Strauss’s Arabella, a composer whose music likewise helped secure her reputation. Additional Strauss parts she embraced were the Countess in Capriccio and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier.

In 1981 Te Kanawa appeared at the wedding of England’s Prince Charles and Princess Diana, her rendition of “Let the Bright Seraphim” transmitted worldwide to an audience exceeding 600 million. The following year she received the title Dame of the Order of the British Empire for her contributions to opera and was designated Artist of the Year by Gramophone magazine. Leonard Bernstein selected her in 1984 to lead, together with tenor José Carreras, a fresh recording of West Side Story that he himself conducted. Issued in 1985 together with the documentary The Making of West Side Story, the album achieved strong success and captured a Grammy Award for Best Cast Show Album.

Te Kanawa sustained an active presence into the twenty-first century, gradually withdrawing from fully staged opera while continuing to appear as a recitalist and concert soloist, to teach, and to record. She established the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation in New Zealand in 2004 to guide, assist, and provide financial support for emerging musicians. In 2010, in partnership with BBC Radio 2, she instituted the Kiri Prize Competition, which drew more than 600 audition entries; the victor, Shuna Scott Sendall, joined Te Kanawa and Carreras on the BBC Proms stage that autumn. That year she also performed the Marschallin twice at the Cologne Opera and returned to the Met as the Duchess in Donizetti’s La fille du régiment, a spoken role she later reprised at various houses. In 2013 she portrayed Dame Nellie Melba in an episode of the television series Downton Abbey. Her last public appearance, known as such only to her at the time, occurred during a 2016 concert in Ballarat, Australia. She formally declared her retirement in 2017 yet persisted in instructing and mentoring younger singers; the same year the Gramophone Classical Music Awards again honored her with the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019 Auckland’s Aotea Centre renamed its ASB Theatre the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre and celebrated the soprano with a gala unveiling.