Te Kanawa, Dame Kiri

Te Kanawa, Dame Kiri (tā kä`nəwə), 1944–, New Zealand opera and concert singer. Since the early 1970s she has been one of the most acclaimed and popular lyric sopranos and has appeared with London's Royal Opera, New York's Metropolitan Opera, the Munich Opera, and other major houses worldwide. Her warm voice and stage personality are striking, and she has made many recordings. Te Kanawa is noted for such roles as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1983.

Bibliography

See biography by D. Fingleton (1983).

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Te Kanawa, Dame Kiri (Janette)

(born March 6, 1944, Gisborne, North Island, N.Z.) New Zealand-born (half-Maori) soprano. After winning various singing competitions at home, she went to London for further study in 1966 and made her Covent Garden debut in 1970. Soon moving into leading roles, she became especially admired as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro. In 1974 she made a triumphal debut at the Metropolitan Opera, substituting at the last moment in Giuseppe Verdi's Otello. A glamorous and regally imperturbable presence with a rich voice, she was chosen to sing at the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles, and she has made many recordings.