My Voice Class Term Paper

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The Dame from New Zealand

A Journey Through the Music of Kiri Te Kanawa

The Dame from New Zealand

Kiri Te Kanawa started her career as a mezzo-soprano, then became a soprano later on down the road. When she became a soprano she played the lead character in many operas. She was also involved with musicals, folk songs, and Christmas Carols. This paper will introduce Kiri Te Kanawa’s career, and reveal some of the CDs she has brought out.

Kiri Te Kanawa was born in Gisborne, New Zealand She was the daughter of Tom and Nell Te Kanawa (Fingleton 15). The Te Kanawa’s were so poor that they did not have the time or the resources to take care of her, so they put her up for adoption. After she was adopted by her new parents, she was named Kiri to go with her surname. Te Kanawa’s new mother’s name was Nell. One of the things Nell noticed about Kiri was that whenever she played the piano, Kiri would sing to the music. Nell then realized that Kiri had talent in her singing voice, and wanted to enroll her in St. Mary’s College where Sister Mary Leo taught. She was the headmistress of this school. The lessons Kiri Te Kanawa received from Sister Mary Leo led to Te Kanawa’s first performance at this college. It was Johann Straus’ Casanova, where she sang in the Nun’s Chorus, and this was one of the CDs she was on. This was the time during her career when she started to be looked on as a mezzo-soprano. Sister Mary Leo recognized this. While Kiri Te Kanawa was considered a mezzo-soprano, she played the lead character of Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen. She also sang in other operas during her mezzo-soprano days, such as: Idomeneo, and Parsifal. The second turning point in Kiri Te Kanawa’s career was the time when she played the character of Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (Sims 1328). This role required the voice of a soprano. This was the time in Te Kanawa’s career when she acquired the status of a soprano. After this, she was able to play the lead character in many other operas. One of them was Verdi’s La Traviata where she played the lead character of Violetta. One time in Johann Straus’ Die Fledermaus, she appeared as one of Prince Orlofsky’s guests and sang Sempre Libera as a solo from La Traviata (Fingleton 25). However, the role that Te Kanawa was most famous for was playing Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Another famous role that Te Kanawa played was Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello (Verdi). She expresses her passionate voice in this opera. One of the most famous parts that Kiri Te Kanawa was recognized for was The Willow Song, which was liked a lot by pianist David Harper, who also accompanied Te Kanawa with Sister Mary Leo.

The first solo recital for Kiri Te Kanawa was the Gala recital in her home of New Zealand at the Royal Opera house (Heather). During this recital she sang songs from poems in different languages. One of the songs was Daphne, which told the story of Apollo and Daphne. As a result of this concert, she started to become very popular in other opera houses all over the world.
Kiri Te Kanawa sang in many other forms besides opera. One of them was musicals, and she played the head character in them, such as in My Fair Lady, West Side Story, and The Sound of Music (Fingleton 25). These musicals are on CD too. Another thing Te Kanawa sang besides opera were folk songs. Chants D’ Auvergne is an example of this, and one of the songs was Quand z'eyro petitoune, which is French for When I was a Little Girl (Lobos). In addition, Kiri Te Kanawa also sang Christmas songs, and one of the CDs was Christmas With Kiri (Davis). Some of the Carols this CD contains is Winter Wonderland, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, White Christmas, and many others. Another example of Christmas CDs was Our Christmas Songs for You where she teamed up with Roberto Alagna and Thomas Hampson (Tunick). This CD does have some songs with all three of these singers singing, and some as Kiri Te Kanawa solos such as I’ll be Home For Christmas, Silent Night, and others.

There are many other sopranos that have taken their singing beyond opera, but I believe Kiri Te Kanawa has the best voice for this trend. The beauty of her voice can be enjoyed in opera, musicals, and folk songs. It can also be loved in Christmas carols. I find Maria Callas to be my favorite singer when it comes to opera, but I find Kiri Te Kanawa to be my favorite for the things she sang other than opera.

Works Cited

Fingleton David, Kiri Te Kanawa, A Bibliography. New York: Library of Congress Cataloging, 1983.
Kiri Te Kanawa Royal Gala Concert at the Royal Opera House, Convent Garden. Videocassette. Dir. David Heather. Kultur International Films LTD, 1980.
Otello. DVD-ROM. Dir. Georg Solti. Royal Opera House Convent Garden: Convent Garden Pioneer, 2001.
Wikipedia, Kiri Te Kanawa. 29 Aug 2004. 25 Sep 2004.
Soprano Central, Kiri Te Kanawa. N/A. 23 Sep 2004.
Lobos, Villa. Chants D’ Auvergne. London, CD ROM. Kingsway Hall, London, 1982
Tunick, Jonathan. Our Christmas Songs For You. EMI, CD-ROM. London; 1996
Davis, Carl. Christmas With Kiri. London, CD-ROM. CTS Studios, Wembley; 1985
Sims, Michael. Kiri Te Kanawa, International Dictionary of Opera. Volume 2. Detroit, MI, St. James Press 1993.