Opera's Shining Star: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (Opera Documentary)

Subscribe and click the bell icon to get more arts content every week:

A celebratory look at the career of Kiri Te Kanawa, the New Zealand soprano who shot to stardom in the 70s with appearances at London's Royal Opera House.

Perspective is YouTube's home for the arts. Come here to get your fill of great music, theatre, art and much, much more!

From Legends of Opera

Content licensed from 3DD to Little Dot Studios.

Any queries, please contact us at:

[piustwelfth]

One of the most beautiful voices ever. She was also a great singer of baroque music. I highly recommend her Handel recording "The Sorceress".

[magicmonkichi]

I saw Dame Kiri in a concert with piano in Toronto....around 15ish years ago. I was a huge fan, and it was my first time hearing her live and with just a piano. I shall never forget it! Brava!

[baritonebynight]

Dame Kiri is truly one of the most exceptional singers of our time. She was able to sing very well into her early 70s because of her exceptional technique and intelligence. She once said "the voice is like a salami, every time to use it, you take a slice off." Therefore, she didn't pack her schedule and for the most part only sang what she felt fit her instrument. I saw in her 2006, thinking she was already retired from staged opera and only making occasional appearances here and there. Boy was I wrong! She was in excellent voice and continued to appear in opera and recital for another ten years including one final Marschallin in 2010 at the age of 66!

[DemocritusWept]

Was introduced to opera from her solos in the Room with A view film. Had thought of sopranos as screechy yet here was the most gorgeous golden voice. She opened up the opera world and I graduated to Callas.

[bilit]

Wonderful insight to 1 of the greatest doprano

[uppityglivestockian]

Thanks for this upload. Dame Kiri was the total package, a sublime interpreter for the opera stage in every aspect. No one need have left the opera house wanting. Radiantly beautiful in voice and form, along with a better average acting chops, though sometimes uneven in dramatic roles, she more than compensated in comic roles. I'm going to dig up a copy of the film Don Giovanni with Ruggero Raimondi and Teresa Berganza, clips of which you feature in this doc. I also learned a few tidbits I didn't know until now; I'm always on the hunt for new knowledge. Mil gracias, paz.

[fieldsofgold]

She promoted our race so well. She showed the people of the time. The best of New Zealand & our Maori people. Aroha ❤Dame Kiri.

[artsiecrafty]

Thank you for sharing these wonderful videos with us! In this lockdown, I need all the help I can get.

[LalaMontenegro]

Why are they referring to her in the past tense? Last time I checked, she's still alive and well.

[piustwelfth]

I saw her in several Richard Strauss operas in San Francisco. She had the perfect voice for those roles.

[samueljaramillo]

The Santa Fe opera festival is one of the best summer festivals in the world. Keri and Fredericka von Stade made their big debuts in that production of The Marriage of Figaro before they were big stars. And the rest is history. Long and glorious careers for both.

[karenmartin]

I remember when my mother first listened to her. She wept. A beautiful person, inside and out. A class act.

[RequiemAeternam]

This makes me very proud to be a New Zealander.

[jeanpierredevos]

She was one of the most wonderful singers who ever took the stage. A fantastic voice but she went on far to long. That was said. But in her best years she sang unforgettable roles.

[pilouetmissiou]

Era sì una voce stupenda...ascoltandola mi viene pero da desiderare una migliore articolazione per capire di piu i testi però sì, la voce era magnifica molto speciale ..❤❤❤❤

[HannibalFan]

In spite of using several clips from the 1983 Covent Garden 'Fledermaus' in the beginning, they never mentioned that role at all, which is a shame. I've seen several productions, and I can't even remember the names of the ladies playing Rosalinde. Dame Kiri's sense of comic timing in that role was impeccable. My favortie is when Falke is announced by Adele: Well, at least he's not another tenor...

[selini]

Yes, Marschallin and Le Nozze di Figaro are really written for her voice ( not Donna Elvira)!

[davidallen]

Correction ; she did NOT train as a “mezzo soprano”. Dame Sister Mary Leo, her N.Z. teacher, trained her as a lyric soprano.

[dudeforcaster]

That's Frederica von Stade singing @11:59

[victorvasquez]

I wonder why they played vpn Stade’s Cherubini when talking about her Nozze