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

[@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".

[@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!

[@Maya-bu2rf]

And she was great. I was on the 3rd row. Right in the center! 2010

[@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!

[@RaymondHng]

I saw her in a recital at Davis Symphony Hall in San Francisco in 1989. She walked out on stage, noticed something stuck on the bottom of her shoe, peeled it off, and flicked it away. We love her sense of humor.

[@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.

[@bilit26]

Wonderful insight to 1 of the greatest doprano

[@piustwelfth]

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

[@fieldsofgold775]

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

[@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.

[@RaymondHng]

Her "Mi tradi quell'alma ingrata" is divine. Her studio recording with Jose Carreras in "One Hand One Heart" in _West Side Story_ with Leonard Bernstein conducting is heavenly. I saw her in a recital at Davis Symphony Hall in San Francisco in 1989. She walked out on stage, noticed something stuck on the bottom of her shoe, peeled it off, and flicked it away. We love her sense of humor.

[@artsiecrafty4164]

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

[@arnoldamaral7406]

WORD 💙🇪🇸🎶🎼🎵 Arnold Bourbon Amaral

[@samueljaramillo4221]

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.

[@piustwelfth]

I saw many world class singers in Sante Fe at the beginning of their careers. And what a venue! They also do a lot of baroque opera which I like.

[@AlphonsodeBarbo]

Kiri is our Aotearoa princess!

[@ruthchristian8047]

Best soprano who has ever lived!

[@jlb9368]

Incomparable Kiri! Opera royalty!

[@karenmartin9743]

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

[@RequiemAeternam01]

This makes me very proud to be a New Zealander.

[@LalaMontenegro1]

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

[@mayageorge1847]

Omg yes! Unless you're on top, you must be dead.

[@Maya-bu2rf]

Retired 2016 and teaches/mentors singers

[@jeanpierredevos3137]

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.

[@Maya-bu2rf]

Went on too long in your opinion

[@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 ..❤❤❤❤

[@HannibalFan52]

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...

[@selini52]

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

[@tneprescintr]

The voice at 12:12 is Frederica Von Stade...

[@RaymondHng]

Yep. That's Te Kanawa's friend mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade as Cherubino singing "Voi che sapete" in _The Marriage of Figaro_

[@davidallen508]

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

[@anthonyshakes9781]

Very Regal!

[@dudeforcaster8630]

That's Frederica von Stade singing @11:59

[@RaymondHng]

Yep. That's Te Kanawa's friend mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade as Cherubino singing "Voi che sapete" in _The Marriage of Figaro_

[@victorvasquez4212]

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

[@victorvasquez4212]

Teresa Berganza never got even close to Otello. She was a Rossini specialist mezzo

[@armijok]

It is not Teresa Brrganza who is mentioned but Teresa Stratas.

[@marcoantoniofalquete557]

Narrator: "during the 80's Kiri continue to delight audiences in the biggest production of Opera across the globe, but it was in 1991 that she reached pop music charts success" - I was expecting some blockbuster that had hit the Globe - "singing a Hymn for Rugby" ... kkkkkk ... It seems that the rest of the world don't give a damn to Rugby cups ...

[@JanetteHeffernan]

You should read "Kiri the real biography"! She is a "Diva" and like many divas a monster! Her behaviour in Auckland which built a theatre for her was so bizarre and ungrateful that they put her statue in a cupboard for years. She also was cruel to the NZ conductor who did so much to ensure her success. There were many other wonderful young singers in Auckland who were never given the opportunities that she had showered upon her. She can be very rude and her unfortunate behaviour has spoiled her image for many of us.

[@katerinakemp5701]

Never read about that, diva I'm not sure where you interpreted through reading the book a diva. I interpreted differently, forthright yes interested in being the best in her chosen craft, seems like you have a axe to grind my opinion only.

[@Maya-bu2rf]

The authors of this book always chop the subject of their book to pieces and have been surf by other people but not her. She herself said she wanted the music to be the very best and as she grew older she often knew more than others about how something should be. She also had a much stronger work ethic and did not like wasting time.

[@Maya-bu2rf]

Does indeed sound personal. Why watch if you do not like her

[@sacredkingfisher6714]

I love her voice, and have great admiration for her. .But as a younger person she was not a very kind one, writing to her hardup adopted parents when they needed help, that they ' should save up their pennies '...

[@jessicarinaldi7742]

Silky throat high way, magnefficient

[@dimitrovajunkie]

Kiri Te Kanawa? Pretty voice and gracious lady but I would think after Callas Perspective would have done a profile on Joan Sutherland, Montserrat Caballe, Birgit Nilsson, Renata Tebaldi, or Leontyne Price. They seem of more importance in the operatic world, imho. Oh, well. Whatever.

[@bilit26]

I think will eventually. I think the point is she us part of the group of these greats! Luv them all 4 diffetent reasons

[@paora7122]

Everyone has an opinion. Oh well, whatever.

[@RaymondHng]

Their Sutherland and Caballe profiles were posted within weeks after this one.

[@thesadavacantist5194]

Please Please Please do Andrea bocelli Please Please Please .

[@pilouetmissiou]

Andrea Bocelli non arriva alla caviglia di un sacco di voci operistiche ... è un'altra cosa e si fa un battage ma francamente...