Post by fusilier23 on Feb 23, 2008 17:56:50 GMT
This is nothing new, Dame Kiri was using the same smashmouth lines five years ago, witness:
Friday July 9th, 2004_
Kiri's kiwi truths
Mike Smith, The Western Mail
She's been the world's most famous soprano for more than 30 years. So what advice does Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, here to sing at the Welsh Proms, have for young singers such as Charlotte Church? She tells MIKE SMITH they should watch out, or they'll only be famous for five minutes
OPERA'S great dame Kiri Te Kanawa has just turned 60 but has no intention of trading in her international jet-setting career for a bus pass. Extensive concert tours are under way, including this year's Welsh Proms, more opera performances are scheduled and a new foundation to help young singers and musicians is being established.
And the legendary soprano has a word of advice for the Charlottes, Hayleys and other teenage singing sensations of this world: take the fame game with a pinch of salt and try not to be yesterday's news by your 20s.
"The sort of music coming out from singers like Charlotte Church and Hayley Westenra is a hybrid and, yes, it is nice for a while," she says. "But where do they go from here? Will they have careers when they are 60? I've had an amazing career for the last 30 years. They have their place but I can't imagine either Charlotte or Hayley will have careers for the next 30 years."
Speaking some 33 years after her sensational Royal Opera House debut as the Countess in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Dame Kiri added, "Any young girl wants to be a pop singer. I can relate to that. I know I did. I enjoy people singing fabulous popular songs but what happens if they are past it aged 25?
"I think any success is bad for young people if they are not looked after. It gets to the stage where it becomes a circus. I look at my own career and I now say leave me alone, let me deal with things on my own, how I want to.
"These young singers mustn't believe all the hype because that is what it is.
"You need a lot of help from people to give good advice and who can tell you when you are making mistakes."
Not that Dame Kiri is immune from hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Last year she was on the front pages when the Glasgow hotel she was staying in called the police after she asked if they had a gun room for her shotguns - she is an avid clay pigeon shooter, you see.
Kiri ended up making an unscheduled appearance at one the city's police stations after Strathclyde Police had rushed to the hotel.
"The hotel was just stupid," she says. "I have been to so many hotels with gun rooms but they had to go through procedures and simply wasted a lot of tax payer's money calling the police.
"I was actually shooting in Scotland for an epilepsy charity and I would rather have seen the charity being publicised rather than my guns!"
Then in a newspaper interview, the half-Maori came under fire from Maori members of the New Zealand parliament for apparently criticising the indigenous people for being lazy and lacking pride.
"I was talking about singers but it was taken as a criticism of all Maoris," she explained, adding that Maori singers can get stuck in a traditional genre. "It is perhaps a little like the position of Welsh male voice choirs here trying to break into other areas."
And while Dame Kiri has recorded Maori songs and sometimes included them in her concerts, her first Welsh Prom will be Handel, Berlioz, Vivaldi and Guastavino.
"Maori songs are just something I do sometimes. It isn't the basis of my career, which is classical."
So does Dame Kiri think it ironic that is has taken non-Maori New Zealand singers to have huge success with Maori songs, such as Hayley Westenra with Pokarekare Ana?
"I think it is a little strange," she says. "But they are New Zealanders and are, of course, allowed to do it."
Now Dame Kiri has set up her own foundation to help serious young New Zealand singers and musicians to advance their careers.
In her early career Dame Kiri received financial support and mentoring from various philanthropic sources, enabling her to move to London to improve her skills and optimise her talents.
"I have got to the position and the stage in my career where I can spend more time helping with other people's careers.
"I am looking at New Zealand singers and musicians who are not just starting out and really do want to go on to the next stage in their careers.
"So it is not aimed at 14 or 15 year olds, only their parents can drive them.
"I want singers and musicians who are at the stage where they have the desire and drive themselves to take the next step, young people coming out of college who really want to break into the higher standard of classical music."
The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation was launched at a gala concert in Auckland in February.
Although Dame Kiri put New Zealand on the operatic map few other singers have followed. "There are quite a few actors and actresses but few singers as it is a very field to break into," she says. "Actresses can live in New Zealand and work anywhere. But singers have to live here to do their job."
Dame Kiri is also at the stage in her career where she can take a pop at the opera companies for their own lack of ambition.
Two years ago she sang in a new opera, Vanessa, in Washington and the work is being performed in Los Angeles in November.
But Dame Kiri says trying to get the opera performed in Britain has been like hitting her head against a brick wall.
"I would love to see it performed here but and I have discussed it on many occasions but I can't get anyone to put it on."
In her heyday Dame Kiri delighted the world with one of opera's most remarkable voices, the wedding of Charles and Diana crowning her popular appeal. She took the talent of her natural singing beauty - an instant hit with opera houses - to the millions. While they might not be able to name an opera, Kiri Te Kanawa became a household name.
But her sensational debut as the Countess in the Marriage of Figaro at Covent Garden was more than 30 years ago. While the richness and musicality of her voice, combined with her own physical beauty, propelled her to the premiere league throughout the next two decades, not even opera's greatest dame can hold back the effects that time has on the voice.
Kiri has always been cherished as a musical artist rather than perhaps a singer of detailed penetration - a singer for the music first and foremost.
The sheer allure of the natural sound more than compensated - singing to make the spirit soar.
Time is cruel to some singers, particularly those adored for that mesmerising musicality rather than the gift of dramatic interpretation, masterful acting or simple vocal punch.
Opera companies have of late been accused of being size and looks-obsessed and while some have increasingly looked to the age of singers to fulfil dramatic requirements of young characters; this has in some cases been stretched way beyond the limits to accommodate older if greater voices.
Sadly maturity has its limits and those vocal powers, of course, weaken; tones harden, opulence fades and the heights of thrilling rapture drop a peak or two.
With such a voice as Te Kanawa those flashes of heart-stopping delight still make her a captivating performer.
The last of her extremely rare performances in Wales left the audience justifiably spellbound.
The critics increasingly have to highlight the effects of time on the edges of what was once perfection - but critics and audiences alike continue to revel in the overall sensation that is Te Kanawa.
Her first Welsh Prom is not to be missed and it is the opportunity to hear a woman who remains a remarkable talent, probably still the most famous living soprano in the world.
Dame Kiri says there is a dearth of new works coming through particularly for the maturer voice.
"As singers get older our voices do develop and so I would not go back to singing roles like Pamina (the young princess in Mozart's The Magic Flute).
"You have to be realistic. For singers we just don't have the writers.
"With actresses the writers are still coming through with new works so you see fabulous roles for people like Maggie Smith and Judi Dench."
So is retirement on the horizon?
Far from it - in August she is off to the Faroe Islands before embarking on an extensive Unites States tour through September.
Then it is back to the UK and Denmark before returning to the United States for nine performances of Vanessa in Los Angeles.
"We just had a three-hour costume fitting in London for Vanessa, the designer, lives here; trying on five or six costumes, standing all the time. The designer asked if I needed to sit down and take a break. I said 'No, go faster and get on with it!'"
In response to this article, Keith, God rest his soul, said that Dame Kiri sounded like a scalded cat. Although I don't agree with that, I do believe Kiri's singing, compared to Hayley's is soulless.
It is pretty obvious that she, a singer-scholar of many years' experience, thinks of Hayley and other young crossover types as upstarts and whippersnappers, and that's nothing new. There's also an element of opera purist snobbery, and that's nothing limited to her either, baritone Sir Thomas Allen is just as bad.
I think she's ended up helping Hayley more than hurting her, because now Hayley looks gracious and she just looks like a bitter, narrow-minded old has-been. She could even be called a hypocrite, since she put out three albums of show tunes and one of Maori songs, so she's no classical purist. Sorry, Dame Kiri, but your time is ending as it must in the natural order of things. It ill becomes the evening to be jealous of the dawn or the autumn to begrudge the springtime.
If she is so interested in helping young singers to get on the proper path, then she has her foundation, so she has the tools to do so, why doesn't she concentrate on that?
Unfortunately I think I know why. The newspaper could care less if her foundation produces 20 top-notch singers a year, an article with one singer attacking another is worth FIVE classes of singers as news. So blame the news media for running this junk too.
Friday July 9th, 2004_
Kiri's kiwi truths
Mike Smith, The Western Mail
She's been the world's most famous soprano for more than 30 years. So what advice does Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, here to sing at the Welsh Proms, have for young singers such as Charlotte Church? She tells MIKE SMITH they should watch out, or they'll only be famous for five minutes
OPERA'S great dame Kiri Te Kanawa has just turned 60 but has no intention of trading in her international jet-setting career for a bus pass. Extensive concert tours are under way, including this year's Welsh Proms, more opera performances are scheduled and a new foundation to help young singers and musicians is being established.
And the legendary soprano has a word of advice for the Charlottes, Hayleys and other teenage singing sensations of this world: take the fame game with a pinch of salt and try not to be yesterday's news by your 20s.
"The sort of music coming out from singers like Charlotte Church and Hayley Westenra is a hybrid and, yes, it is nice for a while," she says. "But where do they go from here? Will they have careers when they are 60? I've had an amazing career for the last 30 years. They have their place but I can't imagine either Charlotte or Hayley will have careers for the next 30 years."
Speaking some 33 years after her sensational Royal Opera House debut as the Countess in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Dame Kiri added, "Any young girl wants to be a pop singer. I can relate to that. I know I did. I enjoy people singing fabulous popular songs but what happens if they are past it aged 25?
"I think any success is bad for young people if they are not looked after. It gets to the stage where it becomes a circus. I look at my own career and I now say leave me alone, let me deal with things on my own, how I want to.
"These young singers mustn't believe all the hype because that is what it is.
"You need a lot of help from people to give good advice and who can tell you when you are making mistakes."
Not that Dame Kiri is immune from hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Last year she was on the front pages when the Glasgow hotel she was staying in called the police after she asked if they had a gun room for her shotguns - she is an avid clay pigeon shooter, you see.
Kiri ended up making an unscheduled appearance at one the city's police stations after Strathclyde Police had rushed to the hotel.
"The hotel was just stupid," she says. "I have been to so many hotels with gun rooms but they had to go through procedures and simply wasted a lot of tax payer's money calling the police.
"I was actually shooting in Scotland for an epilepsy charity and I would rather have seen the charity being publicised rather than my guns!"
Then in a newspaper interview, the half-Maori came under fire from Maori members of the New Zealand parliament for apparently criticising the indigenous people for being lazy and lacking pride.
"I was talking about singers but it was taken as a criticism of all Maoris," she explained, adding that Maori singers can get stuck in a traditional genre. "It is perhaps a little like the position of Welsh male voice choirs here trying to break into other areas."
And while Dame Kiri has recorded Maori songs and sometimes included them in her concerts, her first Welsh Prom will be Handel, Berlioz, Vivaldi and Guastavino.
"Maori songs are just something I do sometimes. It isn't the basis of my career, which is classical."
So does Dame Kiri think it ironic that is has taken non-Maori New Zealand singers to have huge success with Maori songs, such as Hayley Westenra with Pokarekare Ana?
"I think it is a little strange," she says. "But they are New Zealanders and are, of course, allowed to do it."
Now Dame Kiri has set up her own foundation to help serious young New Zealand singers and musicians to advance their careers.
In her early career Dame Kiri received financial support and mentoring from various philanthropic sources, enabling her to move to London to improve her skills and optimise her talents.
"I have got to the position and the stage in my career where I can spend more time helping with other people's careers.
"I am looking at New Zealand singers and musicians who are not just starting out and really do want to go on to the next stage in their careers.
"So it is not aimed at 14 or 15 year olds, only their parents can drive them.
"I want singers and musicians who are at the stage where they have the desire and drive themselves to take the next step, young people coming out of college who really want to break into the higher standard of classical music."
The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation was launched at a gala concert in Auckland in February.
Although Dame Kiri put New Zealand on the operatic map few other singers have followed. "There are quite a few actors and actresses but few singers as it is a very field to break into," she says. "Actresses can live in New Zealand and work anywhere. But singers have to live here to do their job."
Dame Kiri is also at the stage in her career where she can take a pop at the opera companies for their own lack of ambition.
Two years ago she sang in a new opera, Vanessa, in Washington and the work is being performed in Los Angeles in November.
But Dame Kiri says trying to get the opera performed in Britain has been like hitting her head against a brick wall.
"I would love to see it performed here but and I have discussed it on many occasions but I can't get anyone to put it on."
In her heyday Dame Kiri delighted the world with one of opera's most remarkable voices, the wedding of Charles and Diana crowning her popular appeal. She took the talent of her natural singing beauty - an instant hit with opera houses - to the millions. While they might not be able to name an opera, Kiri Te Kanawa became a household name.
But her sensational debut as the Countess in the Marriage of Figaro at Covent Garden was more than 30 years ago. While the richness and musicality of her voice, combined with her own physical beauty, propelled her to the premiere league throughout the next two decades, not even opera's greatest dame can hold back the effects that time has on the voice.
Kiri has always been cherished as a musical artist rather than perhaps a singer of detailed penetration - a singer for the music first and foremost.
The sheer allure of the natural sound more than compensated - singing to make the spirit soar.
Time is cruel to some singers, particularly those adored for that mesmerising musicality rather than the gift of dramatic interpretation, masterful acting or simple vocal punch.
Opera companies have of late been accused of being size and looks-obsessed and while some have increasingly looked to the age of singers to fulfil dramatic requirements of young characters; this has in some cases been stretched way beyond the limits to accommodate older if greater voices.
Sadly maturity has its limits and those vocal powers, of course, weaken; tones harden, opulence fades and the heights of thrilling rapture drop a peak or two.
With such a voice as Te Kanawa those flashes of heart-stopping delight still make her a captivating performer.
The last of her extremely rare performances in Wales left the audience justifiably spellbound.
The critics increasingly have to highlight the effects of time on the edges of what was once perfection - but critics and audiences alike continue to revel in the overall sensation that is Te Kanawa.
Her first Welsh Prom is not to be missed and it is the opportunity to hear a woman who remains a remarkable talent, probably still the most famous living soprano in the world.
Dame Kiri says there is a dearth of new works coming through particularly for the maturer voice.
"As singers get older our voices do develop and so I would not go back to singing roles like Pamina (the young princess in Mozart's The Magic Flute).
"You have to be realistic. For singers we just don't have the writers.
"With actresses the writers are still coming through with new works so you see fabulous roles for people like Maggie Smith and Judi Dench."
So is retirement on the horizon?
Far from it - in August she is off to the Faroe Islands before embarking on an extensive Unites States tour through September.
Then it is back to the UK and Denmark before returning to the United States for nine performances of Vanessa in Los Angeles.
"We just had a three-hour costume fitting in London for Vanessa, the designer, lives here; trying on five or six costumes, standing all the time. The designer asked if I needed to sit down and take a break. I said 'No, go faster and get on with it!'"
In response to this article, Keith, God rest his soul, said that Dame Kiri sounded like a scalded cat. Although I don't agree with that, I do believe Kiri's singing, compared to Hayley's is soulless.
It is pretty obvious that she, a singer-scholar of many years' experience, thinks of Hayley and other young crossover types as upstarts and whippersnappers, and that's nothing new. There's also an element of opera purist snobbery, and that's nothing limited to her either, baritone Sir Thomas Allen is just as bad.
I think she's ended up helping Hayley more than hurting her, because now Hayley looks gracious and she just looks like a bitter, narrow-minded old has-been. She could even be called a hypocrite, since she put out three albums of show tunes and one of Maori songs, so she's no classical purist. Sorry, Dame Kiri, but your time is ending as it must in the natural order of things. It ill becomes the evening to be jealous of the dawn or the autumn to begrudge the springtime.
If she is so interested in helping young singers to get on the proper path, then she has her foundation, so she has the tools to do so, why doesn't she concentrate on that?
Unfortunately I think I know why. The newspaper could care less if her foundation produces 20 top-notch singers a year, an article with one singer attacking another is worth FIVE classes of singers as news. So blame the news media for running this junk too.
