Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Fears Restricting Visas Will Affect Quality Singers

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa as the Countess in the 1973
 production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro
 at the Glyndebourne Festival.

"Soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has warned of the restricting impact of visas for international singers hoping to work or study in the UK. The New Zealand-born singer told The Observer that the current model for obtaining visas for work and study in the UK are weighted against new talent, comparing her own experiences with those of students and singers today. 'When I came over there was an open door. But now a foreign singer can come into schools for a year or so, but then, more often than not, if they want to carry on they have to reapply. So what happens is they have to go back after their time runs out and sit there in New Zealand, for example, for almost a year. I talk to opera companies in London about it, and they don't like it when I say it. But these singers have got to get the visas or they will never learn.' Te Kanawa continued, saying that the solution was to remove hurdles from the visa process, and that not all international singers are likely to enjoy a long professional career: 'The thing is, they are not all going to make it, so what I want is just one place a year for a person who is really going to last.'" [Source] For those concerned about their current, or future, visas can find more information by clicking here.