Buy Kiri Te Kanawa Former Twin Ponds Lane Home For $2.2 Million

Gate Not Included: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa as Donna Elvira
 in Joseph Losey's film of Mozart's Don Giovanni

"Soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has performed in the world's best known opera houses, and she called an Oyster Bay Cove Colonial home in the 1980s, when performing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The house with six bedrooms, five bathrooms and a half bath is now on the market for $2.2 million. Seller Judith Tytel, who bought the house from the New Zealand opera singer more than 25 years ago, says she remembers viewing it during an open house and seeing opera posters in the kids' rooms. 'She bought the house when she came to sing for long periods of time for the Met and in the United States in general,' Tytel says."...."A rare and gracious 3 story Colonial set on almost 4 acres in a quiet cul-de-sac. Once owned by the soprano Kiri Te Kanawa. This magnificent home boasts formal rooms filled with many original details, including 6 fireplaces, french doors, and wide plank floors. Other features include bluestone patio & pool. New roof, windows, and doors." [Source, Source] See a photo of the home, after the jump.

Tenors Anyone? Opera Singers That Love The Game Of Tennis

Love All: Grigolo (left) and Flórez go head-to-head on the court during some time off from the MET.

Tenors Juan Diego Flórez and Vittorio Grigolo took a break from their current performing schedule at the Metropolitan Opera to hit the courts for a friendly game of tennis. Mr. Flórez, a Rossini specialist who starred in the MET's first performances of the composer's La Donna del Lago, posted the image of the two men on his Facebook page. This isn't the first time that the worlds of tennis and opera have come together. Two instances are here and here. And tenor Lawrence Brownlee has proclaimed his enthusiasm for tennis; soprano Amelia Farrugia keeps stamina up for the stage by playing tennis in downtime; baritone Michael Chioldi has been known to pick up the racket to stay in shape;  soprano Julianna Di Giacomo grew up playing tennis; tenor Enrico Caruso didn't fair so well lasting through one set; soprano Kiri Te Kanawa keeps busy with a myriad of sports that includes tennis; bass-baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes built his physique on the game of tennis; soprano Mary Garden had advice for her friend and tennis player Bill Tilden; and tenor Ivan Kozlovsky kept his health up with the sport. It's not the only sport that cross-pollinates opera with athletics, click here for more. See more photos of opera singers with tennis champions after the jump.

Tennis champions Rafael Nadal (left) and David Ferrer on the stage of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain.

World Sopranos Announced For Cardiff Singer Competition 2015

Competitors have been announced for the 2015 Cardiff Singer of the World. The list of sopranos inlcudes Nadine Koutcher (Russia), Aviva Fortunata (Canada), Anaïs Constans (France), Kelebogile Besong (South Africa), Regula Mühlemann (Switzerland), Lauren Michelle (USA), and Céline Forrest (Wales). Watch videos featuring all of these women after the jump. Learn more about all the singers in the competition by clicking here. Sopranos Soile Isokoski and Kiri Te Kanawa will be on the jury for the competition, the full list is here. Cardiff Singer of the World will take place June 14-21, 2015.

Last-Minute Holiday Shopping Ideas From Heavenly Voices On High

Purchase the album here.
Recommended track: "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

If you want to turn the frequency up this holiday season, check out the plethora of recordings from divas both past and present. From the latest release by Measha Brueggergosman to the Germanic overtones of Rita Streich, Maria Stader, and Anneliese Rothenberger, high notes during the holidays will ensure everyone has a holly jolly time. Check out more than 30 albums after the jump to give you instant holiday spirit through sacred seasonal music or christmas classics. Each one is linked to the full digital version to allow you to either choose the entire package or simply download the tracks you enjoy most. You can even make a compilation off the recommended tracks from each selection. Joyeux Noël, Buon Natale, Frohe Weihnachten, Feliz Navidad and с рождеством! Remember to share the music with someone you love this holiday season.

Kiri Te Kanawa Takes Plácido Domingo Golfing And He Is A Real Sport

In December 1980, BBC Interviewed Kiri Te Kanawa and Plácido Domingo during a holiday concert. The topic of sports came up and Mr. Domingo talks about how he always wanted to be a football player (that's soccer to Americans....). He also mentions that he would love to learn golf as it is supposed to be good for the breathing. An accomplished golfer traveling to courses all over the world, Dame Kanawa takes the tenor out to her territory for a few rounds. Watch the video after the jump.

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.

Kristīne Opolais And Jonas Kaufmann Not Exactly Headed For Sand

Kristīne Opolais and Jonas Kaufmann in rehearsal
for Manon Lescaut which opens June 24 in London.
(Photo: Bill Coooper/Royal Opera House)

"Louisiana, early 18th century. A few kilometres outside New Orleans: Manon and her lover, Des Grieux, have escaped the city on foot, hoping to reach an English settlement. What lies ahead of them seems insurmountable: plains so vast and mountains so high they would daunt the roughest and hardiest of men and women. As night falls, Manon can walk no further and succumbs to the unavoidable. She collapses from thirst and weariness, and dies in the ‘the depths of the desert’. The inhospitable land the two lovers describe in the last act of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut has more than puzzled contemporary audiences and directors alike. The original poster of the opera’s 1893 premiere showed sun-baked arid hills and what appears to be like an agave plant (more commonly found 2,000km away in the accurately arid desert of Arizona, not in Louisiana). To put it mildly, the setting is a largely inaccurate description of the outskirts of New Orleans, even some three centuries ago. Devastating hurricanes aside, the southern city is used to a healthy amount of rainfall. And water also abounds in lakes, streams and other watercourses that dissect this meandering delta region of the Mississippi River. It's an area alive with mammals, birds and reptiles. In fact, rather than thirst, it's likely that hungry coyotes or alligators would have led to Puccini heroine's untimely demise. So why did the composer and his librettists get it so apparently wrong?

Drowning in a flood from some hurricane might
have been more realistic than a desert death.

The original source of the opera and later adaptations offer a few possible clues. In his 1731 novel L’Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut, French writer Abbé Prévost gives some details about what was then predominantly uncharted territory to European colonizers. Apart from a mention of ‘barren and uninhabited plains’, the author describes Manon’s resting ground only briefly: ‘We sat down in the middle of a vast plain, unable to find a single tree to give us shelter.’ One of the last scenes of the 1830 ballet-pantomime Manon, by dramatist Eugène Scribe, is also set in the ‘vast desert of New Orleans.’ But his 1856 opera Manon Lescaut, with music by Daniel François Esprit Auber, takes place in the ‘plains, and forests of North America.’ Both Prévost and Scribe seemed to have portrayed a settlers’ misconception about much of America west of the Appalachian Mountains." [Source] Read the entire article by Mattia Cabitza by clicking here. See the original poster for Manon Lescaut and a photo of Kiri Te Kanawa with Plácido Domingo in the 1983 production at the ROH, after the jump.

Kiri Te Kanawa Acknowledged By Australian House of Representatives

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa bows as she is acknowledged
while attending question time in the House
of Representatives at the Australian Parliament
in Canberra. (Photo: Rick Rycroft/AP)

"New Zealand soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, touring Australia to celebrate her 70th birthday, makes a rule of never discussing retirement. In keeping with the philosophy she says she borrowed from her own theatric hero, Dame Judi Dench, Te Kanawa won't rule out returning to Australia for an 80th or even 90th birthday tour. 'You never know,' she told The Associated Press on Thursday at a Parliament House reception where she was a guest of House of Representatives Speaker Bronwyn Bishop, an opera fan. 'Never say never, but 90th - they'd be wheeling me in in a chair,' she quipped. Te Kanawa later bowed to the House of Representatives to the applause of Australian lawmakers, an experience she humbly described as 'pretty special.' She no longer performs in operas, shifting her focus to recitals and concerts. Her work schedule is less hectic than it has been, but she continues globe-trotting at a frenetic pace. Her current 11-concert tour will end in her native New Zealand in early June. She then flies to London to learn new music to premiere at Chicago's Martin Theater on Aug. 12 as part of the Ravinia Festival." [Source] Read more about the tour and her retirement activities by clicking here.

Kiri Te Kanawa Celebrates Over 50 Years Of Recording

"New Zealand soprano comes up with a staid celebration of 50 years in the recording studio. Te Kanawa's creamy lyric soprano was not made to evoke the malevolent sea monsters of Te Taniwha. Max Cryer's liner notes for Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's Waiata make an engaging read. He provides another succinct introduction to the thorny issue of "Maori song" (as he did for Te Kanawa's 1999 Maori Songs) followed by notes on individual tracks. This is a celebration of the soprano's half-century recording career, enlisting the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the University of Auckland Chamber Choir, in arrangements by Carl (Piano by Candlelight) Doy. In time for Christmas, Waiata is an unabashed stocking-stuffer, offering minimal rewards for those with a respect for the achievements of this singer. Beside it, her earlier Maori Songs CD, which occasioned a few giggles and squirms in its time, takes on classic status. It had stronger songs and Te Kanawa's voice was 14 years younger. Its ethnic trimmings of kapa haka groups (including Mahinarangi Tocker and George Henare) and a wash of taonga puoro now seem positively piquant. Waiata is a staid affair. Doy's arrangements have fleeting moments of inspiration, with a few impressive Mantovani string clusters, but tinkling piano and churning rhythmic ostinati try the patience, along with overlooked production glitches."[Source] In addition to the new release of Waiata by Sony (set globally for March 2014), other labels such as Warner Classics (featuring former EMI Classics material) and Decca (featuring former Philips Classics material) are reissuing box-sets of their own to commemorate the occasion. Check out the beautiful editions after the jump. 

Dame Malvina Major Returns To Pastures of Taranaki Region

"Taranaki favourite Dame Malvina Major will take to the stage at the Bowl of Brooklands next year. Reporter Taryn Utiger spoke to the opera singer to see how life has been since she moved away from the province. Dame Malvina Major is a world-class opera singer but the former Coastal Taranaki dairy farmer misses seeing cows every day. After winning the New Zealand Mobil Song Quest in 1963 and studying in London, the Hamilton- born singer, her husband Winston Fleming and their young son Andrew settled on a farm at Pihama in Coastal Taranaki. Before the 70s finished the rising international star had two more children, Alethea and Lorraine, fell in love with life in Taranaki and declared herself content with being a farmer, wife and mother. Despite her contentment, overseas conductors asked for the gumboot-wearing diva when they came to tour New Zealand and by 1986 she was back on the international stage. It seemed, for a while, she could have her career, her family and her farm. That ideal was shattered four years later when tragedy struck the

In concert with fellow New Zealander Kiri Te Kanawa

family. In September 1990 her husband died suddenly at home. He had come back from the milking shed complaining about pains in his chest. Although she rushed to phone the doctor and get her husband into bed, he died right after telling her, 'I love you.' She left Taranaki soon after. Since then she has gone on to dominate the opera world, perform for kings and queens and amass a series of concerts many would envy. Next year she celebrates 60 years as one of the world's top opera singers and she is eagerly awaiting her concert at the TSB Bowl of Brooklands." [Source]

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa To Celebrate Big Birthday With Tour Dates

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in full-on Dynasty mode
in this portrait from September 1982.

"Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, one of the world’s greatest ever voices, will tour Australia in 2014 to mark her 70th birthday (March 6, 2014). The New Zealand / Mäori soprano became an international opera star in 1968. She has performed in the great music halls all over the world. Dame Kiri sang at the wedding Charles and Diana in 1981 and in 1984 was selected by conductor Leonard Bernstein for the part of Maria in his re-recording of West Side Story. Queen Elizabeth II appointed Dame Kiri a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to opera in 1984. In 1992 she performed with Paul McCartney for his classical work Liverpool Oratorio." Birthday Gala tour dates are:
May 10 and 11, Melbourne, Recital Centre
May 13, Perth, Concert Hall
May 16, Canberra, Llewellyn Hall
May 18, Adelaide, Festival Hall
May 20, Sydney, Opera House
[Source]

Erato Crosses Over Coloraturas Dessay And Damrau

Click here to purchase the album

Entre Elle et Lui - Après une enfance passée en adoration pour les chansons de Michel Legrand, et de nombreux concerts avec lui à travers la France ces 3 dernières années, Natalie Dessay vient d'enregistrer cet album au parfum délicieux: des chansons dans le cœur de tous les français, simplement accompagnées par Michel Legrand au piano, Pierre Boussaguet à la contrebasse, François Laizeau à la batterie et Catherine Michel à la harpe. Et si Michel Legrand chante avec elle Les Moulins de mon cœur, deux invités de marque, Patricia Petibon et Laurent Naouri, viennent flâner chacun à leur tour, le temps d’un duo avec Natalie.

Click here to purchase the album

Forever - Das gilt auch für die Sängerin selbst, sodass das Album tatsächlich so etwas wie den „Soundtrack ihres Lebens“ darstellt – mit Erinnerungen an „My Fair Lady“ aus ihrer Anfangszeit in Würzburg oder an die Jahre, in denen sie als Heranwachsende voller Bewunderung Operetten-Platten mit Anneliese Rothenberger und Lucia Popp hörte. Schon damals wurde ihr klar: „Die Operette hätte einen viel besseren Ruf verdient, denn sie erreicht nicht nur unsere Herzen, sondern sie erzählt auch von den Irrungen und Wirrungen des Lebens.“ Das Repertoire des Albums Forever reicht von Operettenmelodien von Meistern wie Lehár und Strauß über Songs von Sondheim, Gershwin, Lloyd Webber und Bernstein bis hin zu Liedern aus „Mary Poppins“, „Arielle“ und anderen Musicals. Ein Höhepunkt ist sicher „Lippen schweigen“ aus Lehárs „Lustiger Witwe“ – mit Rolando Villazón als Duettpartner. 

Full track listing after the jump for both albums, along with a special bonus feature on one diva that has covered all of this territory in the past.

Opera Star Power Comes Out For Cardiff SOTW Master Classes

The class of 2013: Singers from around the globe ready to compete for a main prize of £15,000 (Photo: Facebook).

Cardiff Singer of the World Competition began this past weekend, but the real event may take place this Saturday. Check out the scheduled opera stars that will be giving master class:

Saturday 22 June
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
Dora Stoutzker Hall – with competition non-finalists
11am, Håkan Hagegård, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
3pm, Elena Obraztsova, Neil Shicoff

Richard Burton Theatre – with vocal studies students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
12.30pm, Christoph Prégardien
4pm, Dame Felicity Palmer
Each session lasts more than one hour and times are likely to overlap.
[Source]

Check out more of the television and radio broadcast schedule by clicking here. And watch a preview of the BBC special celebrating 30 years of the competition after the jump.

The Collaborations of Sir Colin Davis and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

Sir Colin Davis (September 25, 1927 – April 14, 2013) made innumerable contributions to the opera world, but it was one singer in particular with whom he shared quite a number of recordings after first working together on Le Nozze di Figaro: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Their catalog includes complete recordings of Don Giovanni and Faust, recital discs of Mozart opera arias (Il re pastore, Zaide, La finta giardiniera, etc.) and sacred arias (Vesperae solennes de confessore; "Exsultate, jubilate" K. 165). Here are some samples of their work together:

"Laudate dominum"

"Ruhe sanft, mein holdes leben"

"Exsultate, jubilate"

"Or sai chi l'onore

For more about the conductor's involvement with opera in England, check out the The Telegraph's brief story here.

When Ta’u Pupu’a Met Fellow Polynesian Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

Polynesian Delight: Pupu'a and Te Kanawa

"In March 2007, I went to a performance of Il Trittico at the Met, and I saw a poster saying Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will be signing autographs at the performance. I was so excited because she is also Polynesian – she’s half, and I’m full. After Il Tabarro I went out and stood in line. They had me write my name beforehand so she would know to write 'To Ta’u Pupu’a, from Dame Kiri.' She looked at my name on the card and looked up to me. She then said, 'What do you do?' I exclaimed, 'I’m a tenor!' She asked if I was in school, and I said no. And then she said, 'How can I help you?' I looked at her and didn’t understand what she meant. She then said, 'I would like to help you.' Next, she turned to her assistant and said, 'Robert, give him my phone number.' And she turned back to me and said, 'Call me. Call me tonight.' I got her number and I was on Cloud Nine! The intermission finished with Suor Angelica and I was so anxious I couldn’t even sit through Gianni Schicchi. I walked home and kept thinking, 'What just happened??'" Read the rest of the fascinating and inspirational story over at the San Francisco Opera blog by clicking here.

Annenberg Center Presents "Il Teatro Alla Moda" in Beverly Hills

Roberto Capucci diva gowns: (top row) Raina Kabaivanska, Helga Dernesch*, Anna Caterina Antonacci;
(bottom row) Stefania Bonfadelli, Katia Ricciarelli, Anna Caterina Antonacci
[*costume originally for Salome/Teatro alla Scala/1987 as Herodias]

"The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents the U.S. premiere of Il Teatro Alla Moda (Theater in Fashion), the first exhibition to explore Italy’s famous haute couture designers and their impact on the stages of opera, dance and theater. More than 80 costumes, sketches and drawings from Giorgio Armani, Roberto Capucci, Enrico Coveri, Fendi, Alberta Ferretti, Romeo Gigli, Antonio Marras, Missoni, Emanuel Ungaro, Valentino and Gianni Versace will be on display here to celebrate the current transformation of the Italian Renaissance Beverly Hills Post Office into a distinctive performing arts venue and to honor the designers’ contributions to the performing arts. The exhibition will have a limited 4-week run from Oct. 14–Nov. 13. While the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is under construction, the exhibit will be on display at 253 N. Beverly Dr. on the ground floor of the new MGM Place, which will be converted into a temporary gallery." [Source]

For more information about the operatic connections to the costumes in this exhibit, click here. More information for the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts can be found here. Check out two more colorful costumes after the jump.

From the Vault: 1978 "La Flûte Enchantée" With Alain Lombard

The French label Barclay was purchased by Erato Records and in the late 1970s Alain Lombard teamed up with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg for a series of recordings that included this gem, along with Così fan tutte (Kiri Te Kanawa, Frederica von Stade, Teresa Stratas, David Rendall, Jules Bastine) and Faust (Montserrat Caballé, Giacomo Aragall, Paul Plishka). Now owned by Warner, the below issue has never made it to CD or MP3 format.

Mozart: La Flûte Enchantée [Die Zauberflöte]
Recorded May 29,  & 30; June 1-3, 5-7, 1978
Palais de la Musique et des Congres Strasbourg, France; Orchestre de Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Choeurs de L'Opéra du Rhin, Alain Lombard (cond.); Kiri Te Kanawa (Pamina), Edita Gruberova (Reine de la Nuit), Kathleen Battle (Papagena), Helena Döse (1re Dame), Ann Murray (2e Dame), Naoko Ihara (3e Dame), Peter Hofmann (Tamino), Philippe Huttenlocher (Papageno), Kurt Moll (Sarastro), José van Dam (L'Officiant) and Norbert Orth (Monostatos).
Barclay 960 012/014 P1978 (3 LPs)

Kiri Te Kanawa All Leather and Lace

Royal Wedding Music, Part 3: Past Services of the Monarchs

HISTORY OF MUSIC AT THE ROYAL WEDDINGS

(click on photo to launch video excerpt)

Wedding: Prince Charles & Camilla Parker Bowles
Location: Windsor Guildhall (Civil Ceremony) & St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle (Blessing)
Date: April 9, 2005
Soloist: Ekaterina Semenchuk sang "Veruyu" (The Creed) by Gretchaninov

Wedding: Prince Andrew & Sarah Ferguson
Date: July 23, 1986
Estimated audience: 500 million
Musical highlights: Elgar's "Triumphal March" from Caractacus and William Walton's "Crown Imperial."
Soloist: Arleen Augér sang "Exsultate, jubilate" K. 165 (Mozart)

Wedding: Prince Charles & Lady Diana Spencer
Date: July 29, 1981
Location: St. Paul's Cathedral
Estimated audience: 600 million - 1 billion
Musical highlights: Jeremiah Clarke's "Trumpet Voluntary," "I Vow to Thee, My Country," Sir Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance."
Soloist: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa sang "Let the Bright Seraphim" Samson (Händel)

Kiri Te Kanawa Birthday Spectacular

In case you missed the birthday tribute for Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, be sure to check it out here. More audio clips have been added, including such treats as this:

"Aber der richtige" Arabella (Strauss) with Kathleen Battle