Kiri Te Kanawa created a sensation in 1971, when she made her debut as the Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Audiences were captivated by the lyric splendor of her voice and the exquisite tenderness of her interpretation. Soon she was a leading star of the operatic stage. Today, she is one of the most famous sopranos in the world.

Born in New Zealand of Maori and European ancestry, she enjoyed a career as a popular singer and recording artist while still in her teens. At 20, she moved to London for serious operatic study, and was discovered by the conductor Sir Colin Davis. Since then, she has sung in the leading opera houses of the world, and as a guest artist with the world’s major orchestras and the greatest conductors of our time. In addition to her many operatic recordings, she has recorded several albums of classic American popular songs. She was seen, as well as heard, in the 1979 film of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and by a vast international television audience in 1981 as the soloist at the royal wedding of HRH Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

In 2004, she created the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation to provide financial support for outstanding New Zealand singers and musicians. Dame Kiri’s last operatic performance was playing the title role in Vanessa with the Los Angeles Opera in late 2004. She continues to sing in concert halls throughout the world, enchanting audiences with her vocal beauty and natural serenity. She was named a Dame Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1982.