Dame Kiri Janette Te Kanawa, ONZ, AC, DBE, (IPA: /ˈkiːri ˈteɪ ˈkɑːnəwə/, bo… Read Full Bio ↴Dame Kiri Janette Te Kanawa, ONZ, AC, DBE, (IPA: /ˈkiːri ˈteɪ ˈkɑːnəwə/, born March 6, 1944) is one of the world's most celebrated sopranos. In 1981, she was seen and heard around the world by an estimated 600 million people when she sang Händel's "Let the Bright Seraphim" at the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.
Te Kanawa was born in Gisborne, on New Zealand's North Island. She has both Māori and European ancestry, but little is known about her birth parents as she was adopted as an infant. She is the adopted daughter of an Irish mother and Māori father. In her teens and early 20s, Te Kanawa was a pop star and popular entertainer at clubs in New Zealand.
She was educated at Saint Mary's College Auckland and formally trained in operatic singing by the celebrated Dame Sister Mary Leo, RSM, who was New Zealand's best-known opera coach. She began her singing career as a mezzo-soprano, but later developed into a soprano. Her recording of the "Nuns' Chorus" from the Strauss operetta Casanova was New Zealand's first gold record.
Kiri married Desmond Park, whom she met on a blind date in Auckland in August 1967 and married 6 months later. The couple adopted two children, Antonia (1976) and Thomas (1979, named after Kiri's adoptive father). The couple divorced in the late 1990s.
Career
In 1965 she won the prestigious Mobil Song Quest, entered by all types of singers, jazz, pop and classical, with her performance of Puccini's "Vissi d'arte" from Tosca. As the winner, she received a grant to study in London.
Early years in London
In 1966, without an audition, she enrolled at the London Opera Centre to study under James Robertson, who is said to have stated that Te Kanawa did not have any singing technique when she arrived at the school but did have a gift for captivating audiences.
She first appeared on stage as the "Second Lady" in Die Zauberflöte, as well as in performances of Dido and Aeneas in December 1968 at the Sadler's Wells Theatre. In 1969, she sang "Elena" in Gioacchino Rossini's La donna del lago at the Camden Festival. Praise for her "Idamante" in Mozart's Idomeneo led to an offer of a three-year contract as junior principal at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden where she made her debut as 'Xenia' in Boris Godunov and a 'Flower Maiden' in Parsifal in 1970, and was also heard as the "Voice from Heaven", an off-stage role, at the end of Verdi's Don Carlo. Also, during 1969, she was offered the role of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro after an audition in which the conductor, Colin Davis said "I couldn't believe my ears. I've taken thousands of auditions, but it was such a fantastically beautiful voice." Under director John Copley, Te Kanawa was carefully groomed for the role for a December 1971 opening.
International career
Meanwhile, word of her success had reached John Crosby at the Santa Fe Opera, a summer opera festival in the U.S. state of New Mexico then about to begin its fifteenth season. He cast her in the role of the Countess in Figaro, which opened on 30 July 1971. "It was two of the newcomers who left the audience dazzled: Frederica von Stade as Cherubino and Kiri Te Kanawa as the Countess. Everyone knew at once that these were brilliant finds. History has confirmed that first impression." Von Stade and Te Kanawa have continued this association even up to the present day. In 2007, they sang together at Kiri's farewell concert in Carnegie Hall.
But on 1 December 1971 at Covent Garden, Kiri Te Kanawa repeated the Santa Fe triumph and created an international sensation in the same role: "with 'Porgi amor' Kiri knocked the place flat." It was followed by performances as the Countess at the San Francisco Opera in autumn 1972, while her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1974 as Desdemona in Otello took place on short notice, replacing an ill Teresa Stratas at the last minute.
In subsequent years, she performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Paris Opera, Sydney Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, San Francisco Opera, Munich and Cologne, adding the Mozart roles of Donna Elvira, Pamina, and Fiordiligi, in addition to Italian roles such as Mimi in La bohème. She played Donna Elvira in Joseph Losey's 1979 film adaptation of Don Giovanni.
Te Kanawa has a particular affinity for the heroines of Richard Strauss. Her first appearance in the title role in Arabella was at the Houston Grand Opera in 1977, followed by the roles of the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and the Countess in Capriccio. Many performances were given under the baton of Georg Solti and it was with him that she made her first recording of Figaro.
Te Kanawa retired from the opera stage after her performances in Samuel Barber's Vanessa with the Washington National Opera and the Los Angeles Opera in November/December 2004, but she still performs in concert halls.
UK talk show host Michael Parkinson asked her to name the person she felt was the greatest singer that ever lived. She replied: "The young Elvis Presley, without any doubt."
Honours
Kiri Te Kanawa was conferred a Dame Commander of The Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1982, invested as an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1990 and awarded the prestigious Order of New Zealand (ONZ) in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours List. She has also received honorary degrees from the following universities in the UK: Cambridge, Dundee, Durham, Nottingham, Oxford, Sunderland, Warwick as well as these universities worldwide: Chicago, Auckland and Waikato as well as being honorary fellow of Somerville College, Oxford and Wolfson College, Cambridge. She is also patron of Ringmer Community College, a school in the South-East of England.
Controversy
Te Kanawa has always been popular among New Zealanders, but in a 2003 interview with the Melbourne-based Herald Sun she was critical of the high rate of welfare dependence among the Māori people, angering some of her compatriots.
Te Kanawa has recently been taken to court by Leading Edge for cancelling a concert with Australian singer John Farnham after learning that his fans sometimes threw their underwear on stage, which he would then proudly display. She won this breach-of-contract lawsuit, in part because no binding contract was made, but over $100,000 in court costs were awarded against the Mittane holding company which employs and manages Te Kanawa.
Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation
Kiri founded the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation with the vision "that talented young New Zealand singers and musicians with complete dedication to their art may receive judicious and thoughtful mentoring and support to assist them in realising their dreams."
The Foundation manages a trust fund to provide financial and career scholarships to young New Zealand singers and musicians.
Te Kanawa was born in Gisborne, on New Zealand's North Island. She has both Māori and European ancestry, but little is known about her birth parents as she was adopted as an infant. She is the adopted daughter of an Irish mother and Māori father. In her teens and early 20s, Te Kanawa was a pop star and popular entertainer at clubs in New Zealand.
She was educated at Saint Mary's College Auckland and formally trained in operatic singing by the celebrated Dame Sister Mary Leo, RSM, who was New Zealand's best-known opera coach. She began her singing career as a mezzo-soprano, but later developed into a soprano. Her recording of the "Nuns' Chorus" from the Strauss operetta Casanova was New Zealand's first gold record.
Kiri married Desmond Park, whom she met on a blind date in Auckland in August 1967 and married 6 months later. The couple adopted two children, Antonia (1976) and Thomas (1979, named after Kiri's adoptive father). The couple divorced in the late 1990s.
Career
In 1965 she won the prestigious Mobil Song Quest, entered by all types of singers, jazz, pop and classical, with her performance of Puccini's "Vissi d'arte" from Tosca. As the winner, she received a grant to study in London.
Early years in London
In 1966, without an audition, she enrolled at the London Opera Centre to study under James Robertson, who is said to have stated that Te Kanawa did not have any singing technique when she arrived at the school but did have a gift for captivating audiences.
She first appeared on stage as the "Second Lady" in Die Zauberflöte, as well as in performances of Dido and Aeneas in December 1968 at the Sadler's Wells Theatre. In 1969, she sang "Elena" in Gioacchino Rossini's La donna del lago at the Camden Festival. Praise for her "Idamante" in Mozart's Idomeneo led to an offer of a three-year contract as junior principal at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden where she made her debut as 'Xenia' in Boris Godunov and a 'Flower Maiden' in Parsifal in 1970, and was also heard as the "Voice from Heaven", an off-stage role, at the end of Verdi's Don Carlo. Also, during 1969, she was offered the role of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro after an audition in which the conductor, Colin Davis said "I couldn't believe my ears. I've taken thousands of auditions, but it was such a fantastically beautiful voice." Under director John Copley, Te Kanawa was carefully groomed for the role for a December 1971 opening.
International career
Meanwhile, word of her success had reached John Crosby at the Santa Fe Opera, a summer opera festival in the U.S. state of New Mexico then about to begin its fifteenth season. He cast her in the role of the Countess in Figaro, which opened on 30 July 1971. "It was two of the newcomers who left the audience dazzled: Frederica von Stade as Cherubino and Kiri Te Kanawa as the Countess. Everyone knew at once that these were brilliant finds. History has confirmed that first impression." Von Stade and Te Kanawa have continued this association even up to the present day. In 2007, they sang together at Kiri's farewell concert in Carnegie Hall.
But on 1 December 1971 at Covent Garden, Kiri Te Kanawa repeated the Santa Fe triumph and created an international sensation in the same role: "with 'Porgi amor' Kiri knocked the place flat." It was followed by performances as the Countess at the San Francisco Opera in autumn 1972, while her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1974 as Desdemona in Otello took place on short notice, replacing an ill Teresa Stratas at the last minute.
In subsequent years, she performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Paris Opera, Sydney Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, San Francisco Opera, Munich and Cologne, adding the Mozart roles of Donna Elvira, Pamina, and Fiordiligi, in addition to Italian roles such as Mimi in La bohème. She played Donna Elvira in Joseph Losey's 1979 film adaptation of Don Giovanni.
Te Kanawa has a particular affinity for the heroines of Richard Strauss. Her first appearance in the title role in Arabella was at the Houston Grand Opera in 1977, followed by the roles of the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and the Countess in Capriccio. Many performances were given under the baton of Georg Solti and it was with him that she made her first recording of Figaro.
Te Kanawa retired from the opera stage after her performances in Samuel Barber's Vanessa with the Washington National Opera and the Los Angeles Opera in November/December 2004, but she still performs in concert halls.
UK talk show host Michael Parkinson asked her to name the person she felt was the greatest singer that ever lived. She replied: "The young Elvis Presley, without any doubt."
Honours
Kiri Te Kanawa was conferred a Dame Commander of The Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1982, invested as an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1990 and awarded the prestigious Order of New Zealand (ONZ) in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours List. She has also received honorary degrees from the following universities in the UK: Cambridge, Dundee, Durham, Nottingham, Oxford, Sunderland, Warwick as well as these universities worldwide: Chicago, Auckland and Waikato as well as being honorary fellow of Somerville College, Oxford and Wolfson College, Cambridge. She is also patron of Ringmer Community College, a school in the South-East of England.
Controversy
Te Kanawa has always been popular among New Zealanders, but in a 2003 interview with the Melbourne-based Herald Sun she was critical of the high rate of welfare dependence among the Māori people, angering some of her compatriots.
Te Kanawa has recently been taken to court by Leading Edge for cancelling a concert with Australian singer John Farnham after learning that his fans sometimes threw their underwear on stage, which he would then proudly display. She won this breach-of-contract lawsuit, in part because no binding contract was made, but over $100,000 in court costs were awarded against the Mittane holding company which employs and manages Te Kanawa.
Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation
Kiri founded the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation with the vision "that talented young New Zealand singers and musicians with complete dedication to their art may receive judicious and thoughtful mentoring and support to assist them in realising their dreams."
The Foundation manages a trust fund to provide financial and career scholarships to young New Zealand singers and musicians.
You
Kiri Te Kanawa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Come bring me your softness.
Comfort me through all this madness.
Woman, don't you know with you I'm born again?
Come give me your sweetness.
Now there's you, there is no weakness.
Woman, don't you know with you I'm born again?
I was half not whole, in step with none.
Reaching through this world, in need of one.
Come show me your kindness.
In your arms I now I'll find this.
Woman, don't you know with you I'm born again?
Lying safe with you I'm born again.
Come bring me your softness.
Comfort me through all this madness.
Lying safe within your arms, I'm born again.
Come give me your sweetness.
Now there's you, there is no weakness.
Lying safe within your arms, I'm born again.
I was half not whole, in step with none.
Reaching through this world, in need of one.
Come show me your kindness.
In your arms I now I'll find this.
Lying safe within your arms, I'm born again.
Lying safe with you I'm born again.
Comfort me through all this madness.
Woman, don't you know with you I'm born again?
Come give me your sweetness.
Now there's you, there is no weakness.
Woman, don't you know with you I'm born again?
I was half not whole, in step with none.
Come show me your kindness.
In your arms I now I'll find this.
Woman, don't you know with you I'm born again?
Lying safe with you I'm born again.
Come bring me your softness.
Comfort me through all this madness.
Lying safe within your arms, I'm born again.
Come give me your sweetness.
Now there's you, there is no weakness.
Lying safe within your arms, I'm born again.
I was half not whole, in step with none.
Reaching through this world, in need of one.
Come show me your kindness.
In your arms I now I'll find this.
Lying safe within your arms, I'm born again.
Lying safe with you I'm born again.
The lyrics to Kiri Te Kanawa's song "With You I'm Born Again" speak to the power of love and the transformative effect it can have on a person. The singer pleads with a woman to bring her softness and comfort and expresses that with her, he feels whole and born again. The repeated phrase "woman, don't you know with you I'm born again?" emphasizes the depth of his reliance on her and the strength of their connection.
The second verse reveals that before the singer found this woman, he felt incomplete and in need of someone to show him kindness. The contrast between feeling "half not whole" and "lying safe within your arms" underscores the impact that love and intimacy can have on a person's sense of self and wellbeing.
Overall, "With You I'm Born Again" is a romantic and emotional song that celebrates the power of love to heal and transform. The lyrics are simple but effective in conveying the singer's deep feelings of gratitude and devotion to the woman he loves.
Line by Line Meaning
Come bring me your softness.
I long for your tenderness and warmth.
Comfort me through all this madness.
In the midst of chaos, your presence brings me peace.
Woman, don't you know with you I'm born again?
With you, my life experience is renewed and revitalized.
Come give me your sweetness.
I crave your affection and care.
Now there's you, there is no weakness.
Your companionship strengthens and completes me.
I was half not whole, in step with none.
Before I met you, I felt incomplete and disconnected.
Reaching through this world, in need of one.
I was searching for someone to fill the void I felt.
Come show me your kindness.
I desire your compassion and benevolence.
In your arms I now I'll find this.
I know that I can find comfort and care in your embrace.
Lying safe with you I'm born again.
In your care and protection, I feel reborn and renewed.
Lying safe within your arms, I'm born again.
Your love and comfort have revitalized me and made me feel whole once more.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: CAROL CONNORS, DAVID SHIRE, DAVID L SHIRE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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@elaineen1
I saw this program on public television. Great performances by all. Yet when Dame Kiri Te Kanawa came on near the finale it was as if the children had sung and now the master is here.
@orion8835
OMG totally.
@TimInUT
Exactly!
@orion8835
Her vocal spin, throat tilt and tone are just gorgeously produced. The song is very Puccinian. The entire effect is magical and full of yearning.
@frankandmarianhay8020
The best rendition of this song by any artist and Dame Kiri is not an artist, she is a legend, beautiful....
@YortOK
No one since Tebaldi can attack a high note with such passion and maintain the vocal quality.
@arnelnacino6754
Oh, boy. Here we go...
@eddievaldes9773
Pure and what singing is supposed to be
@natasatasic9954
She is one and only.
@rugby8-Philadelphia
@yortko1
Tebaldi could only sing it if it didn't go above a Bb -- 60/40 she'd be seriously flat if so
😎😎😎