Dame Kiri: 'I'm not retiring'

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa breezed into Sydney and made two things clear. Don't mention John Farnham, or retirement.

New Zealand's world-famous soprano, scheduled to sing in two concerts with the Sydney Symphony this week, wasn't best pleased when the Aussie pop icon's name was raised.

Ironically, the two are scheduled to perform in Sydney tonight - Dame Kiri at the Opera House and Farnham at the Star City Casino as he kicks off a 31-date farewell tour.

Two years ago, Dame Kiri beat a A$2 million ($2.46 million) lawsuit by promoter Leading Edge Events in the New South Wales Supreme Court after she withdrew from three scheduled concerts with Farnham - because she was uncomfortable at the prospect of female fans throwing knickers at him.

"Can we just drop that subject, thank you," Dame Kiri told the Australian newspaper.

"This is about music, and that's not."

Dame Kiri - whose company, Mattase, was ordered to pay A$128,000 to Leading Edge in expenses incurred - told the court in 2007 she withdrew after watching footage of Farnham's previous concerts.

"I was concerned about the knickers or underpants and underwear apparel being thrown at him, and him collecting it and obviously holding it in his hands as some sort of trophy."

Asked about the coincidence of the pair performing on the same night in the same city tonight, Dame Kiri said: "Good luck. Can we move on?"

Meanwhile, British reports of her impending retirement were also given short shrift.

Dame Kiri, 65, was quoted by London's Daily Telegraph last month as saying a concert in the German city of Cologne next April "will be my last".

She cited an exhausting schedule and was quoted as saying opera was "mainly for young people".

But she told reporters in Sydney: "No, I have not announced it [retirement]. I'm not retiring."

Dame Kiri said people had been trying to retire her for the past 12 years.

"You don't retire. You just move on to something else if you want. But retiring means you don't do it any more.

"I'm working morning, noon, and ... I mean, I do 20 concerts a year, I do charity ... How can I retire?"

She said the door was open to more operatic roles, beyond her performance in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier in Cologne.

Dame Kiri said she was kept busy through her work developing young New Zealand opera talent.

She planned to get three of her students from the Solti Academy and Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation to perform alongside her at the Tower of London in London this month.

She also expressed sadness about the trend in opera worldwide to demand young singers be beautiful and slim.

"How can you sing if you're thin? You cannot sing classical music on an empty stomach, but a lot of these women think they're not going to get on stage because the managing director thinks they're too fat."

- NZPA