Dame Kiri leads masterclass for NZ’s top opera students

NEW Zealand’s most well known international opera star, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, arrives next week in Whanganui to join the final week of the New Zealand Opera School.

It will be the first time Dame Kiri has attended the opera school in its 22-year history, and school chairman/founder Donald Trott says it will be a great privilege to have her there.

The acclaimed lyric soprano will take a masterclass with all 22 students who, according to school director Jonathan Alver, should realise “all their Christmases have come at once”.

The New Zealand Opera School’s summer session provides two weeks of intensive training for the country’s top emerging opera singers.

Dame Kiri’s attendance marks the start of a series of engagements for the London-based artist, among them a recital she will present in her former home town of Gisborne.

To be held at the War Memorial Theatre on March 16, the recital will feature distinguished pianist Terence Dennis.

It will be Dame Kiri’s first performance in Gisborne since the millenium celebrations of 1999/2000.

“The songs I have selected are all personal favourites,” she says. “It is always a pleasure to share my music.” — WANGANUI CHRONICLE/THE GUIDE