Dame Kiri te Kanawa says she’s left the world behind
NewsThe retired soprano Dame Kiri te Kanawa has told the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly that she’s finished with the rest of the world and will spend all her time back home.
Like many Kiwis living overseas, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa spent almost two years not being able to visit her family. With all that missed time away from her adorable grandson Luther, she’s decided to leave behind her life in England and move back to New Zealand for good.
“I’m 77 now and I don’t know how many summers I have left. I want those summers to be with Luther.”
Good for her finding what really matters in life in all this pandemic as well. It has been a great opportunity for all of us to take stock of our lives, our friends and our family and make the most of what we have and be generous. Really wish Kiri well and every happiness, for only have the here and now of today.
If one can afford to. Retiring at 65. Is the best time.
The problem is at age 70. Plus. the health issues can
Start.. Even if you have money you are too ill to
Enjoy it. When i was young i travelled a lot. Now Iam
80. I-am not well enough for travelling.
My grandmothers pension is no use to me any more
Agreed…if you wait too long to retire, all those plans eventually fall away due to health or disinterest. I always tell my younger friends to plan, plan, plan for a secure financial future so they can retire while they still have their health and energy. It’s never too soon.
Every singer has to retire, and she has been a generous God-send for the next generation who will have a far harder time of it in the profession than many of us had and enjoyed. But Kiri was an elite singer, and made an enormous contribtion to the music profession, even with the legacy of her commercial recordings.
totally overrated and always boring but a lovely voice
one never believed a second though what she sang
You obviously never saw her in the Coliseum Cosi.
Mozart and Kiri. Gorgeous.
I’ll have what she’s having…How does Dame Kiri stay looking so great???
Nice to hear that she’s enjoying her life. Well-deserved.
Although English people may think different: England is not the world. She is leaving England for New Zealand, nothing more, nothing less. If you want to keep with your family, this a fully understandable move. It is not leaving the world behind, it is staying within the world of family life.
I think you’re maybe misinterpreting Kiri’s remark…
England is too crowded with so many social problems. With Charles about to be crowned in the near future , get out Kiri ,while you can!
Remember, Kiri was at the top of her world for decades and enjoyed the view. She’s well aware of what the world has to offer and what is important to her now.
Well it’s taken her a long time to decide that she doesn’t like England. But that’s not what she is saying, is it? Sorry to disappoint you.
She was, after all, born in NZ.
“Fog in the Channel. Continent isolated.”
I am not English, but England was the place that welcomed her, put her on the map at the London Opera Centre and where she built her home. There was nothing equivalent then in New Zealand to Covent Garden. She is staying where she got locked down in the pandemic and the country of her birth. England has a lot to offer musically, and most foreigners equate it to being synonimous with London! Otheewuse, why do so many want to go to England, and even risk their lives crossing the English Channel?
She was “locked down” in the UK, away from her grandson back home in New Zealand. I don’t blame her at all for wanting to settle back in NZ for her retirement.
Wonder if she will leave Cardiff Singer of the World? Shame if she does as she has been excellent.
Kirk has a beautiful home in the Bay of Islands. Goes fishing from a nice little launch. Great lifestyle. Enjoy Kirk.
Bless her, best wishes, Blue Skies, Danny Boy, The Folks Who Live on the Hill. Great opera and the best “crossover” by a million smiles.
Bravissima! Her smile in the photo with Luther is worth a thousand words.
The New Zealand Woman’s Weekly? Just the one, then?
Wonderful country altogether. Get yourselves there after Covid!
A very good singer in her prime. But Kiwi Te Banana was always a bit self referential- a bit of a ‘me me me’ Prima Donna
You clearly never met Kiri in person. Quite the opposite in real life.
Was a video cameraman that recorded her in the tiny BCNZ studio in Shortland st, Auck as she joined a line of nuns, holding candles, singing as they went, through the foyer into studio two. Producer Ian Watkins (dec) Great mems of a wonderful god-given voice. Brings experience to NZ that will be sought after for sure!