Kiri Te Kanawa

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa commands my deepest respect. A Maori-descended soprano from Gisborne, New Zealand, she rose from the edge of the world to the very summit of opera, announcing herself internationally in 1971 as the Countess in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal Opera House. Her voice has been described as mellow yet vibrant, warm and unforced, and I hear in it a kind of open-skied generosity. The honours and doctorates are many, but what moves me isn't the titles; it's that a voice from so far away reached the whole world so completely.

Name (English)

Kiri Te Kanawa

Name (Japanese)

キリ・テ・カナワ

Reading

きり・て・かなわ

Born

March 6, 1944 (age 82)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Pisces / Monkey

Origin

Gisborne, New Zealand

Blood type

Private

Height

Private

Agency

Private

Occupation

opera singer

Elementary school

Private

Junior high

Private

High school

Private

University

St Mary's College

Awards & achievements

• 1982 Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• 1995 Order of New Zealand
• 2008 Edison Music Awards 2003
• 2018 Companion of Honour
• 1990 Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia
• 2015 honorary doctor of the Royal College of Music
• honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge
• 1996 honorary doctor of the University of Waikato

Spouse

Private

Children

Private

Parents

Private

Siblings

Private

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttp://www.kiritekanawa.org
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AD%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BB%E3%83%86%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AB%E3%83%8A%E3%83%AF

Tags

• opera singer

Last updated

2026-06-21

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.