Best of 2024: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa on Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

"I'm aiming for a few more": Dame Kiri Te Kanawa ahead of her 80th birthday

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has had an eventful life. 

One of New Zealand’s most prolific performers, the opera singer has performed in countries all over the world in several different languages, receiving a slew of honours over the years. 

She retired in September 2017, her last performance taking place in October of 2016. 

Since then, Te Kanawa committed herself to nurturing young artists, sitting as a judge in singing competitions and establishing the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation which supports young musicians and singers in realising their dreams. 

Te Kanawa recently moved back to New Zealand after living in the United Kingdom for over 55 years, and her connection to both countries saw her sent as one of NZ’s official delegates for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. 

Her 80th birthday is coming up this week, Te Kanawa telling Newstalk ZB’s Jack Tame that she can’t believe she got to this age. 

“I thought 70 was bad enough, now we’re at 80.” 

The celebrations might not be exactly what you’d expect for such a milestone, Te Kanawa revealing that she and her husband are going fishing. 

They plan to just get enough for the table, as being out on the water is what Te Kanawa really enjoys. 

“I’m, you know, a Pisces, my husband’s an Aquarius, so we’re water people.” 

Te Kanawa moved back to New Zealand in 2021, settling down in the Bay of Islands.  

While she does feel that it was the right choice, she does still feel homesick for England after having lived there for such a long time. 

“We did it and we’re pleased we’ve done it, but I’ve left an awful lot of my heart behind.” 

“But home is here, and I am thoroughly enjoying all the different things about New Zealand which I never knew about.” 

One such thing is kiwis' refusal to give way to others in traffic, a contrast to the politeness she’s used to in England. 

“There’s a whole lot of little things that people don’t do or do do that are nice.” 

Despite having such a long career, Te Kanawa revealed that she doesn’t look back on it all that much, the rapid pace of her life and career overwhelming. 

“It took me several years to calm down and about a year to sort of say that I’m not going to sing again.” 

“It’s best not to look back, it’s always best to look forward.” 

Since retiring from performing, Te Kanawa has instead put her efforts into supporting the next generation of artists with the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation. 

“We’ve had a lot of great successes,” Te Kanawa told Tame. 

Some of the people the Foundation has supported have gone on to get major roles at Covent Garden, some singing in Glen Bourne and Salzburg. 

“I’m so pleased that we’ve, we’ve helped them a lot, and it’s a lovely little group now that we’ve been sort of really mentoring.” 

Mentoring is what she’ll continue to do, Te Kanawa having no plans to perform in public again. 

“The past is in the past,” she said. 

Te Kanawa told Tame that while her voice was very beautiful in the past, she hasn't trained it in years. 

She said that even if she tried to start training it again, it would take months to get it anywhere near what she would like it to be. 

“It’s just best to leave it, go to sleep, and let’s enjoy th

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at Me.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
The remarkable Dame Kitty to Kanawa celebrates a milestone this week.
Wednesday is her eightieth birthday as one of New Zealand's
most best known performers, most successful international stars. With a
long and illustrious international career, Dame Kitty has an incredible
legacy to reflect upon and how lucky am I? Ahead

(00:34):
of her birthday celebrations, Dame Kitty to Kana is with
us in Studio Kilda.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Good morning, Thank you very much, nice to be here.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Happy birthday.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Not yet, it's looming for me a.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Couple of days away. How are you someone who? What
does this milestone mean to you?

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Well? I got here. That's a start, you know. It's
like sort of the engines on and I'm at the
lights and I'm ready for go. I'm here. I can't
imagine that I got to age eighty. This is quite unbelievable.
I thought seventy was bad enough.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Now we're at eighty.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
I'm mainly for another one. I'm amly for you.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
You look incredibly fit and vibrant and healthy and everything
for eighty.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
It must be that northern It must be the northern air.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Do you think it must be?

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Are you someone who do you get at all philosophical
around these kind of kinds of milestones. Do you find
yourself reflecting on things now.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Because they've life? It's goes so quickly, and another year
comes by, another March comes by, and then there's another
one and I just sort of think, well, there it
is again. It's it's popped up and I've just emailed
someone in England. Here it comes, here, it comes, and
it doesn't really worry me too much. Only things. It
would worry me if I suddenly became very ill, and
then I have to cope with all of that and

(01:47):
people around me coping, And I think I don't really
want to be ill. I just like to sort of
disappear and not bother anybody. But as time is going on,
I'm happy, I'm healthy, and I just keep going and
don't don't wait for them for any trouble.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Dore, I ask how you will celebrate your birth.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
I'm going fishing with my husband, very good to try
and get out on the boat. I was going to
the whole month of February was going to mean mine
and my husbands. We were going to do everything together.
None of it's worked.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Oh why is that?

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Well, the roofer came and the roof didn't come. Then
the and then the glassman is going to come, which
is a blessing. Then the carpet cleaning was delayed by
three days so that all the cut stuff went out
on the terrace. So with the carpet clean who she's amazing.
So all these different things. Then some oils comes and
something breaks down and Dad, it's just like that. So

(02:36):
the whole month of every ride went swish.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
What will you be fishing for?

Speaker 3 (02:40):
It doesn't matter. I'm just go fishing, it doesn't matter.
But basically just for the table. We just get enough
at the table.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
What do you enjoy about it about the fishing?

Speaker 3 (02:48):
I think just being on the water because I'm I'm
you know, Pisces. My husband's Aquarius, so we're water people.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
You're water people, Yes very much. Will you have a cake?

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Oh? Never thought of that, Never thought of that one.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Are you a cake person?

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Well, if I'm trying to stay a reasonable wait, I
prefer not to.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
It's your birthday, is your eightieth birthday? You've got to
have a sliver away for thin.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
No one, no one's no one's giving me cakes at
the moment, So I'll just be happy if I don't
get when it's fine. But my big thing's ice cream.
Ice cream, ice cream, I'll eat. I could eat a
whole pot of ice cream at one go.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Oh, you and I are a lined on ice front. Yeah, yes,
what do you have an ice cream of choice? Is there? Well?

Speaker 3 (03:26):
I like chocolate, but I do like the hoky pokey
oh yeahs my favorite.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah. No, I totally agree. I'm with you on that.
How is it being home back? I know you've been
here a couple of years now, but that decision to
move home and to settle in the Bay of Islands,
do you feel it has been the right decision? Do
you feel vindicated in that decision?

Speaker 3 (03:44):
The quick answer is yes. The quick answer the other
answers don't go there. You know, you make decisions. We
did it, and we're pleased we've done it. I've left
an awful lot of my heart behind. I'm very homesick
for England, and you know, because I lived there there
for more than fifty years. But home is here and
I am thoroughly enjoying all the different things about New Zealand,

(04:07):
which I never knew about. Like people don't give way
to you in traffic, people don't do this.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
How did you not know about that?

Speaker 3 (04:15):
Because in England you do because you know, they're terribly
they polite and stuff, so they don't do that. There's
a whole lot of little things that people don't do
or do do that a nice Sometimes they're wonderfully friendly,
just wonderfully friendly and very giving, and those are the
lovely things that I'm enjoying.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Was it a difficult decision to choose to come back.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
It was a fast decision because of COVID, right and
we were looking at it and thinking this is horrendous.
It's getting worse, everyone's you know, and we were glad
we didn't get it. We have had COVID now, but
I'm still sort of have the residue of coughing up
stuff from COVID. But it doesn't matter. We're back and
we're thoroughly enjoying. The house needed a lot of attention.

(04:58):
It was rather neglected, but a lot of it's done.
Our huge five hundred year old tree fell down, so
we've had to cut that all up, which is really
really sad. Fell on the house. So that was you know,
eight months of telling the insurance company, well, you know,
it's done a lot of damage, but the house is
looking beautiful. I've got my tomatoes, my cucumbers, I've got
all the different things I want, flowers and stuff. So

(05:20):
I'm happy. I'm really happy. But I'm missing England.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, that's very understandable given all of your friends and
connections in England. Do you find too that being in
New Zealand and having the separation that comes from being here,
which is both a blessing and a curse, do you
find yourself reflecting on your career anymore? Do you find
having that separation makes you, you know a little bit

(05:44):
more reflective on other parts of your life.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
I don't look back too much because there's so much
went on, you know, my career, everything about my life
was that, you know, it's sort of megaspeed. And then
you get to this stage where it took me a
long time to not do a schedule. It took me
several years to calm down and not have to think, well,
I've got to get my dresses and my flights and
all the different things took along. That took about two

(06:07):
or three years to calm down and about a year
to sort of say that I'm not going to sing again.
Things like that. But it's best not to look back.
It's always best to look forward. And that's why I
think that's why I feel as though I'm healthy and
happy by going forward all the time.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Do you sing at all?

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (06:24):
When? And where?

Speaker 3 (06:25):
In the car?

Speaker 2 (06:25):
What do you sing to?

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Very White?

Speaker 2 (06:28):
Very White?

Speaker 3 (06:28):
I love very White?

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
I don't sing with him, no, But I like Barry
Right abs of plunk along with Barry Right. And then
I have the orchestral pieces I love and all that
sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
What would be the most modern music you listen to?

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Oh, well, you can imagine. I've got thousands of sounds
in my head, thousands of recordings in my head. But
Amy Winehouse is the one that she's really good. And
my little grandson he loves to dance to the Nigerian
funeral dancers. Have you seen that?

Speaker 2 (06:56):
No, Oh, it's wonderful.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
He dances to. We put the boomboxes on and we
dance all over the terrace and in the house and
jump all over the sofas of this Nigerian funeral. I
think might be incorrect that they've got a coffin on
their shoulders. Right, there's six or eight and they're doing
this dance. They go right down flat on the coffin
and up again and up again. I thought, it's the
most amazing thing. And it really swings. At six o'clock

(07:19):
at night with the sun going down, we're dancing to this.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
This is you and Luthor, your grandson.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yes, you're do it.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
You participate in this.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
He loves it.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
How on earth were either of you introduced to the starlight?

Speaker 3 (07:31):
No idea. We've just it just popped up and there's
a film of it, and he just loves it. We
put it on every night. And then there's the sea
Shanty song of the Boat and the Sea Shanty that
we love that one to. Everything's to dance to on
the terrace.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
How is it being home with your grandson?

Speaker 3 (07:48):
It's fun. He's fun. He's he's you know, children different,
Every child is different, and he has many interests. And
some of them are strange because we can't.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Understand funeral song, yes.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
And then some are some are exciting. And he's always
coming up with he's only coming up to be six.
And he looked at me last night he said you
know I'm not six yet, So I said, well, I
know that we're coming. We're getting there. And then he
uses the word actually, which I think is rather nice.
And he says, yes, not a year, which I think

(08:22):
is rather nice.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Doing much better than me? Yes, in what context? Does
he use actually?

Speaker 3 (08:27):
In every way? Actually? Grandpa? Actually, Mama or grandma? Actually,
it's always actually, So his lovely little.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Boy, does he have an appreciation of your talents?

Speaker 3 (08:37):
Has no knowledge of it?

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Isn't that lovely in a way? Yes? Yes, isn't that?

Speaker 3 (08:41):
Yes? It just comes through the door and get a
big hug, and we're on our way. And he's telling
Grandpa that he is doesn't want to be in the
choir because it's in his break time and he wants
to be with his friends, and the choir is all girls. Anyway,
he sings, he sings, does he he's got a beautiful
little voice? Yeah. I was hoping that they might sort
of pick him up and do something, but he said,
it's all girls, Grandma, it's all girls.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Did what were you hoping they would do?

Speaker 3 (09:05):
Well? Just let him sing. He was singing, Happy birthday
must have been to my husband, because my husband's just
had a birthday and it was in tune, completely in tune.
I was amazed.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
That must be so special for you, see that.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yeah, so I don't quite know what to do about it,
but I don't want to sort of discourage him.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
You don't want to discourage him. You want to encourage him,
but he's obviously going to feel a way for the
expectations break time.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
He said, it's quiet practicing in the break time. I
don't want to do that.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
I think, for what it's worth, you should just put
a little bit of pressure on him, a little bit
of loving pressure on him.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
Make sure you get him singing at the piano and
see what he'll do.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Did you watch the coronation?

Speaker 3 (09:42):
I did?

Speaker 2 (09:42):
I How was that for you?

Speaker 3 (09:44):
Oh? Lovely? Of course, you know, the Queen was with
us for a very long time and all of my
life basically, and of course, you know, having a little
connection with his Majesty was rather nice, and just watching
was good.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
For those of us who don't have connections. You feel
as though you are observing history in those moments and
everything with the royal family last year, from the queen
passing to the coronation, you must have much much another
dimension and that experience.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yes, But I suppose I look at what the press
says and I look at what I've seen, you know,
being very very up close, and I thought, well, I
don't know how they get these stories out or with
somebody telling funny stories. But what I've seen in the
Royal family and the time, the little time I spent
with them, it's they're very ordinary people.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
You know.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
We discuss all sorts of things. We don't discuss the
wrong things, and if there is a discussion of it,
you know, it's we just need to put it aside
and never just never talk about it.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
The Royal family definitely say yes rather than yeah, yes,
don't they Yeah, it did feel as though we were
sort of watching history. Yes, and we have felt like
that with you many times over the years. I don't
suppose you know who used to do this program before me.
It was Support Holmes. And there was one moment I

(11:07):
was hoping I could be very cheeky and ask you
about that was the time that you and the poor
Holmes had a cheeky snog on camera.

Speaker 3 (11:13):
Do you he pushed his way into me? He oh,
it's terrible. Did he really is a shocker?

Speaker 2 (11:18):
What happened.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
No, I think we just well, I think it was me. Actually,
wasn't it. The camera's true that it was me.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Did you know they throw that term iconic around very
you know, too all too often, but that was a
truly iconic television moment.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
Yes, yes, Well, the time he came to London and
we had a chat. I remember we were at the
apartment I had at the time, and someone had fired
an air gun across the top of us from from
the apartment I was in, and there suddenly this we
heard the straight across and we and I know we've
got the fright. I've got a real fright. But he
was here and I was talking on the terrace and
we heard this thing happen, which wasn't nice.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
That's you know, that's that's quite frightful.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
Just young people being a bit silly, that's it.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
That's it. So aside from your grandson, talk to us
about the kit Kanama Foundation and how it is progressed
sing at the moment and the young talent you see
in New Zealand.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
Well, there's a lot of wonderful talent and a lot
of some moens singers coming through now because now they
have a history of music, which is really lovely. They
have wonderful choirs that if you've ever heard all those
beautiful things, it is gorgeous, isn't it. We don't. I
don't think we have that in the Mari culture. We
have the ones on the Marai, but they don't. It's

(12:32):
not quite like the the some monsters. So I think
that's why they've been quite quite successful. But the foundation
is we're trying to help a lot of people, and
also we do with the foundation we also help some
of the covers at Courvent Garden as well, which gives
us a profile, but also it helps. We've had a
lot of great successes and some people getting covers go
straight on to get major roles at Covent Garden. But

(12:55):
so one singer to today, I think he's actually performing
in the in Paris, as Filippo, who was I was
at the competition was he won in Barcelona just a
few months ago, and he's singing in Paris and my
friend has gone to see him. They're singing in Glenbourne
and Salzburg and they're all over the place, all doing
extremely well, having come out of the COVID situation, which

(13:17):
I'm so pleased. We've helped them a lot, and it's
a lovely little group now that we've been sort of
really mentoring and caring for because they needed that sort
of moment of help, help, help, and we had a
psychologist come in for a while because they were being
really affected by no work, no work, couldn't go anywhere,

(13:38):
couldn't do anything. One of the wonderful singers went online
and was teaching English at I think eighteen pounds an hour.
That's how bad things were. So the foundation supported them
for several months in the year to try and just
give them money to live. So we did that. I
was very proud of my trustees England and Here to

(13:59):
decide to get to help them.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Is there any way you would sing in public again?

Speaker 1 (14:04):
No?

Speaker 2 (14:04):
Why not?

Speaker 3 (14:07):
Best not to go there. You know, the past is
the past, and I always think that people who come
back sort of you know, you regret it and you
should never because my voice used to be very beautiful
when it was trained well. But now I don't train
at all. I don't work at it, so even if
I tried to train, it would take me months and
months to get my voice to anything near what I

(14:27):
would like it to. Be so it's just best to
leave it, go to sleep, and let's enjoy the youth
of today.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
With that in mind, I hope you can enjoy this week.
I hope that once you get back and off the water,
you can celebrate with a small bowl of ice cream.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Sounds good to me. I will enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
I will enjoy it well. Thank you so much for
giving us your time. It's wonderful to see you. Thank you,
Happy birthday.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
Dame Kitty to Canawa.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live
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