context is key: kiri
The furore in New Zealand over Dame Kiri te Kanawa‘s apparent criticism of Kiwi popera divette Hayley Westenra may now be on a downward slope after peaking earlier this weekend.
On Saturday night Dame Kiri phoned in to a radio talk show to try to clarify her remarks. Perhaps the most interesting detail is te Kanawa’s insistence that she used the word “fake” as term of art and not a value judgment about the younger singer. Meanwhile Westenra refuses to comment, so it looks like the catfight is a non-starter.
The core of this whole storm in a teacup seems to me to be what is and isn’t opera singing. The likes of Bocelli, Westenra and Katherine Jenkins (who is, by the way, dating the most beautiful man in the WORLD- google Gethin Jones if you don’t believe me) get people’s backs up by having themselves marketed as ‘opera stars’ when, as we all know, they’re nothing of the kind. I don’t care about microphones or crossover; an opera singer is, as others have eloquently said on this site, someone who sings opera in an opera house, for a living.
I know whereof I speak, a bit, too. As a teenager I was convinced that I was going to be an opera singer. But when it came to the crunch I didn’t have a good enough voice so I opted to be an actor. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to be cast as Tito in ‘Lend Me A Tenor’ (a play I know La Cieca hates, so I’ll tread carefully). All I had to do was sing the tenor part in the Don Carlo duet, but my GOD it made me realise how committed an opera singer has to be to his or her art. I didn’t have a cigarette or a beer for six months, and I only had three minutes and a top A to worry about, and I woke up panicking every morning. Now, I’ve done countless musicals and am utterly, utterly confident in a studio in front of a mic. Even if my voice is sounding like a rusty brake, I can husband something which will sound ok if recorded.
That’s the difference between the poperaists and the opera singers. Both are valid, in their way- but one is much harder work and takes miles more commitment than the other.
I think Amer makes valid points. Try as he might to sing opera, such as his ill-advised attempt at Werther, Andrea Bocelli is not an opera singer. I will quibble with one point, however, Gethin Jones is not the most beautiful man in the world. He’s aight, but…
Oh, sounds like she was just misunderstood. Awww.
Maybe she should indeed rehearse a few polite, innocuous answers for those treacherous journalists.
Unfortunetly, in many cases, Treacherous is exactly what the press is. It is entirely possible that she was misquoted or taken out of context.
Any New Zealanders around who could give us the whole Canvas story?
“Canvas” magazine seems to be the magazine that comes in the Saturday New Zealand Herald. It is the NZH which (re-)printed some controversial soundbites: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10494095
They knew the context in which those words were said, and it would probably be silly to misquote themselves. But possible press treachery aside, it does strike me as odd that Dame Kiri had to explain what she really meant by “fake” in that context.
Yeah I’d like to see the WHOLE INTERVIEW!
Yes we pay attention to the world here in matters Hayley!
A variety of thoughts went through my mind. I have eliminated without difficulty a reply in kind. Rather, I believe in responding in Kiri’s own way simply as she did making an observation. I did attend a concert of Kiri at Cadogan Hall (London) on which I posted on Hayley-Westenra-International.com forum out of interest on another Kiwi as Hayley has frequently sung in that Concert Hall, the home of the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The beauty of this remark is that it has already been stated [circa six months ago], therefore it is NOT in riposte to Kiri’s remarks now.
My comment in so far as I can remember was an observation (cloaked far more opaquely than I actually wanted to phrase my opinion, out of respect for Hayley’s fellow Kiwi). I remarked how disdainful Kiri was towards the few fans outside the stage door whose programmes she hurriedly signed without looking at anyone let alone wishing to exchange a word with them.
The image she projected in those few minutes was the image we thought had grown out of the modern theatre, the tempestuous diva requiring the support of acolytes to maintain her perception of her own majesty.
Perhaps that is indeed the cause, Kiri is simply feeling her age and the mirror has started to tell the truth.
Most disappointing of all is that it is a Kiwi who has ravaged a fellow Kiwi. This I think is the greatest shame of all, Kiri has publicly run down her own country and the achievements of its own citizens. That, in my opinion is her greatest disgrace.
Perhaps Kiri truly is so ignorant outside anything where she is not the most important person, that she did not realise that to many people around the world (around 4 million on the basis alone of Hayley’s CD sales) Hayley IS the main representative of New Zealand (outside the All Blacks which Hayley assiduously goes out of her way to support). Perhasps small time Kiri thought her remarks were NZ related only. They weren’t. Hayley is international and it is that which gave Kiri the world platform from which she now seems anxiuas to disengage herself. Her remarks went round the world while the debate was still raging on NZ radio because Hayley (not Kiri, except in small-time opera circles, is world-renowned! Kiri is only known to a small cognoscenti.
The emphasis of her outburst was a Kiwi running down a Kiwiw. That is what the rest of the world remembers!
Peter Such
Hayley-Westenra-International.com Near London England
Here is some video of Gethin Jones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baOA0Gu9RmA
Like Duncan Meadows he is Welsh and this is making me wonder if there is something in the water down there, Australia and Miami Beach as well. Makes me want a little taffy for breakfast…
Kiri Te Kanawa is reaching the end of her career and it is hardly a secret that her voice is in decline.
That does not take away from the fact that she enjoyed a hugely successful career in opera and concert world. She is also one of the few opera singers whose name is known by virtually everyone. Well certainly in this country.
For me, I think she had one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard and as the Countess in Figaro, she is unassailable. Maybe not the most dynamic performer and I wish she hadn’t spent so much of her time playing in fields singing a few arias and a bit operetta and whatever took her fancy.
It must be hard for anybody to be told what you do is a joke. If the Jenkins and Bocellis of this world really wants to be an opera singers, go to music college, train for many years and learn your craft. In the meantime, stop pretending you are bringing popular opera to the world. Opera is not singing into a microphone in a strangled tone.
Is the above post from Peter Such for real?
Oh and Gethin is very cute.
Two words to the adolescent ( whatever his age) Peter Such who managed the foolish, ungrammatical utterance, ” Kiri is only known to a small cognoscenti”:
–ROYAL WEDDING–
Dame Kiri was never my favorite diva, but her name is known all over North America by people who may recognize only one or two other opera singer names ( say, Luciano Pavarotti and Beverly Sills) and who wouldn’t know Hayley Westenra from Evonne Goolagong.