No, this Norma is the creepy aging diva who refuses to go away:  “I promise you I’ll never desert you again, because after Der Rosenkavalier we’ll make another opera, and another and another. You see, this is my life.  It always will be.  There’s nothing else – just me and the prompters and those wonderful people out there in the dark…” [NYT]

Two things Dame Kiri te Kanawa doesn’t like to talk about: retirement and knickers. [The Australian]

She’s headlined at the Paris Opera and the Met. She’s sung for kings and queens and for Nelson Riddle. She’s provoked feuds with teenagers. But now Dame Kiri te Kanawa has revealed a hitherto undiscovered talent: fighting crime.

The mayor of a New Zealand city plays recordings of the Kiwi songbird in order to deter vandalism in the local transit hub. “There has been no defacing or damaging of art works and sculptures in the area since the music was switched on,” Mayor Bob Harvey explains, because the wayward youth find Dame Kiri’s singing “bloody hideous.” [via Yahoo Odd News]

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.

Anyway, the cranky Kiwi gave an interview to Canvas magazine (yes, again, La Cieca feels like she’s totally in the dark here) where she sniped that 20-year-old Hayley is “…not in my world, she’s never been in it at all.”

Te Kanawa then widened the scope of her outrage, insisting that pop opera performers in general “…are all fake singers, they sing with a microphone. People call them up-and-coming, but they never last. They are the new fakes for the new generation.”

Unfortunately La Cieca was not on hand to eavesdrop on the rest of the interview, but she dearly hopes that Dame Kiri next said something like, “Look at them in the front offices — the masterminds! They took the idols and smashed them — the Fairbanks and the Gilberts, the Valentinos! And who have we got now? Some nobodies!”

Incidentally, Dame Kiri’s next engagement (Tuesday, February 26) is a guest appearance on the New Zealand version of the television show “Dancing with the Stars.”

The following day, the controversial Kiwi canary will grace this year’s Metropolitan Opera Guild Luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria. The alphabetical list of singers and other colleagues who are scheduled to honor the diva includes Licia Albanese, Martina Arroyo, Harry Bicket, Stephanie Blythe, Russell Braun, Lawrence Brownlee, Barbara Cook, Mignon Dunn, Barbara Frittoli, Massimo Giordano, Maria Guleghina, Marilyn Horne, James Morris, Regina Resnik, Julius Rudel, Beverly Sills, Risë Stevens, Ruth Ann Swenson, and Benita Valente. (Apparently Joann Yockey and Linda Zoghby had prior commitments.)

Mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade will do the vocal honors and the program will also include “rare” video clips of the honoree. Tickets to the Luncheon are $250 and $400.

The Kiwi canary testified that it was only after agreeing to appear on a concert program with veteran pop icon John Farnham that she discovered that some of his fans expressed their enthusiasm by throwing their panties onstage.

The diva, noting that Farnham collected the frilly underthings “as a sort of trophy,” sniffed that she would find performing in such a milieu “disrespectful.”

Dame Kiri is pictured at right performing a scene from Mozart’s Don Giovanni with a fellow paragon of operatic decorum, Bryn Terfel.

Underwear tossing a deal breaker for opera star

TE KANAWA PULLED OUT OF CONCERT BECAUSE OF RAUNCHY FANS

Court told of dame’s fear of undie throwers

Dame Kiri got knickers in twist over concerts

9:30: Fleming singing Trovatore on Milanov’s centenary? And, folks, the action in the chat room is so frantic, I’m going to wait until the interval to blog more. BTW, who sings Dutchman at a gala? Isn’t it a bit, I don’t know, GRIM?

9:00: Natalie Dessay starts at the beginning of the recit. for Sonnambula. I think she actually sounds more interesting now with the slight wear and tear on the voice — at least in this plaintive music. We’ll see what the cabaletta is like.

Maybe she is making more space for the “Credea” than she should. I don’t think it should be quite this much work. And of course running out of breath isn’t such a good idea.

Well, she seems to know how the cabaletta is supposed to go, but boy the voice is sketchy except at the very top. And not much of a B-flat to finish.

8:45: Placido Domingo in a zarzuela about a fisherman. Oh, it’s “No puede ser” — d’oh! And now Frederica von Stade sings with an untuned piano. If only Voigt’s novelty song were of this quality…

When I think of Yevgeny Onegin, the first name that comes to mind is Bill Irwin.

8:30: Half an hour in, and finally some opera singing. Jesus Christ, three conductors for the first three numbers!

Wow, Florez is close miked! A little tight to start with, but after the first cadenza he sounds warmed up. If only that ghastly chorus weren’t yowling behind him.

8: 20 PM: Remember, it’s NOT a contest. Except to see which first soprano sounds oldest.

8:10 PM: Voigt’s special material song is pretty damn awful. She sounds fine, but the song is crap.

Better stream at http://wuot.sunsite.utk.edu:8080/ramgen/broadcast/wuot.rm. Ah, the stunning set for the Ariadne. How appropriate for the ex-carpenter.

For an encore, Debbie will sing, “After You’ve Gone.”

Here comes Debbie.

8:00 PM: Sigh, if Renee really wants to save the Met broadcasts, she would start singing better in Rodelinda. Meanwhile, I’m off to test-drive a Lexus.

7:45 PM: La Cieca’s live-on-tape coverage of the Volpe Farewell Gala begins!

Note that the broadcast is available on WQXR’s website. The live chat has already begun; you can join by clicking the “chat now” button to the right.

Most recent news: Mirella Freni will make only a “tribute” (nonsinging) appearance, and Ruth Ann Swenson bagged this afternoon’s Elisir, so don’t expect her tonight.

At the moment, we have a violinist playing Rachmaninoff on WQXR. Not part of the gala…