Te Kanawa, Dame Kiri [key], 1944–, New Zealand opera and concert singer. From the early 1970s until her last public performance (2016), she was one of the most acclaimed and popular lyric sopranos, appearing with London's Royal Opera, New York's Metropolitan Opera, the Munich Opera, and other major houses worldwide. Her warm voice and stage personality were striking, and she made many recordings. Te Kanawa's performances in such roles as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus were especially notable. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1983.
See biography by D. Fingleton (1983).
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