Kiri Te Kanawa Interview (page: 7 / 9) Beloved Opera Singer	Print Interview

You've been so closely associated with the music of Richard Strauss and Mozart, who both wrote exquisitely for the voice. What drew you to those composers?

Kiri Te Kanawa: Mozart was always my first choice, because I always found it was like doing vocalise. I loved doing vocalise. I would vocalize all the time with my singing teacher. She said to me, "Mozart is the lubrication for your voice." So the more Mozart I did, the more easily I could do Strauss. So I would warm up with Mozart and then I could do Strauss. My voice was always in the right position at all times with Mozart.

You seem to specialize in countesses. There are many countess roles in Strauss, like in Capriccio and in Marriage of Figaro, and Vanessa.

Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, and Rosenkavalier. She's sort of a countess, even though she's a really a Marschallin. Am I a countess? No.

But you're often described as regal. There's an elegance to your presence. Is that something that comes naturally, or is it something you create on stage?

Kiri Te Kanawa: I like playing those parts. I really do. But I'm more the opposite.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. I'm a real tomboy. I mean, you hardly ever see me in a dress unless it's on stage. I'm only wearing pants, because you can go faster in pants. I've always found that. You know, the faster you can go, the more you can get out of trouble or get into whatever. But, you know, I go shooting. I shoot with a gun on a regular basis. And I go fishing a lot. And I go golfing. I do lots of things that I love to do outdoors. So that's why I'm a countess in non-reality and a tomboy in reality.

What are some of the most challenging aspects of an operatic career? You once described it as a lonely life.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it's lonely, because you either are there with very, very, very good friends -- and they can't always be there in the right country at the right time for you -- or you are with people who you only see on a basic sort of -- they're just there for -- not the good reasons for you. I don't want to sort of go into that too much. But it's lonely when you leave the operatic stage and you've been cheered and flowers have been given to you, and then you go back to the hotel and all the flowers are dying and it's a very lonely hotel room. There's nothing there. So you have to have a life. You have to make a life, whatever it might be, whether it be books or you sing in a choir, or as I do, go fishing a lot. Go golfing, go (play) tennis. I took up tennis because it was a faster sport than golf. Because golf took a day, whereas tennis takes a couple of hours.

You spoke earlier about your experience singing in a choir. What's the significance of that to you?

Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, yes. I firmly believe choir singing is gorgeous. You can get some nice friends there. It's another life away from your ordinary life or whatever you're doing. If you have a very busy life, it's another way of life, a way of life away from it. And it's lovely, just making music with other people and you're making harmonies and things. I think that's great. I would still go into a choir. In my dotage, I might very well join a choir and sing along. It would be fantastic.

What about balancing personal life and a big career? That's got to be challenging.

Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it's very challenging. There are sacrifices to be made. I have a divorce now. I don't put that down to necessarily the career, but I think that was part of it. And I'm happy being divorced. I'm fine with that. It's an actual fact, I'm happier than when I was married, the last part of my life with my ex-husband. But that doesn't matter. We had some good years together. There are sacrifices. You have to figure out what is good. I think if you're in a good happy zone, anything can happen. As long as you're content within yourself, life is good. But if you're not content within yourself, it's a mess.

You have two children. It's got to be very difficult to spend time away from them.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Kiri Te Kanawa: I did my very, very best as a parent. And if you say you've succeeded as a parent, I think you're lying. Because I think if you did your best, and you say, "I know I sort of somehow... they didn't do drugs and they're good kids," I think that's enough. But I don't think you can say (that) unless you're an at-home mom. But if you're going to have a career like this, I think there's huge problems, huge problems.

So you really have to be clear about what you want.

Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I could have given up the career, but I didn't. Do I regret that? What do you do? Maybe I should have, but I didn't. So I had this career. But sometimes, in the darkest time, when I regret a lot, in the dark part of the night, when it's really black, and I just see this stinking career took so much. Yet it gave me so much.

Are your kids musical?

Kiri Te Kanawa: No, they're not. They're both adopted as well. They haven't really inherited my singing voice, but hopefully they like music. My children come along to my concerts, which is nice.

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