Source: New Zealand Parliament – Hansard
MOTIONS
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa—80th Birthday
SPEAKER: We come now a very special occasion for Parliament. In accordance with the determination of the Business Committee, I call on the Hon Paul Goldsmith to move a motion without notice.
Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I move, That this House recognise the achievements and career of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and congratulate her as she celebrates her 80th birthday.
Very few New Zealanders attain global pre-eminence in their field; even fewer hold on to that pre-eminence for decades. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa was one such Kiwi. Her 80th birthday provides an opportunity for us to acknowledge her talent and her distinguished career. This House is a place of debate and confrontation, as well as cooperation, but it should also be a place where, from time to time, we pause to reflect on the great deeds of some of our fellow New Zealanders.
Kiri began her journey in Gisborne, then travelled with her adopted family to Auckland to learn her craft from Sister Mary Leo. In 1971, she made her Covent Garden debut as the Countess in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. From there, she ascended to the highest levels of international opera, thrilling audiences and reviewers alike. One wrote, “She makes hideously difficult music sound easy as pie.” When Charles and Diana married in 1981, before a global audience of 600 million, the royal family turned to Kiri Te Kanawa to sing Handel’s Let the bright Seraphim—the seraphim is a form of angel, Willie. I remember watching the wedding in the middle of the night and feeling the feeling of pride that came with seeing a Kiwi at the heart of such an event.
Honours have been heaped on her, including the Order of New Zealand and the Order of Australia. As well as thrilling audiences, she’s inspired many fellow New Zealanders to reach for the stars. She inspires, but she also helps. Twenty years ago, her Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, as King Charles noticed, has been established and has helped more than 40 singers succeed globally as well.
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, we honour you today.
