Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Receives Lifetime Achievement Award From Gramophone

By Francisco Salazar

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa received a lifetime achievement award from Gramophone Magazine.

The award was bestowed on the singer on the same day that she announced that she was retiring from public performances and exactly 25 years since Gramophone awarded Artist of the Year to Dame Te Kanawa.

That year, 1992, was a great year for the diva as she recorded Richard Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier” from EMI, conducted by Haitink,  the “Four Last Songs” from Decca, conducted by Sir Georg Solti, Johann Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus” from Philips, conducted by André Previn, as well as an album of songs by Michel Legrand.

Te Kanawa’s recording library is extensive and the soprano told Gramophone, “I liked the idea of getting things down while my voice was still in good shape. I always felt that while it was still there and still with a sweet quality to it, the more we could capture the better. Getting it perfect wasn’t my idea; having long takes was. It had to be a performance; not spliced together.”

Te Kanawa was well known for her work in Strauss and Mozart and also performed a number of Verdi and Puccini works as well as operetta. The soprano is also well known for her recording of “West Side Story.”

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