Customer Reviews

Kiri Te Kanawa: A Celebration Live at the Royal Albert Hall

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How wonderful to have this available on DVD again. Many of us saw the original production on PBS with numerous pledge breaks and heavily edited. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of recording it on VHS from that airing and so put off buying a copy. Then it was unavailable for quite a while. Nice to have it available again as it is very much worth owning and watching again and again.

For those who have not seen it, this is a wonderful concert, Kiri's celebration of her 50th birthday (and she is so very gorgeous!). She sings most songs solo (mix of opera and popular), a few songs (from La Boheme) with Dennis O'Neill, and a Maori group sings several songs. Kiri is in fine voice, the whole birthday bit at the end is very emotional, and all in all this is a lovely collection.

The orchestra and chorus are outstanding, as well.

I have to mildly and respectfully disagree somewhat with another reviewer's comments about the Maori group. They are professional performers, and are performing in a Maori tradition. Some of the things that appear odd, such as many of the faces they make, are part of the tradition. I think there was a bit of awkwardness in how they were arranged on stage, probably not how they usually line up.

I would also recommend Kiri's CD of Maori Songs.

A great prodcution for Kiri's birthday. The "Climb Every Mountain" song was superb; best I've heard. It was nice of her to bring in the Maori people from her native land of New Zealand. One thing I didn't like is is no one spent enough time with the Maori people with stage rehearsals and "presence". They looked lost out there on stage. No one there to give them direction and choreograph them. One Maori woman even wanted to have a conversation with Kiri on stage. No one taught them stage manners of what you do and don't do. Because of this they looked stupid and un-polished. No fault to the Maori, all fault goes to the producers and director. Maybe the "Brits" thought they were to "uppity" to deal with them.

This is a fabulous concert. The songs are representative of Dame Kiri's life and career, both operatic/classical music and more "pop" music. The addition of the Maori group is really fantastic, and it's interesting to see the audience reactions to their dancing. I have to disagree with one reviewer here who said that there was a Maori woman who appeared to want to talk to Dame Kiri onstage; I think she was prompting her with the words to "Now is the Hour" sung in Maori at the end. Dame Kiri gets quite emotional at the end with all the accolades, and isn't very successful at suppressing the tears. It's a great tribute to the world's greatest singer.

I have been a Kiri TeKanawa fan for since the '70s and have many of her DVDs and CDs. I really love this particular DVD of her 50th birthday celebration. She is in great form and the selections cover a nice variety of music that she has done, and still does, in her career. I hightly recommend this DVD for Kiri fans.

A su privilegiada voz y único estilo, se une la calidad humana de Kiri, cuyo registro de soprano marca toda una época.