DAME KIRI TE KANAWA - TE KANAWA TO TAKE FINAL BOW AS OPERA STAR

TE KANAWA TO TAKE FINAL BOW AS OPERA STAR

DAME KIRI TE KANAWA will take to the operatic stage for the last time in 2010.
The New Zealand singer has decided to deliver her operatic swansong in April (10), making room for the younger talents she believes are better suited to the "exhausting" genre.
The soprano's final role will be in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier at the Cologne Opera in Germany.
She explains, "It will be my last. It's not as if I want to do it on a regular basis now, because it's exhausting. I think certainly our voices change; opera is mainly for young people."
The 65 year old has not participated in an opera since 2004, prompting the world media to assume she was through with her opera career.
But Te Kanawa insists she still maintains a busy touring schedule, adding: "The press retired me. I have not been singing opera very much but I still sing a lot of concerts."