Dame Kiri Te Kanawa - Dame Kiri Slams Boyle's Rise To Fame

Opera legend DAME KIRI TE KANAWA has dismissed SUSAN BOYLE's success - insisting she's "not interested" in the Scottish singing sensation's rise to fame.

The New Zealand-born soprano is currently conducting her own talent search with the BBC to find a new opera star, and was asked for her thoughts on Boyle, who shot to fame last year (09) after wowing judges on Britain's Got Talent with I Dreamed A Dream.

But the star was angered by the suggestion her musical genre is linked to Boyle's - and is adamant the unlikely superstar's fame will be fleeting.

When asked about Boyle by Britain's Radio Times, she says, "Let's get off that subject. Move on. I'm doing something classical, not whizz-bang. Whizz-bang disappears. It goes 'whizz' and then 'bang'. You insult me by even wanting to bring it into this conversation. I'm not interested.

"This competition... has far more stability. It's judged seriously by people with integrity who know what they're talking about."