Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron (known as Dame Kiri te Kanawa) is an influential New Zealander who grew up in Gisborne. She is worldwide known for her singing. She sings Soprano, (Which means she sings in a very high chord). She can also sing in many different languages. Kiri is 77 years old and her birthday is 6 March 1944.
Kiri was born in Gisborne and as a five-week-old infant, she was adopted by Tom and Nell Te Kanawa and given the name Kiri. Tom, like her biological father, was Maori, and his wife, like Kiri's biological mother, was of Irish descent. When she was 12 years old she attended St Mary's College. One of the nuns there was a singing teacher and Kiri was one of her pupils. The nun is now 101 years of age and is still singing at the school.
Kiri Te Kanawa had three top 40 albums in Australia in the mid-1980s. Some of her most famous songs are; God Save The Queen, L'invitation Au Voyage and Handel's Let the Bright Seraphim. To mark the transfer into the new millennium, Kiri sang from the first place in the world to see the sun rise in the year 2000 along the coastline of her home town Gisborne in a live telecast to over 80 countries. In 1981 she sang at the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer. She sang Handel's Let the Bright Seraphim.
In 1982 Kiri became a Dame. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to music, in the 1973 Queen's Birthday Honours, and was elevated to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to opera, in the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours. Kiri performed at the opening of the Commonwealth Games in 2006, singing Happy Birthday to the Queen herself.
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has become the first Māori woman to receive the Aotearoa New Zealand Māori Business Leader of the Year award for her talent and business acumen over a more than 40-year international career. That is why Dame Kiri te Kanawa is an influential person to many people; whether they are young or elderly.
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