An Evening with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

Music fans will have the chance to hear one of the world's most famous opera singers in her farewell Bay Area concert.

A native New Zealander from Maori origins, Kiri Te Kanawa has lit up impressive world stages with her incredible soprano vocals. Dame Kiri is one of the most celebrated, respected and loved sopranos, who has packed opera houses worldwide since her debut at Convent Garden in 1971.

Dame Kiri has performed with the world's major orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Symphony and the Boston Symphony, under the baton of such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, James Levine, Seiji Ozawa and Georg Solti. She has also appeared at venues and events as disparate as Glyndebourne, the festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg and the desert outback of Australia.

As a soloist at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, she performed to a live telecast audience estimated to be over 600 million people. 1990 saw another record when during a tour of Australia and New Zealand her outdoor concert in the city of Auckland attracted a crowd of 140,000. Made a Commander of the British Empire in 1982, Dame Kiri has also been with the Order of Australia in 1990 and the Order of New Zealand in 1995.