'I'm never going to retire," states opera star Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, emphatically, in her distinctive New Zealand accent. "Some people might like me to - but I won't."
The 64-year-old soprano, on the phone from New York, is clearly a little frustrated that the purpose of her globetrotting "farewell tour," which ends this month, is sometimes misunderstood by concert promoters and the public. "Retirement is retirement," she insists. "Farewell just means that I won't be coming back to certain cities." However, she's reluctant to say exactly which cities she doesn't think she'll ever return to.
People attending her recital at the Elora Festival tomorrow could be excused for some confusion. According to the festival's publicity material, her appearance in the town of Elora, Ont., 110 kilometres northwest of Toronto, will be one of three "final appearances" she's making this summer. (Her farewell tour officially wraps up with a "grand finale" at Chicago's Ravinia Festival, on July 19.) Similarly, when she sang at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall in October, her recital was billed as a chance for fans to hear her "one last time."
But Te Kanawa's tour belongs to a glorious tradition of operatic goodbyes that are more notable for their flexibility than their finality. Back in the 1920s, the farewell tour of famed soprano Nellie Melba lasted about four years; soprano Luisa Tetrazzini's "absolute final" performances became annual events. Then there's the contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink: In 1927, at the age 66, she made a farewell tour, only to come out of retirement the following year and sing into her 70s.
More recently, in 1994, tenor Carlo Bergonzi gave a farewell recital at Carnegie Hall, and then continued to sing in public. On the other hand, Luciano Pavarotti's 2006 farewell tour career undoubtedly marked the end of his singing career; he died halfway through it. Operatic farewell tours are meant to be taken with a grain of salt.
Nevertheless, Te Kanawa's upcoming recital in Elora has been a big boost to the town's festival. "To have an artist of Kiri's renown is wonderful," says Noel Edison, artistic director of the Elora Festival (and also conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir). "There have been a lot of other expenses associated with bringing her to the festival - limousines, and that sort of thing. But the corporate community has become engaged behind this thing. We had her sponsored before we sold one ticket."
Selling the tickets wasn't much of a problem, either. Te Kanawa and her accompanist, pianist Brian Zeger, will present a mixed program by Strauss, Berlioz and other composers in the Gambrel Barn - a 1,000-seat venue that's been expanded for this occasion. "The seats went very quickly," says Edison, "so we added seats in the parking lot, behind the big doors at the back. The sound is spectacular there."
He goes on to explain that the engagement was mostly a matter of luck. In the winter, Edison approached a New York manager about booking Canadian tenor Ben Heppner, who turned out to be unavailable. To Edison's surprise, he was offered Te Kanawa instead.
Whether or not Te Kanawa's recital on Sunday really is her last performance in Canada, there's no doubt she's the biggest star to appear at the Elora Festival in its 29-year history. After winning fame in her native New Zealand (she is of mixed Maori and European descent) as a teenaged pop star in the 1960s, she packed her bags for London, hoping to become an opera singer. In 1971, she scored her first big operatic success as Countess Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro at the Royal Opera. This was followed by her debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera as Desdemona in Verdi's Otello.
In 1981, Te Kanawa was heard by 600 million people, singing at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. The following year, the Queen named her a Dame Commander of the British Empire.
Although she has performed all over the world, she has made a point of frequently singing in her homeland. However, she's lived much of her life in England. "I would never have made a living in New Zealand," she says. "We have a very vibrant audience for opera - but the preferred sport is rugby."
She has also been no stranger to Canada. While she's never appeared in a staged opera production in this country (most Canadian opera companies simply couldn't afford her), she has given recitals in such cities as Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary.
Over the course of her four-decade career, Te Kanawa has seen changes in the way the opera world is run. "It's become more commercial," she notes, "and quite rightly so. Singers are under the direction of the management - and sometimes the management does not always do what we think it should. Everything stems from the top. Agents and managers are also sometimes a little difficult to understand."
Her theatrical abilities have sometimes been criticized: Classic CD magazine remarked on her "apparent lack of commitment and involvement" when playing roles onstage. She's made no secret of the fact that the demands of the opera world haven't always suited her; she once told a critic that she'd rather be at home knitting. She hasn't appeared in a staged opera since 2004.
But as a singer, she is widely considered one of the greatest of the 20th century: Her lyric-soprano voice has been repeatedly praised as "ravishing," "lush" and "luxurious." And, at an age when many singers are ex-singers, she's still going strong. Last fall, The New York Times reported that "her voice sounds remarkably good, considering its long years of use."
Inspired by the longevity of her own career, Te Kanawa intends to devote more time in her non-retirement years teaching young singers. To that end, she has established the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation. "We provide mentoring," she explains. "Young singers come to my house, and I give them lunch. They sing a lot, listen to each other, compare, and get rid of problems. An awful lot of singers are lasting about five years and falling by the wayside. I had a 40-year career, with a technique that saved me through thick and thin. I want to pass that on."
The 2008 Elora Festival started yesterday and continues to Aug. 3 in Elora, Ont. (888-747-7550 or http://www.elorafestival.com). The Kiri Te Kanawa recital is sold out.