Kiri’s American Valedictory

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa performed in Orange County, California, in what is being billed as her North American farewell tour. Michael Rydzynski praised her engaging presence, pure tone and comic touches in a review for the LA Times. “Appearing regal yet without pomposity, the New Zealand native seemed dignified yet accessible,” he writes. “She almost never acted out her songs, relying on her vocal skills to convey each text’s meaning. The sole exception was during the first encore, Ginastera’s “Canción al árbol del olvido” (Song of the Tree of Forgetfulness), when she executed playful, vamp-like shoulder gyrations. For the rest, her pure tone, with its superbly controlled soft upper register, alone enriched the German, French, Italian and English selections.”