Order of the Companions of Honour<\/a>, an elite and esteemed UK title held by only 65 living people within the Commonwealth at any one time, or being made a Dame in 1982, astonishing. She was also awarded the Order of New Zealand in 1995, our highest award, of which there are only 20 living recipients at any time.<\/p>\n![\"Dame]()
Dame Kiri was awarded the Order of New Zealand in 1995. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI wonder, how did that happen?\u201d she muses. \u201cIt was an absolute shock. These sort of things just happen, but did they happen because I was okay? Was I good? Was my career good? I don\u2019t know. But it\u2019s an honour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet there\u2019s no doubt that being in the \u201cright place at the right time\u201d has also meant a life of much sacrifice and one that certainly isn\u2019t for the faint of heart. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was a 21-year-old coming out of little New Zealand who hit Carnaby Street and everything to do with the Beatles,\u201d Kiri explains. \u201cBut then I met an agent early on, which was very lucky. I had good singing teachers, who stayed with me for many years. Everything about my life was organised.\u201d <\/p>\n
She also says her first husband, Desmond Park, was \u201cvery supportive\u201d, but \u201cthen that didn\u2019t work. The marriage went to pieces, but that happens sometimes after so many years. You can\u2019t blame it, but the career survived\u201d.<\/p>\n
And she says of her two children, Toni and Tom, \u201cthey suffered because I wasn\u2019t always there\u201d. <\/p>\n
Whether sacrifice or serendipity, it\u2019s clear that throughout her astounding career, Kiri wore a figurative cloak of New Zealand and New Zealanders across her shoulders. <\/p>\n
\u201cA singer in the early days said to me, \u2018Remember you\u2019re representing your country,\u2019 and I always felt that, whether singing in M\u0101ori or English, or any other language. My country mattered to me and was always my priority.\u201d <\/p>\n
Perhaps there was no performance where this was felt more keenly than at the 1981 wedding of the then-Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so important that someone from New Zealand sang at that wedding,\u201d tells Kiri, who remains close to the royal family. \u201cIf we look at 200 years from now, they will have forgotten me, but that will always be in the history books.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a life that was structured up to five years in advance and a career that \u201ctakes up almost 24 hours of your day, whether it is your sleeping pattern, eating pattern or work pattern\u201d, organisation became \u2013 and remains \u2013 an important part of Kiri\u2019s life. <\/p>\n
![\"For]()
For super-busy Kiri, there\u2019ll always be songs to sing, loved ones to spend time with and gorgeous days to make the most of. Photo \/ Jae Frew<\/p>\n
\u201cI love organisation!\u201d she declares. \u201cI have a very organised schedule. Even now, I have to plan things thoughtfully.\u201d <\/p>\n
While she remains in peak demand for various people and her mentoring work, these days Kiri makes use of those organisational skills to have time for \u2013 and appreciate \u2013 life\u2019s quieter moments. <\/p>\n
Instead of staying in Wellington for the week between the semi-finals and finals of the upcoming opera competition, she\u2019ll need to fit in a visit to Auckland \u2013 it\u2019s Grandparents\u2019 Day at Luther\u2019s school after all and there\u2019s no chance she\u2019ll miss that.<\/p>\n
Kiri says her grandson is \u201creally, really good and very bright\u201d. She adds, \u201cHe loves his grandpa Kev, which is lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n
And back home, her large property that\u2019s \u201cin the bush\u201d has many, many trees that need tending and chopping for environmental purposes, bringing more beauty to her world.<\/p>\n
![\"You\u2019re]()
You\u2019re most likely to find Kiri singing behind the wheel on long drives. Photo \/ Jae Frew<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of wildlife,\u201d Kiri shares. \u201cThere\u2019s a new little green parrot [k\u0101k\u0101riki] that has been released up here. They\u2019re gorgeous and we have three of them, and we have seven royal spoonbills that have come onto the beach, so that\u2019s really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
With her dogs, gardening, fishing, her grandson and her countless commitments, it\u2019s easy to see why boredom simply isn\u2019t an option.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t have a minute for that, especially if the sun\u2019s out!\u201d Kiri points out. \u201cEven if it\u2019s raining, it\u2019s good because then we can do other things.\u201d<\/p>\n
And as for singing? While New Zealanders get the occasional thrill of hearing her unmistakable voice, such as when she joined former student and opera singer Kawiti Waetford in singing P\u014dkarekare Ana in an impromptu performance at Parliament House for her 80th birthday \u2013 for which she received a standing ovation \u2013 these days you\u2019re most likely to find her singing behind the wheel on long drives.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt keeps me awake between Northland and Auckland,\u201d she quips. <\/p>\n
![\"\"]()
<\/p>\n
While she\u2019s a fan of Dusty Springfield, it\u2019s heavy metal band Disturbed\u2019s haunting rendition of The Sound of Silence that is on repeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an extraordinary singer,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
A reminder, perhaps, that Dame Kiri Te Kanawa remains as captivating and as full of surprises as ever.<\/p>\n
The Kiri Te Kanawa Song Quest Grand Final (with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra) is on Saturday, July 11 at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington. To purchase tickets, visit songquest.nz<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kiri adds that she exercises at three o\u2019clock each afternoon to help with the healing. Also in her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[115028,806,430,11229,2947,6097,69675,156,91245,244054,67897,15674,115919,115915,115914,194,19720,424,111,139,69,20863,6180,418,5652,43655,44439,57438,6100,8690,244053,32951,377,1530,4741],"class_list":["post-486474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-115028","tag-as","tag-celebrities","tag-comfortable","tag-dame","tag-down","tag-elaborate","tag-entertainment","tag-gowns","tag-grandest","tag-gumboots","tag-inspiring","tag-kanawa","tag-kanawas","tag-kiri","tag-kiwi","tag-land","tag-life","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-she","tag-shes","tag-shows","tag-signs","tag-singers","tag-slowing","tag-stages","tag-still","tag-te","tag-tending","tag-turns","tag-world","tag-years","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}