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Home , Kiri Te Kanawa

World-famous Dame to perform live concert at The National Concert Hall

One of the great of our times, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will perform for one night only at The National Concert Hall Dublin on Wednesday 23 November 2011, 8pm as part of The International Concert Series 2011/2012.

Accompanied by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Patrick Ringborg, conductor the New Zealand born soprano will be also be joined on stage by mezzo-soprano, Eglé Šidlauskaite and soprano Lauryna Bendziunaite both from Lithuania.

In eagerly anticipated performance audiences will be treated to a programme of opera arias by Mozart, Massenet, Charpentier and Bizet as well as 'Somewhere' from Bernstein’s .

This concert, supported by McCann Fitzgerald is considered by many to be the highlight of The National Concert Hall’s International Concert Series 2011/2012.

Throughout the 2010/2011 season Dame Kiri has and continues to perform in concert halls and arenas around the world with performances in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, USA, Spain, Denmark, England, Japan, Korea, China and Holland.

The soprano, who sang at the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer as well as at the Queen's 2002 Jubilee is known for helping young opera singers launch their careers. In 2004 she launched the ‘Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation’, a charity which gives support and financial aid to dedicated New Zealand singers and musicians. Just last year, Dame Kiri became actively involved in ‘The Kiri Prize’, a search for operatic talent of the future in the UK which was supported by BBC Radio 2. 2010 also saw her win a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Classical Brit Awards and in June 2011, she became Patron of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.

Having gained legendary status almost overnight after her acclaimed debut as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro at House, Covent Garden in 1971 Dame Kiri Te Kanawa went on to become one of the most famous sopranos in the world. Besides opera, she went on to develop as an accomplished recitalist, concert soloist and recording artist, with an enviable discography of opera albums and recordings to include aria collections from Bizet, French and Italian selections, song cycles by Berlioz, DuParc and Ravel, and the famous Songs of the Auvergne albums, which topped the best-seller charts in Britain. The album "Maori Songs" was released most recently to much acclaim.

Kiri Te Kanawa holds honorary doctorates from ten universities and is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music. Kiri was awarded the title of Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1982 and in 1990, she received the Order of Australia and in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours List, the prestigious .

The International Concert Series 2011/2012 is supported by The Irish Times.

The International Concert Series 2011/2012 at The National Concert Hall DAME KIRI TE KANAWA RTÉ Concert Orchestra , conductor Lauryna Bendziunaite, soprano Eglé Šidlauskaite, mezzo soprano

PROGRAMME  Mozart: Overture: le nozze di Figaro  Mozart: Aria: Dei Vieni (Susanna’s aria)  Mozart: Aria: Ach ich Fuhls (Pamina)  Korngold: Overture: The Sea Hawk  Korngold: Marietta’s song  Bizet:Seguidilla ()  Bizet:Danse Boheme  Bizet: Entracte Acte 111 (Carmen)  Bizet: Micaela’s aria, Carmen  Massenet: Adieu notre petite table: Manon  Charpentier:Depuis le jour, Louise  Saint-Saens: Bacchanal  Duparc: L’invitation au voyage  La vie anterieure  Chanson triste  Bernstein: Candide Overture  Bernstein: West Side Story, Somewhere  Gershwin: By Strauss  R Strauss: Trio

Tickets: €45, €55, €65, €75 (Choir Balcony €35) Tel 01 417 00 00 or www.nch.ie (no booking fees)