Question 1

True or false: Kiri Te Kanawa sang at the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1981.

Accepted Answer

True. Te Kanawa performed Handel's 'Let the Bright Seraphim' at St. Paul's Cathedral. The global TV audience was around 750 million.

Question 2

True or false: Kiri Te Kanawa retired from singing because of a vocal injury in 2014.

Accepted Answer

False. Kiri Te Kanawa did not retire due to a vocal injury. She announced her retirement from opera in 2016 and from concerts in 2017, citing age and a desire to stop at her peak.

Question 3

True or false: Kiri Te Kanawa was a mezzo-soprano for most of her early career.

Accepted Answer

False. Te Kanawa was always a lyric soprano. Her voice type never changed; mezzo-sopranos sing in a lower range. This is a common mix-up.

Question 4

True or false: Kiri Te Kanawa originally trained as a nurse before becoming a singer.

Accepted Answer

False. She studied singing from age 12 and won major competitions in her teens. She never trained as a nurse.

Question 5

True or false: Kiri Te Kanawa's adoptive parents were both Māori.

Accepted Answer

False. Her adoptive mother, Nell Te Kanawa, was of European (Pākehā) descent. Only her adoptive father, Thomas Te Kanawa, was Māori.

Question 6

True or false: Kiri Te Kanawa was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1982.

Accepted Answer

True. Kiri Te Kanawa received the honour in the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours at age 38, becoming a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Question 7

True or false: Kiri Te Kanawa owned a vineyard in New Zealand.

Accepted Answer

True. Kiri Te Kanawa owned a vineyard in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, during the 1990s and 2000s, before selling it in 2017.

Question 8

True or false: Te Kanawa never performed in a staged opera by a living composer.

Accepted Answer

False. She created the role of the Countess in John Corigliano's 'The Ghosts of Versailles' at the Met in 1991. That was a living composer.

Kiri Te Kanawa Trivia Questions