A Gala Concert In the Presence of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

One of the world’s greatest sopranos, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will be honoured at a star-studded gala event that celebrates her remarkable career and also the renaming of the Aotea Centre’s ASB Theatre to the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre.

A Gala Concert In the Presence of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will feature the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by music director Giordano Bellincampi, together with the Freemasons New Zealand Opera Chorus and some of New Zealand’s finest operatic voices - Anna Leese, Pene Pati and James Ioelu. It will be hosted by MC Jennifer Ward-Lealand.

Dame Kiri, New Zealand’s first Grammy Award winner, opera royalty and performer on the most spectacular stages in the world, will be the special guest of honour at this extraordinary event.

Featuring some of her best-loved opera choruses and arias, and highlights from her career, the gala concert will celebrate and salute Dame Kiri’s formidable talent and contribution to the arts.

The concert will include performances of some of opera’s most spectacular arias and choruses including:

Puccini, Gianni Schicchi, ‘O mio babbino caro’
Donizetti, The Elixir of Love, ‘Una furtiva lagrima’
Verdi, Il Trovatore, ‘Anvil Chorus’
Bizet, The Pearl Fishers, ‘Au font du temple saint’ (‘The Pearl Fishers’ Duet’)
Mozart, Don Giovanni, ‘Catalogue Aria’, as well as a selection of much-loved works by Wagner, Rossini, and Mascagni.

A Gala Concert In the Presence of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, produced by Auckland Live and made possible by the support of ASB Bank, the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and Regional Facilities Auckland.

Ensure you are part of this once-in-a-lifetime, historic moment celebrating Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, her contribution to the arts and the renaming of the ASB Theatre in her honour. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will be the guest of honour at the gala, she will not be performing.