Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Tickets

The combination of Te Kanawa's voice and the acoustics in the gorgeous new Performing Arts Center made for an unparalleled evening of musical enchantment.

In a program whose selections spanned three centuries and four languages, followed by four encores, New Zealand lyric soprano Kiri Te Kanawa enraptured the nearly-sold-out Valley Performing Arts Center on March 12, 2011. More than four decades after her rise to superstardom, the voice remains pure and luminous, completely free of wobble or shrillness. It was a joy to hear such an artist unmediated by any electronic boost or filter. Te Kanawa's pianissimos are otherworldly; as she floated each delicate sonic soapbubble in Handel's _Care selve_, it's as if each phonon in the hall nodded its head in appreciative agreement. In my cheap seat (highest balcony, five rows back), every legato was flawless. As this was the first performance I had attended at CSUN's new showcase hall, I don't know if this is a testament to superb acoustics, superb vocal technique, or both. Accompaniment by pianist Brian Zeger was respectful, attentive, and intelligent. Although there were moments of whimsy and humor, the mood was mostly contemplative, reflective, sad, and pensive. Te Kanawa made a few spoken remarks centering on the recent tragedies in her native country and also the then-fresh tragedy unfolding in Japan. Overall, the evening was one of refinement and grace.

Kiri TeKawana has a very beautiful voice but although she sang only with a piano, at times it was hard to hear her over the piano. She did not "connect" with the audience....she spoke very little all evening (only at her initial entrance) and seemed like she was ready to finish and get out of there. I am glad she chose more familiar tunes for her encores. An lovely night out but I was a bit disappointed in her.

I'll leave my review of the new venue for another time. Kiri was her wonderful generous self. After waiting all my life to hear her in person, she was amazing. She sang in about 5 languages and spoke of the recent devastation around the world. Her song choices were eclectic and varied. Her voice still so magical.

With the glut of record label-manufactured 'stars' bursting onto the scene and disappearing as quickly as they appeared, it was reassuring to be in the presence of a true artist again for a change -- one who has retained much of the beauty of the voice that made her one of the foremost sopranos of the past nearly half century. The first aria -- Handel's 'Lascia ch'io pianga' -- was mostly a display of superb technique, as Dame Kiri trepidaciously maneuvered the vocal challenges of this piece, her voice displaying a metallic tinge that had been previsously foreign to it. However, as the evening progressed and Dame Kiri felt visibly more confident in her instrument, it was remarkably rewarding to hear the young Kiri so evident in her voice. The repertoire was carefully chosen not to present unrealistic challenges, and was replete with crowd pleasers; but it was also clearly not assembled merely to keep an autumnal singer in her comfort zone, but had artistic merit in its own right. The groups of pieces were sensibly composed around historical eras or languages, starting with baroque arias and moving on to German, French and, finally, Spanish and Italian songs and arias. Standing ovations and countless "curtain" calls prompted a string of encores, none received with so much enthusiasm as Dame Kiri's signature aria, "Oh mio babbino caro" from Puccini's comic opera, "Gianni Schicchi." My heart breaks to think that, soon, we will only be able to appreciate the overwhelming beauty of Dame Kiri's voice in recordings. I feel truly blessed to have heard it live one last time, as my mental ear clings to that final reverberation of "Oh mio babbino caro."

The evening was amazing and Dame Kiri looked gorgeous and her voice is still heavenly. I brought two friends who have never seen Kiri and they were "blown" out with Kiri's voice and beauty. Our seats were magnificent and the whole evening was magic. My partner turned me on to Kiri in the early 80s and we traveled all over just to see her in opera or recitals. The last time we saw Kiri together was in 1994. My partner drowned in 2002 but I could feel her spirit when Kiri sang. Thank you Kiri Also the venue is fantastic!

Bought tickets for parents. They absolutely loved her and loved the venue. They thought it was such a treat to see Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in Los Angeles.

It's all in the repetorire...a boring repetroire equals a boring concert. Ms. TeKanawa only sand ONE operatic area..."Oh, Mio Bambino Caro"....a cliche, yes, but the people enjoyed that ONE aria if not any of the other boring songs. OK, it's difficult to sing the famous arias, but to hopefully hear them is why people pay "the big bucks" to hear these famous singers. The only female singer that DID sing what made people happy was "Bubbles"....AKA Beverly Sills! God bless "Bubbles"!

Because this may be one of her last visits in the Bay Area and because this was my first time to see her live, and because I am not a typical opera-goer -- I would have liked to see and hear her perform more of her signature arias/songs. However, I was elated being at Dame Te Kanawa's live performance because she has been a favorite of mine for three decades now.

This was my second time seeing Kiri Te Kanawa, an amazing soprano. She never disappoints. Dame Kanawa filled her program with great variety of arias and traditional ballads and spoke to the audience in between with humor, charm and sincerity. Walking out, I heard many people say she wasn't what they expected and how wonderful her and her performance were. I feel fortunate to be able to attend her Bay Area events.