WELLINGTON — New Zealand opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, hailed as one of the greatest sopranos of the modern age, officially announced her retirement on Wednesday at the age of 73. Te Kanawa has not performed publicly for about a year but told the BBC she did not intend to perform in front of an audience again. "But it was only a wedding and my job was doing opera at the time, so I wasn’t into weddings. Te Kanawa was also invited to perform at Diana’s funeral in 1997, but declined as she was too upset over the princess’ death. She stopped performing the most demanding of her signature opera roles in 2004 and, while still making concert appearances, concentrated on a foundation to encourage young New Zealand opera singers and musicians.

Source: Viet Nam News September 13, 2017 07:07 UTC