New Zealand soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will be touring Australia to celebrate her 70th birthday.
"You never know," she told the Associated Press at a Parliament House reception. “Never say never, but 90th - they'd be wheeling me in in a chair.”
Te Kanawa showed grace and dignity at the recent event, where she was a special guest to Australian lawmakers, including members of the House of Representatives. She will be visiting Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Finland before the end of the year. Te Kanawa will have a tour in her native New Zealand in early June. She then flies to London and will participate in the Ravinia Festival.
She has had a 40 year career, according to the Daily Telegraph. She sang as a soloist at the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London in 1981. She also appeared on the small screen as Australian diva Dame Nellie Melba in the television series, Downton Abbey.
Te Kanawa is a winner of the British Recording Industry's Lifetime Achievement Award. She founded the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation ten years ago.