Susan Boyle dismissed by NZ Opera Dame, Kiri Te Kanawa; Insulted Boyle was even brought up to her.

[Divine Discontent]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100518/wl_uk_afp/entertainmentbritainnzealandmusicboyle_20100518113357

LONDON (AFP) – New Zealand opera veteran Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has described Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle as a "whiz bang" star, whose spectacular success would ultimately fizzle.

In a magazine interview, Te Kanawa said she was "insulted" to be asked about Boyle, who shot to international fame after a performance on the television contest "Britain's Got Talent".

"Let's get off that subject. Move on. I'm doing something classical, not whiz-bang. Whiz-bang disappears. It goes 'whiz' and then 'bang'," she told the Radio Times magazine.

"You insult me by even wanting to bring it into this conversation. I'm not interested," the dame added.

Boyle's soaring voice was discovered in April 2009 when she stunned judges on the "Britain's Got Talent" show with her performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables".



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Someone's just a touch jealous... shhh, she's lurking below!

[Radical Activist]

1. Sure, Boyle is a passing fad.

But she didn't have to be such a b* about it.

[Divine Discontent]

3. yes, the dame may be a true legend in opera, but wow, how crass & elitist of her. aka - a b*tch!

[WinkyDink]

15. Think again. Her Christmas CD will break sales records. I love the Dame, but jealous much?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. Kiri te Kanawa has aninferiority complex because she's aboriginal.

She's one of the native peoples of Australia in a traditionally white profession.

I have been a professional musician, highly trained in classical and I would much rather listen to Susan Boyle singing pop tunes with conviction, myself.

[rooboy]

4. You can't be that highly trained in classical if you think Dame Kiri is an Australian.

She's a New Zealand Maori and is fully entitled to be insulted by comparisons between Susan Boyle and her own profession.

It's like comparing last week's winner of 'Wipeout' with a Green Beret. No comparison.

[ingac70]

5. A female singing opera.....

is nothing but caterwauling to me.

[elocs]

7. To call it "caterwauling" is too kind. n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Well, Kiri Te Kanawa has the kind of operatic voice that is NOT caterwauling

I don't like most Wagnerian sopranos or the ones who can handle Turandot, but the ones who specialize in Mozart, Rossini, or the Baroque era have lovely voices.

For example, Kathleen Battle in her prime singing Mozart's Laudate Dominum:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY_zGwyH54s&feature=related

Also, she's absolutely right about Charlotte Church and Andrea Bocelli. When I saw Charlotte Church on TV, she was obviously straining on the high notes, so she was either singing out of her range or has poor technique. I'm told that Andrea Bocelli can't sing unamplified, and real opera singers have to be able to do that--and be heard over an orchestra.

[Captain Hilts]

11. Battle is described as a 'lyric' soprano, what's that? I like Jessye Norman.

But this woman is just nasty. Whether or not she's correct about Church - haven't heard Church sing in years - is immaterial, it's just bad form to trash others as she did. And, again, evidently, Boyle has extraordinary breathing ability that means she also does not need a microphone, yet does not sound as though shouting.

I don't like Mariah Carey, but I wouldn't be any more receptive to this woman criticizing her.

[ingac70]

13. I can listen to a man sing opera all day long.

But a woman singing it just sounds like screeching to me. It is sheer torture.

[Captain Hilts]

12. Leontyne Price does not 'caterwaul'. nt

[eShirl]

6. Well la-dee-da

full of herself and rude, too

[Captain Hilts]

8. Being a dame doesn't mean you're a lady. Boyle's just the latest popular singer she's trashed -

She's trashed Charlotte Church, Andrea Bocelli - I don't know how you spell his name - and several Kiwi and Aussie vocalists.

And Boyle probably doesn't give a damn. Good for her.

La Boyle: I'm No. 1 and you're NOT!! Suck on it and like it, bitch!

[Captain Hilts]

9. And she apparently isn't aware that most who have heard Boyle sing live say she's MUCH better

than on record and needs no autotune or microphone.

TVNZ.co.nz says their comment board is running 80% to 20% in favor of Boyle:

http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/public-backs-susan-boyle-over-dame-kiri-3557858

[depakid]

22. A couple of the comments on that thread are classic

brianstaples
I have just listened to Kiri's version of I Dreamed a Dream and quite frankly she should stick to opera - she murders this song, and IMHO Susan Boyle sings it so much better. Her attack on Susan is most unbecoming of a "Lady"!

Sugar Puddin
Doesn't sing with a microphone. When I saw the video of Kiri singing " I dreamed a dream " which she murdered, There was something in front of her that sure looked like a mike to me.

ant girl
Kiri should grow up and remember her humble beginnings. I don't think the interviewer was comparing the two singers. How can you compare 2 completely different genres? Most people are pleased for Susan Boyle and her success. Kiri's birth parents were a waitress and a butcher for goodness sake! Maybe there should be an opera of "The Taming of the Shrew" and Kiri can be the lead in that!

[brettdale]

14. Kiri insults everybody

People here in NewZealand use to love her, but now we think shes a snob.

She also insulted ayoung classical singer we have here called Hayley Westnera, which was plain
mean because Hayley idolises her.

Kiri may be great in her field, but she has never come across as a nice person.

[WinkyDink]

16. Perhaps Dame Kiri forgets her OWN competing on a TV show, hmmm?

Career
In her teens and early 20s, Te Kanawa was a pop star and popular entertainer at clubs in New Zealand.<8> In 1965 she won the Mobil Song Quest with her performance of Puccini's "Vissi d'arte" from Tosca. In 1963, she was runner-up to Dame Malvina Major in the same competition. As the winner, she received a grant to study in London. In 1966, she then won the prestigious Australian Melbourne Sun-Aria contest, which Major had also won the previous year. Both students had been taught by Dame Sister Mary Leo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiri_Te_Kanawa

[Catherine Vincent]

17. No class. nt

[Stevenmarc]

18. I'm with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa on this one.

[Captain Hilts]

19. It's not what she said - that's her opinion - but the way she said it. Low class. About all of them,

especially since she got her start on a talent show and is hosting one of her own.

[Stevenmarc]

20. Nonsense, if anyone was wrong it was the reporter.

She had a right to be insulted, she was there to be interviewed not chit chat about yesterdays news.

[Captain Hilts]

21. It's not about this reporter. It's a pattern for her. She's trashed a great many other singers. nt

[alphadog]

23. Ah, Dame Kiri

what can your murdering of the My Fair Lady score be considered other than a "whiz bang" moment?

[Guilded Lilly]

24. Too bad you are not as gracious Ms. Diva...

as your voice appears to be lovely.

[Captain Hilts]

25. That's the point. It's okay if she doesn't like all these other singers. Everyone

has different tastes. That's okay.

But why someone who is successful would trash so many comparative newcomers is really, really bad form.

Then there's the hypocrisy factor of her start in music.

[Iggo]

26. I've never heard either of these women sing one friggin' note...

...which makes this even more fascinating!!!

[Captain Hilts]

27. I think you must be one of four people left on The Planet We Call 'Earth' who hasn't heard Boyle.

Keep the streak going!

[Iggo]

28. I shall do my best.

B-)

[Captain Hilts]

29. Look out Kiri...here comes La Boyle: Boyle to head to New Zealand:

http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/susan-boyle-perform-in-nz-3580756

[dmallind]

30. She is right

I have only heard a snippet of Boyle but the parallel to the tenor a couple years back on the same show (Paul sopmething I think) is clear.

People who don't listen to or understand opera happen to hear somebody singing "like that" and think "gosh she's good".

They then bring it up to people who do understand it and say "hey you're an opera fan (or performer) listen to this guy he's great"

Opera buff does so and either politely or impolitely points out the massive gulf between a good singer and a good trained singer by noting the difference in legato, breathing, tonality, rubato, whatever it is.

People who think so and so is great get all huffy about elitism

It's just the same as thinking the guy down at the Y has a great jump shot and then being offended when Ray Allen laughs at you for comparing the two. But it's OK to point out why a pro athlete is better than a clubhouse champ. For some reason it's elitist to say the same about a singer.

Susan Boyle sings better than 99% of people on earth and far better than pop-schlock dreck of the moment. But she'd not get three notes into a first tier opera company before hearing "sorry - scholarship program auditions were last week".

[Captain Hilts]

31. Boyle isn't an opera singer and doesn't seem interested in it. So the question is moot.

I had dinner with some chorus and voice instructors about a week after the Boyle video hit the Internet. Listening to them talk about the clip was like listening to baseball pitchers talk about pitching. I understood some of it, but not all of it. They said the way she finished notes - instead of dropping them as is common nowadays - was excellent as was her breathing. They noted where she cheated on the lower notes to ensure she hit the higher ones but said it was clear she didn't need to do that and so forth.

Above all, they said that to sing that well under such adverse circumstances - having been insulted by all three judges prior to singing - she controlled her voice very well. And performed well considering how little instruction she'd had in her life. Her neighbor said he'd heard her practicing her scales daily for 20years.

Boyle is a very good, Broadway style singer, not an opera singer, and that's good enough. Potts is a so-so opera singer. Boyle's better at what she does than he is at what he does. That's okay. Most folks don't like opera or sing it. Different strokes for different folks.

But Kiri's comments - about Boyle and a host of other singers - are low class.

[dmallind]

32. Which is rather te Kanawa's point I suspect