THE SOUTH BANK SHOW REVISITED: KIRI TE KANAWA
Sunday 16 MAY 2010 on ITV1
Nearing the end of The South Bank Show Revisited season, Melvyn Bragg meets up with the great New Zealand born soprano, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, in New York. Once again, she was appearing at The Metropolitan Opera.
Drawing mainly on a South Bank Show made about her in 1991, Kiri te Kanawa reflects on her early life as an adopted orphan, the place of Maori culture in her life and the enormous sacrifices her parents, in particular, her mother, made in order to support her. She talks of the pressures of life at the top, of her previous disillusionment with the world of opera and of her one-time desire to be "Tina Turner" rather than an operatic diva.
Kiri te Kanawa was the subject of two further South Bank Shows - excerpts from both are used in this new programme. The South Bank Show: Kiri at Christmas was transmitted in 1991. This was a concert filmed in Wellington New Zealand and The Royal Naval College, Greenwich . The South Bank Show: Kiri's 50th Birthday was transmitted in 1994. This was an extended programme which followed Kiri te Kanawa preparing for her birthday concert at The Royal Albert Hall and contained an edited version of the concert.
The final two films in The South Bank Show Revisited season are: Victoria Wood and a film on Arts film making to include interviews with Ken Russell and Tony Palmer. The South Bank Show Revisited – a final season to cherish.
Presented and edited by Melvyn Bragg
Executive Produced by Jonathan Levi
Produced and Directed by: Alan Benson
