Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to receive Lifetime Achievement Award
The UK’s recorded music association, The BPI, today announced that The Classical BRIT Awards 2010 with NS&I will honour one of the most loved sopranos of the past century, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa with this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Taking place at the Royal Albert Hall on Thursday 13 May 2010, the 11th Annual Classical BRIT Awards with NS&I will be a glamorous and spectacular night of music, a tradition that started back in 2000.
Joining a custom set by previous Lifetime Achievement Award recipients including Plácido Domingo, José Carreras and Vernon Handley, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will bring the evening to its climax with a very special and memorable performance. Another highlight of the night will come from André Rieu who has just celebrated chart success with ‘Forever Vienna’, which entered the charts at number two this week. This and other performances, yet to be announced, will be broadcast on ITV1.
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa said, “I am very honoured and delighted to receive this award and look forward to being at the Royal Albert Hall this May.”
Co Chairmen of the Classical BRIT Awards Committee, Decca General Manager, Mark Wilkinson and Avie Records Director Barry McCann commented, "We are thrilled that Dame Kiri has accepted our invitation to receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in our 11th Anniversary Year. It is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest sopranos of our times who has befriended British audiences and helped to nurture new signing talent for so many years".
In the genre of Opera, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is a familiar figure in the leading opera houses of the world. Her operatic repertoire includes major heroines of the Austro-German school; Mozart’s Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Pamina (Die Zauberflote) and Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), Richard Strauss’ Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), Countess (Capriccio) and the title role in Arabella in addition to Italian roles such as Mimi (Puccini’s La Boheme), Violetta (Verdi’s La Traviata) and Elizabeth (Verdi’s Don Carlos) and the French roles of Marguerite (Gounod’s Faust) and Micaela (Bizet’s Carmen). Amongst her many defining moments, in 1990 Dame Kiri Te Kanawa recorded an extraordinary version of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story with José Carreras.
This Award comes at a pinnacle moment in Dame Kiri Te Kanawa’s career as she uses her lifetimes experience to nurture brand new talent. Not only does she have her own foundation helping young New Zealand students, but she also teaches each July at the Solti Te Kanawa Accademia in Italy as well as doing master classes around the world including the Met where she is currently performing and teaching. Shortly Dame Kiri Te Kanawa begins a nationwide search for an opera star of the future. The BBC Radio 2 Kiri Prize will look for real vocal talent that, through the medium of radio, will be judged solely on vocal talent alone. In fact, early in Dame Kiri Te Kanawa career, she herself won a radio competition, bringing her story full circle.
The BPI has further announced that sensational Dutch violinist André Rieu will be performing at the Awards this year. Rieu’s album, ‘Forever Vienna’, has made pop chart history with the highest charting classical album this century. André Rieu commented, “To be asked to perform on the Classical Brit Awards is such an honour. The Waltzes by Johann Strauss are such jewels... everyone of them is a masterpiece.. This man, Johann Strauss, will forever be THE Waltz King, and HE deserves to be Number One of all charts forever”.
Returning as host for her third consecutive year is the multi-talented musician, broadcaster and TV presenter Myleene Klass. Anchoring the ceremony with both style and genuine excitement each year, her biggest challenge will be acquiring an outfit more stunning than the last.
Also returning for their third year is the London Chamber Orchestra (LCO). LCO is the longest established professional chamber orchestra in the UK, founded in 1921 by Anthony Bernard, and premiering at the London home of Viscountess Nancy Astor. The LCO’s patron is HRH The Duchess of Cornwall who attended the Classical BRIT Awards in 2007 and 2009.
Nominations for The Classical BRIT Awards 2010 with NS&I will be revealed at the nominations launch on Monday 12 April 2010.
The Classical BRIT Awards was established in 2000 to recognise the outstanding achievements of classical musicians and the growth of classical music sales in the UK. The awards have proved their vital importance to the UK music industry with the huge impact the event has on records sales of those artists performing, winning and nominated.
NS&I is the sponsor of The Classical BRIT Awards for a 7th consecutive year.
Tim Mack, Head of Marketing and Communications at NS&I said: “We are proud to once again be part of this great musical event which benefits a good cause and celebrates the achievements of both long standing and fresh musical talent. Our support of The Classical BRIT Awards fits closely with the interests of many of our customers, who we know enjoy classical music.”
Tickets go on sale 9am Monday 15 February and are available from the Royal Albert Hall box office. Ticket prices remain the same as for the past six years and range from the most reasonable show only ticket at £20 to £250 for a full dinner/show experience.
For more information, visit classicalbrits.co.uk.