Kiri Te Kanawa Quotes & Sayings

“I really believe I've been a good person. Not perfect - forget about perfect - but just learning by what I was taught and living by my own values. I might have stepped on a few ants - and a few other things as well - but I've never hurt anybody.”

“I used to suffer from a lot of regret while touring. Regret at having to leave certain places, people and situations, or just a beautiful day.”

“I'm completely in charge of my own life now. Sometimes there's no one there to slap me on the hand and say: 'Stop being so bullish and bossy,' and things like that.”

“I grew up in the New Zealand countryside. We didn't have television until I was 14, so sing-alongs were our only entertainment.”

“I never had the influence of any other singer in my music, so I sounded like myself all the time.”

“I'm more confident now than I've ever been. As you get older, you have to be.”

“Opera is for a lifetime, not just a minute.”

“When I'm alone at home, I really prefer to listen to Wagner's orchestral music rather than any vocal music. I find it illuminating not to have to pay attention to voices in the recordings.”

“I only have so much energy, so something had to go. This is why, at the end of the day, I've preserved my sanity for the children and also manage to do my best at work.”

“I tell students, 'If you are learning from YouTube I almost don't want to teach you because what you learn from YouTube it takes 10 times as long to unlearn.' They do an approximation of the centre of the note, an approximation of the interpretation, a cloned version.”