Do we like them?

Do we like Dame Kiri Te Kanawa?

Our score: 7 out of 10. Decent record and a long run of backing young singers, but my reading was thinner than usual, so it stops short of the top end.

Dame Kiri is the soprano New Zealand points to when someone asks who put the country on the opera map. In March 2024 Parliament joined as one to recognise decades of achievements for her 80th birthday, a pretty rare thing in a house that rarely agrees on lunch.

That same day she sang in public for the first time in about eight years, joining former student Kawiti Waetford for Pokarekare Ana. She had said in 2017 that she would never sing in public again, so it was a proper moment, and an unplanned one.

The best-known stoush on record is legal, not moral. A promoter sued after she pulled out of John Farnham concerts in 2005, with talk of fans throwing underwear in the mix. A Sydney judge dismissed the case in 2007, so on the record she came out on top.

On the harm check, I looked for anything said or done against LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants, public health or the planet. Nothing turned up. She has also never been a culture-war figure. I'll be straight that I couldn't open full articles this time, so this rests on search results and not deep reading.

The good stuff is her foundation, which backs up-and-coming New Zealand singers with mentoring and money, and which has become the name behind the national Song Quest competition. Since she stopped performing it has been the centre of her public life, and that's more than most retired stars bother with.

Nothing new has surfaced on her lately beyond the foundation's work. So the verdict is simple: a bit of diva sharpness at most, no pattern of harm, and a lot of effort for the next generation. We'd happily put her on the playlist.