Kiri Te Kanawa was born in New Zealand and was singing publicly from the age of six. She travelled to London on a four year scholarship to study at the London Opera Centre. As a result of student performances in London and later small-scale but prestigious appearances, her voice caught the attention of Sir Colin Davis who was about to present his first major production at the Royal Opera House, and invited her to sing the leading soprano role. That debut, as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro (1971) was a sensation, and Te Kanawa rapidly moved into the front rank of international music stars.

Besides opera, she developed as an accomplished recitalist, concert soloist and recording artist, and has become one of the most sought after performers in the music world.

A familiar figure in the major opera houses of four continents, Kiri Te Kanawa performs a large repertoire of lyric soprano heroines by Strauss, Verdi, Gounod, Mozart, Puccini, Tchaikovsky and Bizet. On the concert platform, she appears constantly with the principal orchestras of Britain, Europe, Asia and Australasia, and her ease with cameras and recording studios has brought her art to enormous audiences both within and without the classical musical genre.

In addition to complete operas, Te Kanawa's recordings include aria collections from Bizet, French and Italian selections, song cycles by Berlioz, DuParc and Ravel, and the famous Songs of the Auvergne albums, which topped the best-seller charts in Britain. Recently, the album "Maori Songs" was released to much acclaim.

Her operatic performances on video include Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Fledermaus, Manon Lescaut, Otello, Arabella and Capriccio.

Kiri Te Kanawa holds honorary doctorates from ten universities and is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music. Kiri was awarded the title of Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1982 and in 1990, she received the Order of Australia and in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours List, the prestigious Order of New Zealand.

Dame Kiri continues to perform in opera houses and at concert engagements all over the world. Forthcoming highlights will include the Gala Concert on 28th February 2004 in Auckland, to launch The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, a charity which aims to give support and financial aid to dedicated New Zealand singers and musicians.

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Conductor Julian Reynolds enjoys an international career in the operatic and concert repertoire.  Most recent seasons’ succeses have included engagements at the Netherlands Opera for Il barbiere di Siviglia and Norma, which is available in DVD format on Opus Arte, in Sankt Gallen for Tosca, Norma, and Hänsel und Gretel, at the Grand Théâtre de la Ville in Luxembourg with Il barbiere di Seviglia, and acclaimed performances of Puccini’s Il trittico in Modena, Ferrara, and Piacenza.  He will make his debut at Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Bruxelles with Il cappello di paglia di Firenze followed by Maria Stuarda, and will open the new auditorium of the Puccini Festival (Torre del Lago) with a new production of Tosca.

In 1986, Julian Reynolds was appointed Assistant Music Director at the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam, conducting Bluebeard’s Castle, Mitridate, Le nozze di Figaro, L’italiana in Algeri, Luisa Miller, and L’elisir d’amore, among others.  During his tenure at the Netherlands Opera, he worked with other presenters in the country, most notably in productions of Madama Butterfly and Prihody Lisky Bistrousky (Cunning Little Vixen) with Opera Zuid, and semi-staged performances of Norma and Die lustige Witwe at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Maestro Reynolds made his German debut with Otello at the Staatstheater Stuttgart, followed by a new production of Luisa Miller with the Staatstheater Mainz, and Gianni Schicchi in Luxembourg.  He has been a regular guest conductor with the Kirov Opera in the Maryinsky Theatre St. Petersburg, making his debut with the company conducting La traviata, and went on to lead a new production of Verdi’s Don Carlos, followed by Samson et Dalila, and the Kirov’s first ever production of Le nozze di Figaro. 

Maestro Reynolds made his North of American debut at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto with L’italiana in Algeri in Toronto.  In the same season he made his Wexford Opera Festival debut with Weinberger’s Svanda dudák, the recording of which is available on Naxos.  He has led Gianni Schicchi in Luxemburg, Carmen at both the Teatro Regio di Parma and at the Arena di Verona, and Adelina at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, and made his debut on the Sankt Gallen podium with La Cenerentola followed quickly by Otello, and conducted Lucrezia Borgia at the Festivales de Musica de Castillon.

Enjoying an extensive symphonic repertoire, Maestro Reynolds has been a guest conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Australian Chamber Orchestra, Aukland Philharmonia, Dutch Radio Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, , Melbourne International Festival, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, and the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where he led his own orchestration of Lieder by Alma Mahler, which he recorded with soprano Charlotte Margiono on the Globe label.

An active recital accompanist, Maestro Reynolds has worked extensively with Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Susan Graham, and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, both in recital and as conductor.

Meastro Reynolds’ discography includes recordings of Rossini Overtures, Ravel’s Ma Mère l’Oye Saint-Saens’ Le Carnaval des animaux and several Rossini rarities, for Globe Records.  As a pianist he has recorded the complete works for piano and violin of Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann with violinist Johannes Leertouwer.

Julian Reynolds was born in London in 1962.  He studied piano with Albert Ferber and Noretta Conci, and at the Vienna Hochschule für Musik.  At the age of 18 he became pianist with the European Community Youth Orchestra (ECYO), where he assisted Claudio Abbado and Leonard Bernstein.  He made his solo recital debut at Wigmore Hall London and, was a finalist in the 1984 Ferruccio Busoni Competition in Bolzano. After receiving his degree in History, Musicology and Analysis from Kings College London University, he studied conducting at Guildhall School of Music and later in Vienna.  As conductor of the European Chamber Orchestra Per Musica, Maestro Reynolds toured Europe appearing at the Pesaro Rossini Festival, the Evian Festival and London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, recording extensively with the ensemble.

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