Kiri Te Kanawa

Dame Kiri Janette Te Kanawa ONZ DBE AC (pronounced /ˌkɪri tᵻ ˈkɑːnəwə/; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a New Zealand soprano who has had a successful international opera career since 1968. She possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced".

Te Kanawa has received accolades in many countries abroad, singing a wide array of works in multiple languages from the 17th to the 20th centuries. She is particularly associated with the works of Mozart, Strauss, Verdi, Handel and Puccini, and has found particular success in portraying princesses, noble countesses and other similar characters on stage.

Although she now only rarely sings in operas, Te Kanawa still frequently performs in concert and recital, while giving masterclasses and supporting young opera singers in launching their careers.

Personal life

Te Kanawa was born as Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron in Gisborne on New Zealand's North Island. She has Māori and European ancestry, but little is known about her birth parents, as she was adopted as an infant by Thomas Te Kanawa, a Māori, and his wife, Nell. She was educated at Saint Mary's College Auckland and formally trained in operatic singing by Dame Sister Mary Leo, DBE, RSM. Te Kanawa began her singing career as a mezzo-soprano, but later developed into a soprano. Her recording of the "Nuns' Chorus" from the Strauss operetta Casanova was New Zealand's first gold record.

Te Kanawa

There are at least four different people called Te Kanawa.

Te Kanawa, ancestor of Ngāti Te Kanawa

One is the ancestor of the Ngāti Te Kanawa iwi of the Tainui confederation of iwi. He was born before 1700 and lived in Hangatiki.

Te Kanawa of Ngāti Maniapoto

Another was a chief of the Ngāti Maniapoto, another Tainui iwi. He was alive in the early 19th century. Te Kanawa was a warlord of Maniapoto; he settled disputes with a taiaha within Tainui or outside Tainui. Some of these disputes were boundary disputes, hence the Ngāti Hari connection. The boundary line between Tūwharetoa and Maniapoto and the marae Hia Kaitupeka by Taumarunui. He is represented by an amo on their carved meeting house.

Te Kanawa of Ngati Katoa

Another was a chief of the Ngāti Katoa. He was killed in the campaign known as Putu-karekare (or Patu-karekare, or Te Karekaernga), which was fought at Kawhia in the time when Ngāti Katoa were the tangata whenua. This was before Te Rauparaha had left Kawhia around 1820.

Jackie Stewart

Sir John Young "Jackie" Stewart, OBE (born 11 June 1939) is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. Nicknamed the "Flying Scot", he competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships, and twice runner-up, over those nine seasons. He also competed in Can-Am. In 2009 he was ranked fifth of the fifty greatest Formula One drivers of all time by journalist Kevin Eason who wrote: "He has not only emerged as a great driver, but one of the greatest figures of motor racing."

He is well known in the United States as a color commentator (pundit) of racing television broadcasts having worked in that role in the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix from 1971 to 1986. In 1976 Stewart became the play-by-play announcer for the 1976 Winter and 1976 Summer Olympics, and he served as host of the Indianapolis 500 coverage for ABC's Wide World of Sports and ABC Sports, from 1982 to 1984. He has also been a spokesman for Ford, Rolex and Moët.

Jackie Stewart (football manager)

Jackie Stewart was a Scottish football player and manager.

Stewart played as a wing half for junior club Shettleston, then went senior with Dundee and Airdrie in the 1950s and 1960s. Stewart left Airdrie to become manager of Albion Rovers.

He had his greatest success as manager of Dumbarton, taking them from relative obscurity to the quarter-final of the Scottish League Cup, and winning the Second Division of the Scottish Football League in the 1971–72 season. During the next season, he was recruited by St Johnstone to replace Willie Ormond, who had gone on to manage Scotland. St Johnstone struggled badly in the first season (1975–76) of the Premier Division under Stewart, and he left the club in February 1976. Stewart was then appointed manager of Airdrie three weeks later. He held that position until May 1978, when he resigned in protest at the club reducing his coaching staff. After finishing with the game, he went into the motor trade although he still did some scouting work for English clubs. He died relatively early in his forties.

Jackie Stewart (footballer, born 1929)

Jackie Stewart (23 January 1929 – 2004) was a Scottish football player. He played for Dunfermline Athletic, East Fife and Walsall. Stewart represented the Scottish League twice, in 1952.

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