Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has delighted audiences around the world for decades. Watch one of the outstanding sopranos of her generation talk to Sir John Tusa about her extraordinary career.

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Te Kanawa was born in Gisborne, New Zealand. She was educated at Saint Mary's College, Auckland, and began her singing training there as a mezzo-soprano. She won the Mobil Song Quest and the Melbourne Sun-Aria contest and enrolled at the National Opera Studio, where she received classical training as a soprano. Her sensational performance as Countess Almaviva at the Royal Opera House in 1971 launched an international career as one of the greatest lyric sopranos of her generation. In addition to performing lead roles in all of the major opera houses she has appeared in concert with the world's leading conductors and orchestras and has an extensive discography.

Te Kanawa has received numerous awards and accolades, including honorary doctorates from more than ten universities, the Order of Australia, the Order of New Zealand and a DBE. She founded the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, which provides financial and career scholarships to young New Zealand singers and musicians. She became Patron of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World (2011), returning in 2013. In autumn 2013 she made a guest appearance on the television series 'Downton Abbey' as Dame Nellie Melba.

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