"... Opera is mainly for young people."

Nearly a month ago, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa announced the end of her opera career, saying "the work was "exhausting"". We only read about it just now in New Zealand's Herald on Sunday.

From the 70ies on Mrs. Te Kanawa has enjoyed the lovers of golden voice and thanks to recording will go on for our lifetime. In 1981 around 600 million people heard and saw her on TV singing at the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Spencer.

Let us assure you that this lady of mixed Irish and Maori descent was one of the finest Mozart singers ever. We always particularly liked her as the Contessa Rosina di Almaviva in Le nozze die Figaro.

Mrs. Te Kanawa will sing a penultimate opera performance playing La duchesse de Crakentorp at New York's Met and a last one at the Cologne Opera in Germany next April when she will do the "Marschallin" in Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier". Now while we can certainly see and hear the talent and the qualities in that opus, but this is still not our kind of music and therefor it seems improbable that we will take the pains of getting the tickets and travelling to Cologne.

We need not be afraid though for Mrs. Te Kanawa will go on singing and touring on the much quieter concert scene. In August she insisted that though she has not sung opera since 2004 she had never retired.

"The press retired me," as she told the Telegraph in London. "I have not been singing opera very much but I still sing a lot of concerts."

Kiri Te Kanawa made more remarks on sustainable and shortsighted strategies in singing. Go read yourself.