"Kiri proclaimed new star" was the Herald headline on a report about soprano Kiri Te Kanawa's debut at Covent Garden in December 1971.
Her performance as the Countess in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro made critics reach for the superlatives.
First among them was Andrew Porter of the Financial Times who said Kiri was "such a Countess Almaviva as I have never heard before, not at Covent Garden, nor in Salzburg, or Vienna, at once young, full throated, a singer of great accomplishment and a vivid character."
She went on to become one of the greatest stars in opera history, singing at all the great opera houses and being the soloist at the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer in 1981.
With hindsight, she is our New Zealander of the Year for 1971.
