If only everyone could turn 70 with the grace and charm of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa; reaching that milestone's positively reinvigorated her.
The Dame Kiri who held her Civic Theatre audience in thrall was daisy fresh. Having reached septuagenarian status she could be forgiven for being even a smidgen world-weary, she wasn't and, pray God, it'll be a long time before she is.
With Rotorua her start point for her transtasman birthday tour, Kiwi Kiri could as easily have been entertaining a small musical soiree as singing to a full house, so intimate was her interaction with the audience.
Entering without fanfare and with only polished pianist, Terence Dennis, to accompany her, Dame Kiri was given such an enthusiastic reception she asked if she was at the right concert. The applause that one remark engendered assured her she was.
Elegantly dressed down in white shirt and grey taffeta skirt, the audience was spared unnecessary heavy costume changes between brackets, setting the tone for a repertoire that was light opera rather than grand opera. Naturally many of the great composers featured including Handel (Se Pieta), Mozart (Chi Sa, Chi Sa, Qual Sia) and Puccini (Morire) but post- interval came numbers such as Scarborough Fair and Danny Boy to satisfy the non-opera buffs.