She
speaks in this little voice with an unpretentious
laugh and a heavy New Zealand dialect.
But, when she opens her mouth to sing,
this glorious voice comes out, making one
wonder, “Where did that come from?”
Hayley Westenra has already been called “the
next Charlotte Church” in her native
country, which also produced opera diva
Kira de Kanawa.
And while performers usually fail to
live up to their hype, it should be worth
hearing Westernra sing at the McCallum
Theatre tonight if she’s half as
good as McCallum officials say she is.
Westenra, 15, will mix light classics
with the pop of Broadway composers
such as Andrew Lloyd Webber. That may
not be the type of material young listeners
are clamoring for, but having a teenager
interpret that type of music gives
it an accessibility to teens that older
performers often can’t provide.
The McCallum is meeting its mission
of expanding the audience for our
culture by having a young proponent
give us her take on it. Tickets:
340-ARTS
