Hayley Westenra returning home for Xmas

Hayley Westenra has just released a Christmas album and after a concert tour of England's cathedrals and abbeys, she will return to New Zealand to spend the festive season with her family. RACHEL PINDER of NZPA caught up with her.

Christmas shopping in London is a whole different experience to sweltering in the New Zealand sunshine, as Hayley Westenra found out when she moved to the big smoke two years ago.

"When I experienced my first run-up to Christmas in England, I realised this is how it should be. It's like all the scenes on the Christmas cards that we hand out in New Zealand. It feels right being here for the run-up to Christmas," she said.

"For now, London is the place for me. Just because it's a great place to work from, it's very central and my record company Universal is based here. I like the city as well, it's a fun city to be living in. It just makes sense all round," she said.

Westenra has had some amazing experiences and opportunities since moving to the northern hemisphere, including performing for British troops in Iraq and dueting with Dame Vera Lynn -- the duo performed her war-time hit We'll Meet Again during a colourful ceremony at London's Horse Guards Parade last month.

"Performing at the festival of remembrance and paying tribute to the wonderful Dame Vera Lynn was definitely a highlight for me. It was just really amazing to have that opportunity to pay tribute to her and everyone at the Royal Albert Hall got to their feet at the end of the performance and acknowledged her. She's a remarkable woman, very inspiring," she said.

Westenra released her first album, Pure, in the UK when she was just 16.

"I was very much a Kiwi girl when I first came over to England. Everyone really took to my music which is fantastic, and because I've been basing myself here in London I have a strong connection with the UK, and I've done a lot of touring and made all my albums here," she said.

Her latest album Christmas Magic has been released just in time for the festive season.

"I made a Christmas album in New Zealand when I was 14. I'm now 22, and for the last few years I've really wanted to make an album like this. I recorded it this summer. It was quite easy choosing the songs, and I'd already been compiling a list of songs I wanted to record," she said.

It includes old favourites like Silent Night and The Little Drummer Boy. Westenra also wrote three of her own songs for the album, and recorded a duet with Ronan Keating, It's Only Christmas.

"All the girls in my family are Ronan Keating fans. So when I was invited to record this track with him, it was an opportunity I couldn't really turn down. He's got a wonderful voice and he's just a really nice person. We share the same record label so that made things easier. "It was really great working with him and we just recently performed the new duet live at his annual charity ball in London, for the Marie Keating Foundation into cancer research. It was really wonderful to perform the song live there."

Westenra has a busy schedule of concerts lined up in England in the run-up to Christmas.

She will be performing an RAF Christmas carol concert in Liverpool tonight (DEC 10) in aid of forces children, before continuing her eight-date Winter Magic tour of cathedrals and abbeys around England.

"I've done a couple of concerts with the RAF band and orchestra over the past year and they're really fantastic musicians. I really enjoy it and it's quite a nice change from working with my regular band. So that should be fun. I've also got some TV appearances coming up, including a special broadcast to go out to the troops in time for Christmas," she said.

Westenra's feet have hardly touched the ground, and she has her sights set on recording a new album next year.

"A non-themed album," she laughed.

Westenra said she imagined herself going back to live in New Zealand one day, as she confessed British winters don't suit her.

Once she's finished her cathedral and abbeys tour, she'll be heading back to New Zealand to spend Christmas with her family in Christchurch.

"I can't really imagine being away from them at that time of the year. I'm really excited about going home and I'll be back for just over a month." She will also be doing a show while back in New Zealand at Black Barn Winery in Hawke's Bay on January 22.