Kiri Te Kanawa performing in Auckland last year. Photo from the New Zealand Herald.
Dame Kiri (65), told the Daily Telegraph in London yesterday she was leaving the operatic stage because the discipline was "exhausting".
She said she would not give up singing and would maintain her touring concert schedule.
During the coming months, she will perform in Australia, China, Spain and the United States.
"I'm extremely busy with all sorts of things," she told the Telegraph.
Much of her time is spent training what she calls the future stars of opera, through the Solti Academy and her Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation.
Next month, she will bring three of her singers to London to perform with her at the Tower Festival, a 12-day musical and arts event at the Tower of London.
