Dame Kiri sells at $l00

Press, 15 October 1982, Page 3

Dame Kiri sells at $l00

PA Auckland Nine hundred seats — at $lOO each — were sold the day bookings opened this week for Dame Kiri Te Kanawa’s two Auckland concerts in January. More than $500,000 is expected to be raised through the concerts toward the Aotea Centre for the Performing Arts. The two concerts, on January 5 and 7, will be the first New Zealand performances by Dame Kiri since 1975. Groups from Invercargill, Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Palmerston North, and Wanganui have made block bookings, and Air New Zealand’s Sydney office has asked for 50 tickets. None of the 100 $l5OO

sponsorship packages have been sold yet. They include two best seats to one of the concerts and invitations to a cocktail party with Dame Kiri.

The programme, with the Auckland Regional Orchestra, is not being released at Dame Kiri Te Kanawa’s request until the night before the concert.

Part of the ticket price may be tax deductible if a proposal before the Government is approved. A spokesman for the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Aotea Centre Trust said that the trust had applied for charitable status, and because of the nature of the two concerts part of the ticket price may become tax deductible.