Hayley Dee Westenra (born 10 April 1987) is a New Zealand classical crossover singer. Her first internationally released album, Pure, reached number one on the UK classical charts in 2003 and has sold more than two million copies worldwide, making it one of the fastest selling albums in her country's history.
She is one of the youngest UNICEF Ambassadors to date.
Westenra has sung in English, Māori, Irish, Welsh, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Portuguese, Latin, Japanese, Standard Mandarin Chinese, Catalan, and Taiwanese Hokkien.
Early life Westenra was born on 10 April 1987 at Christchurch Women's Hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand. Her parents, Gerald and Jill Westenra, have other children. Her sister Sophie is an academic and teaches law at Oxford. Westenra's grandmother Shirley Ireland was a singer, and her grandfather was a pianist who also played the piano accordion. She has Irish, Dutch and English heritage.
She began performing at age six in the Christmas play at her school, Fendalton Open Air School. After the show, a teacher said she was "pitch perfect" and encouraged Westenra to learn how to play a musical instrument; soon after she learned to read music and play the violin, piano, guitar, and recorder. She then began voice lessons and discovered a passion for musical theatre. By age 11, she had performed more than 40 times on stage, and was often given male parts. Westenra attended Cobham Intermediate School in 1998 and 1999, where a performing arts building was later named in her honour.
Career 2000–2002: Debut At the age of 12, Westenra entered a professional recording studio to record Walking in the Air, a demo album originally created for friends and family, with 70 copies made; they soon made 1000 more copies, and attracted attention from a journalist with Canterbury Television, who asked Westenra to appear on air. Gray Bartlett, the director of a concert promotion company, saw the show and shortly after, she was offered a recording deal with Universal Records New Zealand. On that label, Westenra, who in the meantime was attending Burnside High School, with Callum Scott, released a self-titled album of show tunes and light classical songs, as well as My Gift to You, a CD of Christmas music. Following the success of her albums, she was offered and later received lessons from Malvina Major.
2003–2004: Pure Westenra attracted worldwide attention when she signed with Decca Records and recorded Pure, a CD of classical, light pop, and traditional Māori songs. Pure became the fastest-selling international debut album in the history of the UK classical chart, with 19,068 copies purchased in its first week alone, quickly reached No. 1 on the British charts, and entered the UK Album Chart at number 8. Over two million copies of Pure have been sold to date. In New Zealand, Pure has been certified 12 times platinum, making her the best-selling artist, regardless of genre, in the country's history. In 2004 Westenra recorded the end-title song for the Disney movie Mulan II. They also featured her in the national Radio Disney music education tour for middle-school students. Later that year, she was featured in the song "Bridal Ballad" recorded for the movie The Merchant of Venice.
Westenra was the 2004 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards winner of "Highest Selling New Zealand Album" and "International Achievement Award". On 20 February 2004, Prime Minister Helen Clark awarded her for being the first New Zealand artist to receive the tenfold platinum status in the New Zealand market, where she held the number one artist position for 18 weeks. She has won two Japanese Grammies for her work (Song of the Year, "Amazing Grace" and Album of the Year, Pure). Her version of Amazing Grace was used as the theme song for the popular Japanese drama, Shiroi Kyotō (The White Tower). Westenra met the cast of the series during a promotional tour of Japan in October 2003.
Also in 2004, she began her world tour of New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the UK and the US, performing in a concert in November for Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Charles, Prince of Wales, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and President George W. Bush. In her autobiography, she remembered feeling more nervous in an audition where she sight read to Andrew Lloyd Webber an unreleased piece that he had written.
After her world tour, Westenra recorded a live DVD, Hayley Westenra: Live from New Zealand, featuring duets with baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes and soprano Sophie Westenra in St. James Theatre. David Horn, the producer of her live TV special, which aired on the PBS program Great Performances, said, "Her singing is so gorgeous, it's reminiscent of the great boy-soprano sound of Anglican church choirs." She joined the Boston Pops Orchestra as guest soloist for their Christmas tour at the end of 2004.
2005–2007: Odyssey; touring with Il Divo; Treasure; and Celtic Woman On 5 September 2006, Westenra was named as one of the ten outstanding young people in the world by the Junior Chamber International, becoming the first New Zealander so honoured."Hayley Westenra 'outstanding young person of the world'", The New Zealand Herald, 5 September 2006. Lexis Nexis. Susquehanna University. 4 January 2008. On 13 November 2006, she participated in the dedication of the New Zealand War Memorial in London, performing "God Save the Queen" and "God Defend New Zealand", the national anthems of the UK and New Zealand. Three of Westenra's great-uncles served in World War II; one was killed.
In August 2006, Westenra joined Celtic Woman and is featured on their second major DVD/CD album, Celtic Woman: A New Journey, which was released 30 January 2007 and immediately hit the Billboard Top 200 music chart at number four. She toured with the group in the United States in 2007, with scheduled appearances in 88 venues across the country; the tour ended in June. During this time, Westenra alternated with Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, who had recently returned from maternity leave, to maintain a five-member line-up. She considered that the toughest tour she had been on to date, and wrote in her second biography that she preferred having control of her own schedule as a solo performer.
Westenra's third international album, Treasure, was released on 26 February 2007 in the UK. All the songs on this CD were chosen by Westenra, who gave her record company "no say in the matter." She said, "I basically didn't let them in on what I was recording until the last minute so they had no choice. I didn't give them much room to disagree.""Hayley Westenra in charge of her career", The New Zealand Herald, 28 April 2007. Lexis Nexis. Susquehanna University. 25 May 2007.
Tracks on this album include "E Pari Ra", "One Fine Day", "Let Me Lie", "Danny Boy", and "Abide with Me". Westenra co-wrote four of the fifteen tracks, and the album also features singer Humphrey Berney. The US/Australia/NZ edition followed in March under the name Celtic Treasure. Westenra dedicated the album to her grandmother, Shirley Ireland. Inside the sleeve of the British edition, she wrote: "I come from a musical family, and one with a real sense of history. My forefathers were on the maiden voyage from Ireland to Christchurch, New Zealand in 1850 – there's even a commemoration plaque in Cathedral Square, Christchurch, which bears the name Westenra. My grandmother used to sit me on her knee and sing songs like Danny Boy from as early as I can remember. A singer herself in her earlier years, she has always been a never-ending source of songs. It's this legacy of music that she's been passing down to me since my childhood, and it's many of these beautiful old songs that I've explored here on my album."
On the day before St. Patrick's Day 2007, she performed as part of Celtic Woman for President George W. Bush at the White House."UCJ to target Aussies and Kiwis for latest Hayley Westenra album." Music Week (17 March 2007): 20. InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. Susquehanna University. 23 May 2007. She had plans to present the president with a petition to place a mandatory carbon cap on the United States. The goal of the petition was compliance with the commitment made by President Bill Clinton in previous years to follow the Kyoto Protocol.
Also in 2007, Westenra's vocals were featured in the soundtracks of the movie Flood and the television series, Jekyll, composed by Debbie Wiseman, in the UK. In November 2007, Westenra successfully staged a Japan "Treasure" concert tour in Fukuoka, Sapporo, Tokyo, Sendai, Nagoya, Osaka, Yokohama, Hiroshima.
2008–2010: Hayley Sings Japanese Songs; and Paradiso In early 2008, Westenra provided guest vocals for the Mike Oldfield album Music of the Spheres, performing the vocal on the track "On My Heart" and its reprise. Westenra and Oldfield performed "On My Heart" live on the British ITV daytime TV program The Alan Titchmarsh Show on 18 March 2008.
On 1 October 2008, Westenra recorded solo vocals on the CD Different Voice, composed and conducted by Debbie Wiseman and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with narration by Stephen Fry and lyrics written by Don Black. On 30 November 2008, Westenra was presented by Elaine Paige with the Variety Club Showbiz Awards 2008 Classical Performer of the Year for raising money to help sick, disabled and disadvantaged children and young people.
In the spring and summer of 2010, Westenra began working with film composer Ennio Morricone for a collaboration on her album Paradiso. The album featured new songs written by Morricone, as well as some of his best known film compositions of the last 50 years. Westenra recorded the album with Morricone's orchestra in Rome during the summer 2010.
On 30 October 2010, Westenra staged a recital at the Shanghai Grand Theatre with international backing musicians in an East Asian concert tour.
2011–present: Various concerts and the China Tour On Memorial Day, 29 May 2011, Westenra was invited to perform for the annual PBS special, the National Memorial Day Concert live in Washington, D.C. She performed the song "Pie Jesu" following the emotional story of a woman who had never met her father, who died in the Vietnam War, but got to know him many years later through a soldier who had fought alongside him. On 22 July, Westenra was among artists performing with the BBC Concert Orchestra in an American West-themed show on the BBC radio concert programme Friday Night Is Music Night.
On 23 October 2011, Westenra performed the New Zealand national anthem "God Defend New Zealand" at Eden Park in Auckland before the final of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and also performed the traditional New Zealand song "Now Is the Hour" to bring the event to a close.
In October 2011, Songs of Praise broadcast "Whispers in a Dream" and "Amazing Grace" performed by Westenra in Salisbury Cathedral. On 31 October 2011, Westenra was featured on André Rieu's classical music album And the Waltz Goes On with the vocal track "Dreaming of New Zealand".
To promote Paradiso, Westenra embarked on the Paradiso Homecoming Tour from 17 September 2011 to 8 March 2012. On 12 March 2012, Westenra attended a reception for celebrating the achievements of inspirational women today the event held by the Duchess of Cornwall to mark Commonwealth Day. On 22 April 2012, Westenra staged a debut concert at the Koncerthuset in Copenhagen and on 14 June, Westenra staged a concert with RTÉ Concert Orchestra and David Brophy at National Concert Hall in Dublin.
In April 2013, Westenra staged a Far East tour in Taipei, Tainan, Kaohsiung and performed with Chinese tenor DinYi in Beijing. On 30 November and 1 December 2013, Westenra staged a concert with City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir and the Hong Kong Treble Choir in Hong Kong.
On 29 April 2014, Westenra was one of the performers at Classic FM Live in Royal Albert Hall London.
Performances
2000s