Hayley Westenra supports Il Divo

HAYLEY WESTENRA is currently supporting Il Divo on their world tour.  During the UK leg, ClassicalX’s guest reporter Cate Wells headed off to Birmingham to see if the recently turned 19 year old singing sensation from New Zealand was able to leave her mark as ‘the Divo diva’.

No fanfare or excited presenter introducing the artist in an excited manner, the lights dimmed and a slim figure walked onto the stage and started to sing.   Being my first live concert, my first reaction was that Hayley has a voice so pure, yet so powerful and far richer than I expected.

From the opening song She Moves Through the Fair, I entered into 30 minutes of pure magic. It began with a performance of her new track The Water is Wide (taken from her album ‘Odyssey - the tour edition’) that was then followed by the Jodi Mitchell classic Both Sides Now.

By now I was enthralled.

Scarborough Fair was followed by Amazing Grace and was performed completely unaccompanied, something I have never seen a classicalx artist do in concert before. Hayley delivered this familiar hymn in a way that it should be, sung simply and with sincerity.

The song that has almost become her theme Pokarekare Ana was performed as always in a delightful manner and then, all too soon the last song Across the Universe of Time was over.

Hayley Westenra exceeded all my expectations.   Her voice has a purity that is rare, and there are no exaggerated movements either. The high notes are delivered the same as normal range, effortlessly.

A wonderful performance, she truly owned the stage and that audience before it. Hayley Westenra is in a league of her own and at just 19 years old she has a lifetime ahead to bring us her magic.

'Odyssey - the Special Tour Edition' is out now.

Added: May 1st 2006
Reviewer: Cate Wells
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