Hayley Westenra, accompanied by James Hayto, on the Richard Oliff show. Wednesday 24th August 2011
Discussing the impending UK release of the album Paradiso: a collaboration with Ennio Morricone
The full interview can be heard at http://soundcloud.com/richardoliff/hayley-westenra-interviewed
FACT FILE
Hayley's debut international album PURE went straight in at No.8 in the UK pop album charts and No.1 in the Classical Charts, making her the fastest-selling debut classical artist of all time. The album turned GOLD in the UK in one week and has since hit DOUBLE PLATINUM. In December 2007 it was announced Hayley Westenra was the biggest selling Classical artist of the 21st Century.
PURE went on to be the best selling album of all time in New Zealand, becoming 12 times Platinum and spending 18 weeks in the pop charts. It also went Platinum in Australia, Gold in Hong Kong and made the top 10 national pop charts in 11 countries.
Along with her second album Odyssey, third album Treasure, West Side Story, Celtic Woman, River of Dreams, Winter Magic and Japanese Songs Hayley has achieved combined sales of well over four million albums around the world.
Hayley has performed for Her Majesty the Queen on a number occasions as well as Kings, Princes, Princesses, Presidents, Prime Ministers around the world.
Hayley is the youngest ever Ambassador for UNICEF. Her Bikes for Ghana' campaign was a huge success providing over 6,000 bikes to help young Ghanaian girls attend school and find a better future. Hayley revisited Ghana in 2008 to continue her work with UNICEF, this time launching a new water pumps project. She has also been an Ambassador for Save the Children, Hong Kong, is a patron of the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre in Auckland, and is Matron of WEN (Women's Environmental Network). In 2009, Hayley was made Vice President of Dame Vera Lynn Trust for Children with Cerebral Palsy.
Hayley has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Wembley Stadium, Royal Albert Hall, The White House and Kensington Palace. Hayley sang at Capitol Hill, Washington as part of 2008 official Fourth of July celebrations.
Hayley has duetted with Andrea Bocelli, José Carreras and Bryn Terfel. She has also appeared as a special guest with the World's leading orchestra's including the Moscow Philharmonic, The Boston Pops and the RPO.
Hayley's Film and TV work has been extensive. She took her first acting role on the US programme American Dreams where she played guitar and sang. In 2005 she recorded the theme for Al Pacino's 'Merchant of Venice', two films for Disney, and Terrence Mallick's motion picture soundtrack for 'New World'. In July 2007 Hayley recorded the theme for the BBC's six part drama series, 'Jekyll' (starring James Nesbitt) and for 'Flood' (ITV film starring Robert Carlyle, David Suchet).
Hayley has performed the relevant national anthems before many major sporting events, including Football (the FA Cup Final, The European Champions League), Baseball (the NBA in the US), Tennis (the Mercedes Cup in Los Angeles) -- but her proudest duty is to sing the national anthem for her beloved All Blacks rugby team, who always win when she opens for them.
In Oct 2007 at the age of 20 years Hayley released her 2nd autobiography "In Her Own Voice".
In 2008 Hayley's tour in New Zealand sold out in record time.
In February 2008, Hayley was awarded Global Kiwis Young Achiever Award 2008. The Award was established to recognise a young Kiwi under the age of 35, at the start of their career, who has made remarkable achievements in their field of endeavour in the UK achieving recognition on at least a national scale if not on a European or global scale.
Hayley performed at and was nominated for Best Album at the Classical Brit Awards 2008.
In September 2008 Hayley was asked to perform at Andrew Lloyd Webbers 60th Birthday celebrations in Hyde Park London.
October 2008 saw Hayley launch the Poppy Appeal live from Basra, Iraq and then go on to perform at Festival of Remembrance at the Albert Hall in the presence of HM The Queen. Following the launch, The Royal British
Legion received an Award in recognition of the trip at the CIPR Awards 2009.
2009 saw a sell out UK Valentines Tour, Japanese Tour and New Zealand Tour. Hayley was also drafted in to open the World Games at a ceremony in Taiwan -- performing to millions.
Hayley and Dame Vera Lynn launched the Poppy Appeal 2009 at the Horseguards Parade, where they sang "We'll Meet Again" together. Hayley proudly performed "We'll Meet Again" at the Royal Albert Hall in the presence of HM The Queen and Dame Vera Lyn at the Festival of Remembrance 2009.
Loading...
4:07
CloseUp-HW-WM.wmvby cantab1111,676 views
The album PARADISO by HAYLEY WESTENRA is no. 1 in the UK classical charts and no.13 in the UK overall charts this week! (11th September 2011).
radiodick69 5 months ago
do you have anymore of this interview? ive been looking for it and you seem to be the only source. let me know please
vxmpzre 6 months ago
@vxmpzre: I'm sorry: the full interview is audio only as the whole thing was for radio broadcast. The full interview may be found by clicking the link in the description above. All the best, R
radiodick69 6 months ago