“Over the next several months, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, among operadom’s most beloved voices, will be singing on what is being billed as her farewell tour. … But Dame Kiri, as she prefers to be called, is having none of it. Reached by phone recently, the exquisitely preserved 63-year-old soprano immediately sets to correcting any impressions that a reporter may have had that this is her goodbye.”