Hayley Westenra at the Pavilion

There’s something about Hayley Westenra’s voice. It’s not just a beautiful voice. It’s a voice that moves you, gets inside of you because you feel it’s coming from a woman who has felt everything – love, joy, anger, despair – the whole range and then some. It soars and swoops as much as it ever did on her first international Number 1 album Pure, released in 2003 when she was just 15. Now, New Zealand born Hayley is 23 and the pureness of her tone is edged with experience, confidence and power.

The catalyst for her staggering development was working on her latest album 'Paradiso' in Rome with legendary film composer Ennio Morricone and his orchestra. Hayley left her native New Zealand aged 14 when she was signed internationally by Universal Records in the UK. Hayley says “With this album I feel I’ve grown a lot musically and I had a lot more to put into it emotionally. But the bottom line is I was working with a musical genius whose arrangements are out of this world and I had the opportunity to put lyrics to his amazing melodies.”

After being signed to Universal Records when she was just 14 her album Pure became the fastest selling international debut album in the history of the UK classical charts. Proceeding albums Odyssey (2005), Treasure (2007) and River of Dreams: The Very Best of Hayley Westenra (2008) – all showcased her sensational voice and won her international acclaim, selling over four million copies worldwide to date.