Authors: Hayley Westenra
Many of my albums are released under slightly different covers or names, or with slightly different track listings, in different territories around the world. Rather than listing dozens of marginally varying versions for each of my albums, I've chosen to give you details of the best-selling versions here. There simply is not enough space to list all of them, so, if you have a special edition of one of my albums that is not listed here, then please accept my apologies for its absence from the discography below. I'm still delighted that you bought it – and I hope that you are still enjoying listening to it!
Walking in the Air
This is my very first album, and was produced by my family in 2000. It was never on general release to the public. I used it as a demo to get my record contract with Universal Music New Zealand.
Tracks
Con te Partiro
La Luna Che Non C'e
Il Mare Calmo della Sera
Another Suitcase in Another Hall
Unexpected Song
Memory
Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again
The Mists of Islay
Walking in the Air
Pie Jesu
How Deep Is Your Love?
Groovy Kind of Love
Eternal Flame
Hayley Westenra
Released by Universal Music, New Zealand in 2001, this is my first professional album. Recorded in around a week, it was the launch pad for everything that has followed for me.
Tracks
Walking in the Air
Ave Maria (J S Bach)
Memory
All I Ask of You
Somewhere
The Mists of Islay
Ave Maria (Schubert)
Bright Eyes
Pie Jesu
Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again
I Dreamed a Dream
Love Changes Everything
God Defend New Zealand
Amazing Grace (Live with the Royal Scots Dragoon
Guards)
My Gift to You
This is the follow-up album to my eponymous professional debut. It was released in New Zealand by Universal Music New Zealand in November 2002. As you can see, many of the tracks have a Christmas theme to them. It was the last album that I made for Universal Music New Zealand before I made my first international album for Decca. What was particularly exciting about this album was the fact that my sister Sophie joined me in a couple of the songs.
Tracks
All I Have to Give
You'll Never Walk Alone
Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire
Mary Did You Know?
The Peace Song
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Gabriel's Message
Pokarekare Ana
Through These Eyes
Morning Has Broken
Silent Night
Pure (UK original edition, Decca, 2003)
This is the album that really started it all for me. Released by Decca in 2003, it became the best-selling debut album in the history of the UK classical charts and the best-selling album of all time by a local artist in New Zealand chart history, going eighteen times platinum.
Tracks
Pokarekare Ana
Never Say Goodbye
Who Painted the Moon Black?
River of Dreams
Benedictus
Hine e Hine
Dark Waltz
Amazing Grace
In Trutina (from
Carmina Burana
)
Beat of Your Heart
Heaven
Wuthering Heights
Hine e Hine (Maori mix)
Bonus CD released in 2004
Tracks
Mary Did You Know?
Bridal Ballad (from the film
The Merchant of Venice
)
Pokarekare Ana (Vocalise)
My Heart and I (from the film
La Piovra)
Across the Universe of Time
Silent Night, Holy Night
Away in a Manger
Pokarekare Ana (video track)
Wuthering Heights
This 2004 mini-album was released only in Japan.
Tracks
Wuthering Heights (new version)
Pokarekare Ana (new version)
Hine e Hine (acoustic version)
Away in a Manger
Never Say Goodbye
Odyssey (original edition, Decca, 2005)
My second album for Decca sees me spreading my wings musically. I was still on my musical journey when I recorded this, hence the title. It includes the first track that I co-wrote for one of my albums, 'What You Never Know (Won't Hurt You)'.
Tracks
Prayer
Dell'amore Non Si Sa
Never Saw Blue
Ave Maria (Caccini)
What You Never Know (Won't Hurt You)
Quanta Qualia
Both Sides Now
May It Be
Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5 Aria
Bridal Ballad
The Mists of Islay
O Mio Babbino Caro
Laudate Dominum
Wiegenlied
She Moves Through the Fair
Dido's Lament
Odyssey (special edition, Decca, 2006)
Tracks
May It Be
The Water Is Wide
Dell'amore Non Si Sa (duet with Andrea Bocelli)
Lascia Ch'io Pianga
Prayer
Ave Maria (Caccini)
Scarborough Fair
Quanta Qualia
Mio Babbino Caro
What You Never Know (Won't Hurt You)
Both Sides Now
The Mists of Islay
Laudate Dominum
She Moves Through the Fair
Treasure (UK and international edition, Decca, 2007)
This is my third international album for Decca. Dedicated to my Nanna, this album has a mixture of songs from her repertoire as a singer around Timaru, when she was much younger. It also marks my debut as a proper songwriter. I'm particularly proud of my 'hippie chick' track 'Let Me Lie', the mistitled 'Le Notte del Silenzio' and 'Melancholy Interlude', the tune that I discovered when I couldn't sleep in a hotel room after a concert in Japan.
Tracks
Let Me Lie
Le Notte del Silenzio (featuring Humphrey Berney)
Santa Lucia
Shenandoah
Whispering Hope
Summer Rain
Danny Boy
One Fine Day
The Heart Worships
E Pari Ra
Sonny
Summer Fly
Melancholy Interlude
Bist Du Bei Mir
Abide with Me
Celtic Treasure (USA, Canada, Australia and
New Zealand edition, Decca, 2007)
Tracks
Let Me Lie
Scarborough Fair
Shenandoah
Summer Fly
Whispering Hope
Danny Boy
Summer Rain
The Last Rose of Summer
One Fine Day
Sonny
The Water Is Wide
Melancholy Interlude
Abide with Me
Singing the role of Maria on this brand-new recording to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's musical was a fantastic honour for me. Vittorio Grigolo sings Tony, the lead male role. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Nick Ingman.
Amazing Grace (released only in Japan, 2003)
Tracks
Amazing Grace
Beat of Your Heart
Benedictus
Amazing Grace (Instrumental)
Wiegenlied (released only in Japan, 2005)
Tracks
Wiegenlied (slow version)
Wiegenlied (fast version)
Wiegenlied (Japanese version)
Nussknacker und Mausekönig (released 2004 in Germany)
Peaches and Creamy World
Mulan II (released 2005)
Here Beside Me
The Merchant of Venice (released 2005)
Bridal Ballad
Lib and Stitch II (released 2006)
Always
The New World (released 2006)
Listen to the Wind
I have the same management team as Aled Jones and the Choirboys and it was a real thrill for me to be able to sing on their albums. Aled is an old hand at making records and I made one of my first big appearances in front of the British critics and journalists when I sang with him at the Classical Brit Awards, so it was nice to be able to return the favour by appearing on his album. The Choirboys are a great group of young guys and I was really excited to be able to introduce them to my fans by singing on their debut release.
Singing 'Silent Night' with Aled Jones on
The Christmas Album
(UCJ, 2005)
Singing 'Do You Hear What I Hear?' with the Choirboys on
The Choirboys
(UCJ, 2005)
Hayley Westenra Live from New Zealand (Decca, 2005)
This DVD was recorded live at a specially staged concert at Wellington's St James Theatre in November 2004. It came after a long year of touring the world singing the songs from
Pure.
It was great to be able to come home to New Zealand and to perform them in front of the people who believed in me right from the start. The guests artists who appear on the DVD include the baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, my sister Sophie Westenra, the Musical Island Boys and the Wellington Cathedral Choir, accompanied by members of the Wellington Sinfonia. This concert was also broadcast as a special programme on the PBS network in the USA.
Songs
Pokarekare Ana
River of Dreams
In Trutina
Across the Universe of Time
May It Be
Beat of Your Heart
Aria
Who Painted the Moon Black?
How Many Stars?
Ave Maria
Down to the River
Amazing Grace
Benedictus
Mary Did You Know?
Both Sides Now
Never Say Goodbye
Wuthering Heights
Hine e Hine
I'm lucky to have been blessed with the most wonderful family on Earth. I would have achieved very little in my life without the love and support of my mum, Jill, and my dad, Gerald. As you have read, they have been with me every step of the way on my journey through life and on my journey through music. I couldn't have wished for two greater people to have had standing beside me. I love my sister Sophie and brother Isaac more than you can imagine. They are so patient and understanding about the demands that I've placed on their lives over the years. My Nanna,
Shirley Ireland, continues to be a huge inspiration to me in everything that I do. Basically, I couldn't survive without my family.
Good managers are hard to find and in Steve Abbott and Kathryn Nash at Bedlam Management I've found the best. Thank you both for your belief and hard work.
My record companies around the world have always given me an enormous amount of support and I'm proud to be part of the extended family of Decca Records, Universal Classics and Jazz UK and Universal Music around the globe. Particular thanks go to Bogdan Roscic, Peggy Schmidt, Fawzia Pirbhai, Judith Daniels, Mark Cavell and Jennifer Allen at Decca; to Dickon Stainer and Mark Wilkinson at UCJ; and to Adam Holt and Alister Cain in New Zealand.
Thank you to the whole team at Virgin Books who have patiently waited for me to complete this book, especially KT Forster, Carolyn Thorne and Gareth Fletcher.
Lastly, a massive thanks to Darren Henley. What a legend. It was such a pleasure writing this book with him. No one mentioned here is more deserving of the much-talked-about celebratory curry, to mark the end of working on this book.
Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, The
Brit Awards, Classical
Capenters, The
'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire'
Choirboys
Choirboys, The
Christmas Album, The
'Do You Hear What I Hear?'
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
(Mozart)
Ingham, Nick
Ireland, Shirley (grandmother)
Lilo and Stitch II
Merchant of Venice, The
Musical Island Boys
New Zealand:
Nussknacker und Mausekönig
Rhodes, Teddy Tahu
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
St James Theatre, Wellington
Wellington Cathedral Choir
Wellington Sinfonia
Westenra, Aylmer (grandfather)
Westenra, Hayley:
albums
see under individual
DVDs
recordings
see under individual title
songs
see under individual title
UNICEF Goodwill
Westenra, Patricia (grandmother)
'What You Never Know (Won't Hurt You)'
'Wiegenlied'