Despite wowing the world with her stunning rendition of “I Dreamed A Dream”, 49-year-old Scottish singer Susan Boyle has earned the ire of opera great Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. In a new interview in London about the “BBC Radio 2 Kiri Prize” – a national search for new opera talent – the legendary soprano let it be known that she was no fan of Boyle, or the television show on which she was discovered, “Britain’s Got Talent”.

“Let’s get off that subject, move on,” 66-year-old Dame Kiri told the Radio Times, when asked about Boyle’s success, the Scottish singer having sold over nine million copies of her debut album. “I’m doing something classical, not whizz-bang. Whizz-bang disappears. It goes ‘whizz’ and then ‘bang’’,”

“You insult me by even wanting to bring it into this conversation,” Dame Kiri continued. “I’m not interested. My competition has nothing to do with ‘The X Factor’, which I can’t bear.”

Dame Kiri has also performed Boyle’s hit song in public many times, while her criticisms have been pulled up by Australian newspaper The Age, who discovered she had previously entered music competitions twice back in New Zealand – winning the Mobil Song Quest back in 1965. Dame Kiri also criticised TV judges such as Simon Cowell, accusing them of not doing a good job. The “BBC Radio 2 Kiri Prize” judges, she insisted, “Know what they’re talking about.”