Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, the internationally renowned opera singer, said she is not interested in discussing the achievements of Susan Boyle and called her career a “whizz-bang” success.

The Dame is currently involved with BBC Radio 2 who are playing host to “The Kiri Prize” said that her opera singing competition was not going to produce a star like Boyle who shot to fame after her success on “Britain’s Got Talent”.

She said “I'm doing something classical, not whiz-bang. Whizz-bang disappears. It goes 'whizz' and then 'bang'."

When asked about the possibility of Boyle appearing in the West End version of “Les Miserables” Te Kenawa said “Let's get off that subject. Move on.

"You insult me by even wanting to bring it into this conversation. I'm not interested."

Te Kenawa went on to say that her competition was a step above the rest.

She said “This competition is named after me and has far more stability. It's judged seriously by people with integrity who know what they're talking about.”

During the conversation Te Kenawa was also asked about the crossover appeal between different genres of music. She was asked about the great Andrea Bocelli’s performance of opera.

She said “He did, once. He wants to be an opera singer, but he isn't."

"We should talk about serious classical singers if you want to stick to the subject. There's Angela Gheorghiu, Renée Fleming, Anna Netrebko performing glorious, serious, grand opera without microphones. There aren't many of us."

Even after all of that Te Kenewa does not think of herself as a diva.

"I don't think I'm a diva. I'm just a human being with an opinion that I'm not allowed, at 66 years old, to select,” said the Dame.