Hayley Westenra is the 21-year-old New Zealand superstar is gloriously summed up in ‘River Of Dreams’, a new album that presents ‘The Very Best Of’ Hayley Westenra. Any thoughts of 21 being too young for a ‘best of’ programme should be swept aside by the remarkable fact that, last December, Hayley Westenra was declared the “biggest selling Classical artist of the 21st Century”, having already surpassed the four million CDs mark.

Her appropriately named first album ‘Pure’ – surely the simplest description of her beguiling voice and artistry – went straight into the Classical Charts, making her the fastest-selling debut classical artist of all time.

Of course, squeezing Hayley into a pigeon-hole marked “Classical” is unrealistic. “I know my media image is that of a classical singer,” she says, “but I don't really see myself as a classical singer. I see myself as a singer, full stop, who does perform classical music but also one that performs folk and contemporary pop.”

‘River Of Dreams’, released on Decca on 27th October, has all this and more. Comprising selections from her three previous bestselling Decca albums – Pure, Odyssey and Treasure – and enhanced with three newly-recorded songs, ‘River Of Dreams’ is a statement about how far she has come while dropping hints about where she might travel next.

Coinciding with the release of ‘River Of Dreams’, Hayley undertakes a 17-concert British tour in October and November, appearing in 17 cities throughout Scotland, England and Wales, starting in Aberdeen and finishing in Swansea.

Despite the demands of her singing career, Hayley has devoted a great deal of her time to humanitarian concerns. She is the youngest ever Ambassador for UNICEF. Her ‘Bikes for Ghana’ campaign was a huge success and provided 6,000 bicycles to help young Ghanaian girls attend school and find a better future. Hayley is going back to Ghana in September to meet the girls who benefited from this scheme and to embark upon a new project involving playground materials and water wells.

She has also been an Ambassador for Save the Children, Hong Kong, is a patron of the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre in Auckland, is Matron of WEN (Women’s Environmental Network) and has recently become the first patron of Classic FM’s charity, Music Makers.