FESTIVAL OF MUSIC.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16152, 5 March 1918, Page 2

FESTIVAL OF MUSIC.

FIRST REHEARSAL OF SEASON. There was a large attendance at the Chamber of Commerce last night, on the occasion of tho first rehearsal this season of the Festival of New Zealand Music. Mr H. Holland presided. The chairman said ho was pleased to see so large a gathering. "Whilst not claiming to bo a musician, ho claimed to he deeply interested in all that tended towards th.3 uplifting of the people, and there was no greater agency for uplifting than music. The Festival had a great future before it, and so far it had exceeded his most sanguine expectations. They had received works from twenty New Zealand composers, and it was the desire of the committee to make the organisation as wide as possible— the only qualification being a good voice and tho capacity lor hard work. The Christchurch public was a music-loving public, and if tho choir of tbo Festival dicl its duty, the Christchurch public would appreciate its efforts to show full value. Mr Arthur Lilly, the conductor, thanked the Mayor for tho splendid way in which ho had stuck to the organisation since its initiation, and urged that they should not depart from the original a ; ms of the Festival—the encouragement of New Zealand music. They should remember that they wore an educational body, and they should not he disappointed if they did not discover masterpieces. Ho briefly reviewed the works to bo undertaken this season, and said that the Selection Committee had had to "p through 55 works. Four conductors had been appointed, Mr A. W. Bunz being the chicf.