MURIEL BRUNSKILL

Evening Star, Issue 22145, 27 September 1935, Page 13

MURIEL BRUNSKILL

- TO-MORROW'S GREAT PROGRAMME To-morrow night at the Concert Chamber, Dunedm musical enthusiasts will doubtless give a welcome worthy of the city and of the great artist herself, when Madame Muriel Brunskill, the famous British contralto, makes her lirst appearance before an Otago audience. Wherever she has appeared in Australia and New Zealand, Madame Brunskill has taken her audience by storm, and the musical critics on the various papers have been unanimous in their opinions that this gracious and glorious iprima donna is one of the greatest singers ever heard in the Southern Hemisphere Here are just a few extracts taken from the critiques of final concerts given in various cities by Madame Brunskill during her present tour:—“The memory of Madame Muriel Brunskill’s superb voice ringing throughout the Town Hall at the special farewell concert on Saturday night will linger fragrantly with the large and enthusiastic audience .which heard this great English contralto,” wrote the Melbourne Star ’ reviewer, on the eve of Madame 'Brunskill’s departure for New Zealand a few weeks ago. Referring to the final concert in Queensland the Brisbane “Telegraph’ critic wrote: “ Strange as it may seem, one left the City Hall last night after having heard Madame Brunskill’s fare : well recital with a feeling akin 1 to sadness. Eor two hours we had been listening to a great singer endowing all her vocal riches on music which was in every way worthy of her talents; we

had been-charmed by . artistry which touched the very fountainhead of beauty, and a musical personality that was steadfast and certain in its appeal. The sadness came from the thought that such an experience will not again be ours until. ...”

Among the numbers on to-morrow’s programme are: Two operatic arias, ‘ Stella del Mariner’ from Ponchielli’s *La Gioconda ’) and ‘ Non Pin di Fiore ’ (from Mozart’s ‘La Glamonza di Tito’). Then there will be nine songs by English composers, ‘Silent Noon’ and ‘The Watermill, ’ Vaughan Williams Hymns from the Rig Veda ’ by Gustav Holst; and ‘ Silver,’ ‘ Five Eyes,’ ‘ Love’s Prisoner ’ (dedicated to Muriel Brunskill), ‘ 0 Nightingale Upon My Tree.’ ‘Sailing Homeward,’ and ‘ February,’ by Armstrong Gibbs. Schubert will be represented hy_ four lovely songs, ‘ Death and the Maiden,’ ‘By'the Stream,’ ‘Love Hath Lied,’ and ‘ Hymn to the Almighty.’ Following her usual custom, Madame Brunskill will select any extra numbers from favourite old numbers such as ‘ Shepherd’s Cradle Song,’ ‘ Three Fishers,’ ‘ Softly Awakes My Heart,’ and some of the arias from ‘Carmen.’ The box plans and day sales are at Charles Begg and Co.