Choral Society’s Concert To-Night

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 180, 20 October 1927, Page 16

Choral Society’s Concert To-Night

A DOUBLE PROGRAMME OPERA AND MASS ‘‘Wine,” sings Turiddu, “brings peace ! and causes sweet forgetfulness.” A few minutes later Alfio, the team-

ster to whose wife the devil-may-care soldier had made love, bit his ear after the gentle manner of the Sicilians. A duel to the death is quickly arranged, and Turiddu has only time to sing one more song before ,ie is a dead man.

The story of Mascagni’s celebrated “Cavalleria Rusticana,” which, with Weber’s “Mass in G,” will be presented by the Auckland Choral Society tonight, is comparatively short. No time is wasted, however, and in one act a full issue of the romance and tragedy necessary to a Sicilian opera is provided. The opera is generally presented with “I Pagliacci,” the two works being known as the “opera twins.” For the tenor role, which contains some beautiful numbers, the services of Mr. Hubert Carter have been secured. The cast is as follows: Santuzza, Miss Etta Field; Lola, Miss Phyllis Hazell; Turiddu, Mr. Hubert Carter; Alfio, Mr. Frank Sutherland. In Weber’s “Mass in G,” Miss Alma McGruer will be the soprano, the other parts remaining the same. Under the direction of Mr. Colin Muston, conductor, both the orchestra and chorus are reported to have attained a high standard of efficiency. In the famous intermezzo and Easter hymn respectively they should be heard to advantage.

Florence Austral, Australian dramatic soprano, who completed the season at the Cincinnati Festival, where she was hailed by one critic as “the greatest dramatic soprano of all time,” recently sailed for her concert tour of England and the Continent. She will return to America, where she is booked for many engagements, including a tour of the Pacific Coast, during which she is scheduled for a recital in the Elwyn Artist Series at Scottish Rite Hall under the management of the Wolfsohn Musical Bureau of New York.