ALFRED O’SHEA

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 385, 20 June 1928, Page 15

ALFRED O’SHEA

ILLUSTRIOUS IRISH TENOR Mr. C. N. Bayertz, the well-known musical critic, recently wrote of Alfred O’Shea, the great Irish tenor: “I first heard Mr. O’Shea in “Rigoletto,” but at the Town Hall last night he excelled himself. His Italian and French diction is nearly flawless, and his singing is always atmospheric, eloquent and his klangfarben are always congruous and appropriate. Mr. O’Shea may well be styled the John McCormack of Australia.” Evidence of the variety of Mr. O’Shea’s programme is given in the Sydney “Morning Herald’s” notice of the same concert, a brief excerpt of which we quote: “Mr. Alfred O’Shea sang ‘My Lagan Love’ and ‘The Mountain Brooks Are Rushing,’ two exquisite folk-songs, and then he gave ‘The Wearing of the Green,’ which worked the audience to a veritable passion of appreciation. As encores he sang ‘The Low-Backed Car,’

‘The Snowy-Breasted Pearl,’ and ‘At the Mid-hour of Night,’ and so great was the enthusiasm of the crowded audience that he was forced to sing for nearly an hour before he was allowed to leave the platform.” The New Zealand tour of this distinguished singer is under the direction of Mr. Henry Hayward, and four concerts have been allotted to Auckland, the first of which will be given in the big Town Hall on Tuesday, June 2G, when the programme will consist of the choicest gems from his vast repertoire of infinite variety and charm. The prices of admission and box plan arrangements are announced elsewhere.