GUIDER OF GENIUS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 490, 20 October 1928, Page 14

GUIDER OF GENIUS

E. J. GRAVESTOCK For many, years Mr. E. J. Gravestock has been in the concert show business. Ho has handled some of the finest virtuosi fir the world, looking after the business side of the tours. Very rarely has it been the good fortune of Mr* Gravestock to secure on contract such a sensational performer as the boy pianist, whom he has been presenting to Auckland music lovers during the week. Mr. Gravestock himself regards Shura Cherkassky as one of the supreme artists of the day. He may not be perfect yet, but already at the age of 16 he has the technique and maturity, and tonal powers equal to many of the world’s matured geniuses. Mr. Gravestock, theatrical entrepreneur, has gone in almost exclusively for one-man shows, or concert parties, and has had more than his share

of success. He has a strong guiding hand, an eye for the requirements of the various communities, and many a musical genius has had cause to thank his judgment and knowledge of conditions for success. During the next few months Mr. Gravestock will introduce to New Zealand such world-famous names as Wilhelm Backhaus, Dusslina Giannini and Mischa Levitzki, and will shortly be leaving for abroad to secure further talent. Mr. Gravestock, apart from his extraordinary discerning ability as an entrepreneur, has an engaging personality, which has made him one of the most popular men in the show business in Australia and New Zealand. A thorough optimist, and a man of humour, he leaves a train of pleasant personal memories wherever he goes. During the past five years his expert judgment has brought about the introduction of several of the world’s greatest musicians to Australian and New Zealand audiences, and had it not been for his enterprise they would have remained names, not memories, to the peoples in the Southern Hemisphere.