MUSIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 712, 11 July 1929, Page 16

MUSIC

(By

F.1.R.)

Glancing Ahead — TOWN HALL July 11—Leys Institute Orchestra. July 16—Puccini Musical Society. July 16—Aeolian Orchestra Concert. July 18—Bohemian Orchestra Concert. August 1-—Choral Society Concert ("Judas Maccabeus”). August 22 —Royal Auckland Choir. The date of Dame Nellie Melba's birthday teas May 19, according to the I Sydney "Guardian.” She started her career 41 years ago in "Rigoletto” at Brussels, and her age is "believed to be 68.” Puccini Musical Society The second concert by members of the Puccini Musical Society will be j given in the Town Hall Concert j Chamber on Tuesday next. This I society celebrated its inception last year with a fine programme of opera- : tic numbers and with the society j gaining in strength in the meantime i another very fine entertainment j should result. The society is under j the direction of Signor Costantini, late of the Sistine Choir soloists. * * * Leys Institute Orchestra A performance will be given at Lewis Eady Hall this evening by the Leys Institute Orchestra, commencing at 7.45. Under the direction of Mr. Harold Baxter the orchestra has been preparing for some time for this occasion and an enjoyable recital should result. The assisting artists are MiSH K. Christie, Miss Olive Harris and Master Tabener. Academic Club Conductor Mrs. John Craig, L.T.C.L., L.A.8., of Onehunga, a comparatively recent addition to Auckland musical circles, has been appointed conductor of the recently-formed Auckland Academic Club Choir. The choir meets on Thursday evenings at the Academy Chambers, Upper Queen Street, and a good start has already been made. Miss C. O. Winthrop has been appointed official pianist of the choir. Mr. Roland Foster, of the New South Wales Conservatorium, has been reappointed chief musical adjudicator at this year’s Ballarat Eisteddfod, which ranks as the chief event of its kind in Australia. This being the jubilee year of the society, extra prize money has been awarded i and many new features included in the programme. One important innovation is the choice of a complete work, Stanford’s “Revenge,” in the chief choral competition, in place of ! the usual miscellaneous test pieces. Canterbury Festival A festival of music and drama will j take place at Canterbury during the i week of August 19 to 24. The entire i festival will be held within- the cathedral, its chapter house and precincts. The musical side will consist of eight concerts, of which two are to be choral, four orchestral and two chamber music concerts as well as several serenades. Some of the concerts will be given in the nave of the cathedral, others, in the chapter house, or at night in the cloisters. The conductor will be Dr. Adrian Boult. The orchestra will be provided by the 8.8. C.

BAND CONCERT

PROGRAMME FOR SUNDAY Under the direction of Air. Christopher Smith, the following programme will be given by the Municipal Band at the Zoological Gardens on Sunday afternoon next: —National Anthem; grand march, “Tannhauser” (Wagner); hymn, "Jerusalem the Golden” (Ewing); overture, “Pique Dame” (Suppe); novelty, “Sarita” (Lucile Burton); cornet solos, (a) Song, “Leanin” (T. C. Sterndale Bennett), (b) Song "Poor Man's Garden” (Kennedy Russell), soloist, Mr. Fred Bowes; selection, "Aida” (Verdi); march, “When the SergeantAlajor’s on Parade” (Longstaffe); euphonium solo, “If Ever I meet the Sergeant” (Sterndale Bennett), soloist, Mr. J. Purchase; selection, “Britannia” (Douglas); a nautical narrative. “Shiver M’Timbers” (El-liott-Smith); march, "Carry On” (Winson); National Anthem.

AUCKLAND ARTIST SINGS AT WANGANUI

One of the assisting artists at the 72nd concert given by the Wanganui Male Choir on Wednesday of last week was Miss Beryl Smith, of Auckland. Commenting upon her performance, the “Wanganui Chronicle” says:— "Miss Smith had a pleasing voice, and she put spirit and feeling into her singing. She was heard in the difficult operatic piece from Don Carlos (Verdi), ‘O Don Fatale,’ and in the lines where the thought is ex-

pressed that one more day is left before Carlos dies she caught the spirit of renewed life with the energy it demanded. In lighter work her voice was just as effective. She sang ‘The Asra’ (Rubinstein) and ‘Song of the Open’ (Frank la Forge), and also several encore numbers. She was particularly appealing in the encore number, 'Sink, Red Sun.’ ”

The Bohemians

1 ANIMAL. FANTASY TO BE PLAYED AT ORCHESTRAL CONCERT NEXT THURSDAY VARIED PROGRAMME For its second concert of the 1929 season the Bohemian Orchestra has arranged a very suitable programme, one that can be termed popular without loss of artistic prestige. First and foremost will be a repetition of Saint-Saens’ “Le Carnival des Animeaux,” which was played at the

third concert last season by Mr. Cyril Towsey and Mr. G. H. Woolley. This delightful zoological fantasy, it will be remembered, was the piece de resistance on that occasion, and its repetition will undoubtedly meet with a warm reception. Another very interesting item will be a piano concerto by Rubinstein, No. 4 in D Minor. Opus 70, which will be played by Mr. Cyril Towsey and the orchestra. Mr. Towsey’s performances are always artistic and a very pleasing combination should result. Other items will be selections from "A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Mendelssohn) ; tone poem, “The Land of the Mountain and the Flood” (Hamish MacCunn); suite of serenades, (a) Spanish, (b) Chinese, (c) Cuban, (d) Oriental (Victor Herbert); and Sibelius’s tone poem “Finlandia.” Miss Madge Clague will sing Gounod’s “Serenade” and “Sequidille” from Bizet’s “Carmen.”

N.Z. DEAD

Concert Artists Will Not Come “As far as the concert artist is concerned New Zealand is dead.” This is the depressing news brought back by Mr. D. D. O’Connor, who returned by the Ulimaroa on Tuesday after taking Spivakovsky, the Russian pianist, on a tour of Australia. "In the musical world musical appreciation is on a high level in Melbourne and Sydney,” said Mr. O'Connor, “and those who desire to hear really good music will not go to the popular concerts. This is good for music, but such concerts are of no use to New Zealand. “Outside Melbourne and Sydney the proposition today is hopeless. None of the concert artists will visit New Zealand. Nowadays artists play on a sharing basis—they no longer arrange for guarantees—and this lias also killed New Zealand tours. “There is a demand for orchestral concerts in Melbourne and hundreds are turned away from them. Concerts are given there by two orchestras.” Mr. O’Connor said that Splvakovsky did excellently in Sydney and Perth. Giannini, the Italian soprano, had a wonderful opening concert, but she has decided not to visit New Zealand.