Glancing Ahead

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 850, 19 December 1929, Page 16

Glancing Ahead

Saturday.—Carol Concert at Town Hall December 2»>—Westminster Glee Singers (Town Hall Concert Chamber).

The Rupert D’Oyly Carte season of Gilbert and Sullivan operas is attracting its usual throngs at the Savoy Theatre in London.

The Bach Museum at Eisenach has recently been enlarged and a fine contemporary engraving of the composer added to the collection.

A writer in the "Allgemeine Musikzeitung” has suggested a plan to protect singers with an insurance policy against indispositions and colds.

The Spanish violinist Jules Manen has discovered a composition for the violin and orchestra in a music library which he believes was composed by Beethoven in 1788. He plans to play it in his recitals this season.

Opera in English is receiving a great impetus. Puccini’s “Turandot” was warmly greeted when it was sung for the first time in English at Halifax by the Covent Garden Opera Company.

According to latest reports Sir Thomas Beecham still plans an opera season for London and the provinces. • * * Carol Concert Assisted by the Minster Singers, the Municipal Band will give its annual carol concert at the Town Hall on Saturday evening. A well-varied programme consisting of carols and traditional Christmas music will be contributed, the concert concluding with Handel’s "Hallelujah” chorus from the “Messiah.” The soloists will be Miss Gladys Hosking (soprano), Mr. A. L. McPherson (tenor), Mr. J. Davies (cornet), Mr. Hal C. McLennan (flute), and Mr. Rowland Jackson (xylophone). Miss Thelma Gordon will be the accompanist. • * *■ Orchestras Come Back Many of the principal American picture theatres have retained their orchestras, and it is said that some theatres who dispensed with orchestras are reinstating them. There is no doubt that the public prefer and appreciate the music supplied by the orchestra in the theatre. The synchronised production is not by any means the same. It sounds dead in comparison. Some American theatres have a full symphony orchestra of first-class players. Erno Rapee, for example, conducts a band of 120 instrumentalists at the Roxy Theatre in New York. 0 * * As a protest against the modern revue, the Leningrad Tram (from the initial four letters of the four Russian words meaning "Communist League of Youth”) has produced an operetta called "Druzhnaya Gorka.” A Moscow critic states significantly that the plot displays positive social tendencies. As outlined by him briefly, it seems innocent and insipid enough until we come to the apotheosis, which shows a lighted factory across the stream with its little bridge and fields, summoning the people to their joyous labours after their summer holiday. * * * Glee Singers Returning Following a successful tour of the Dominion, Mr. Scott Colville, manager for Mr. Edward Branscome's Westminster Glee Singers, announces that a return visit is to be paid by this talented combination on December 26 (Boxing Night), when a concert will he given at the Town Hall Concert Chamber. An interesting feature of the Auckland concert will be the r«appearance of Mr. Alfred Cunningham, a baritone, who will be remembered by many as a member of the original Glee Singers, and also of the Scarlet Troubadours. « * * Open-Air Band Concerts With the arrival of the warm weather, the Municipal Band will soon be commencing its popular series of out-door concerts. In the past, these have proved very poplar with the public and large attendances should be seen at the Domain, Albert Park, Point Erin, Parnell Park and Point Chevalier in the summer evenings to come. The summer programme is as follows:—During the months of January and February the band will play every Sunday night in Albert park, and every Wednesday in the Domain Grounds. On Thursday, January 9. and Thursday, February 6, in Point Erin Park. On Thursdays, January 16 and 30, and February 13 and 27. at Point Chevalier. On Thursdays, January 23, and February 20, in Parnell Park. Also every Sunday at ; the Zoological Park. Special per- | formancts wil be given at the Zoo-1 logical Pari: on Boxing Day and New | Year’s Day. The Town Hall concerts ! will be resumed on Saturday, March I 8. 1930, and will then continue fort- j nightly.