DAME NELLIE MELBA.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 August 1921, Page 12

DAME NELLIE MELBA.

RETURNING TO AUSTRALIA.

SUCCESSES OF HER LONG TOUR. After an absence of nearly three years from Australia Dame Nellie Melba passed through Auckland on Sunday on her way home to Victoria. Interviewed on board the Niagara during the vessel’s brief stay in port, she expressed herself as delightfed with the success of her long tour. One of the outsanding experiences of her stay abroad she declared to have been the concert which she gave by “wireless,” from London, her singing having been heard across half Europe, and even by a cousin of hers returning across the Atlantic from Brazil! Another feature of the trip spoken of with enthusiasm was a concert she gave in Christiania, in aid of the widows and orphans of Norwegian sailors who had been torpedoed during the war, the total proceeds amounted to £2OOO. a success of which Dame Melba is very proud. “I also had the honor of opening Covent Garden Theatre at the first performance after the conclusion of the war,” she continued, “and it was a night I shall never forget. 1. sang ‘Boheme.’ and the enthusiasm of the audience was wonderful. . . . But the war had made a great difference, and I missed many old friends of former happy years.” Among performances given on the Continent were several appearances in Brussels, at the Theatre de la Monna.ie, where Melba, made her debut. The delight of 'the Belgians in the great prima donna’s reappearance was described as something very wonderful and touching. At Monte Carlo Dame Melba wa stricken with influenza, and was very seriously ill for some time. After recovery. however, she was able to give several concert*. Her last appearance before leaving once more for home wa<s at the Albert Hall in London, attended by a huge audience that included the King and Queen of England. The trip across Canada and the Pacific was unaccompanied by any feature of specil interest save the discomfort of vaccination shortly after leaving Suva! this week.

Dame Melba will give two concerts in Sydney in conjunction with the New South Wales State Orchestra, after which she will return to Coombe Cottage. her home in Victoria. “And J. may *ay J am looking forward very eagerly to being home again,” she said, “and to th? pleasure of greeting old friends, and of having a, good rest. As io my future plans I can say nothing, a* T. have decided nothing definite.”