NEW OPERA STAR

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20492, 7 May 1938, Page 17 (Supplement)

NEW OPERA STAR

ROMANTIC STORY OF DISCOVERY VOICE HEARD OVER AIR A magic unknown voice, trilling over i the air from somewhere in Europe, has 1 led to the discovery of a new opera ; star who will electrify British audiences. Sir Thomas Beecham, famous conductor. telling how he found her, said: “ I heard h<?r quite by accident. I was turning the knobs of a wireless set in the almost vain hope of finding some broadcast programmes worthy of a musician’s serious attention. Suddenly 1 I heard a magnificent fresh voice which : seemed to be taking part in an opera- : tic performance.” He listened eagerly for the names of the cast. Then came the one he sought—Margarethe Kubatzki. Sir Thomas made inquiries. Nobody knew her. He went to Germany a i month later, asked everyone In the I musical world if they knew Kubatzki. j They had never heard the name, i “ Then,” says Sir Thomas, “ I was 1 determined to find this singer at all . costs. I rang up every opera house ;in Germany. The search seemed j hopeless. Contract for Four Years ; “ At last 1 found her in Leipzig—a i tall 26-year-old Polish girl, a hand- ! some young woman with a fine pre- ! sence. j “ Since then she has been to Lonj don so that I could hear how the voice i 1 carried in Covent Garden, and before * she left London she had signed a conj tract by which she is bound to the ] Covent Garden opera for four years.” I Margarethe Kubatzki has been on the stage only two years. “If this young singer develops along the right lines.” said Sir Thomas. " she ought lo bo one day the great- j I oration.”*