FAME IN TWO FIELDS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 124, 7 November 1941, Page 12

FAME IN TWO FIELDS

Harold Williams, International Singer -~And Rugby Footballer

-- USIC lovers will be interM ested in Harold Williams's forthcoming tour for the NBS as the first visit to New Zealand of one of the world’s great oratorio singers and a baritone who has sung with Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Koussevitski, Beecham, Wood, Harty, Sargent and many other famous conductors. Rugby football fans may be more interested in the fact that Harold Williams played on the wing for New South Wales against the 1914 All Blacks. . It’s a far cry from international football in 1914 to Harold Williams’s present position in the musical world, and at that stage of his life he had little idea of the direction in which his career lay. His singing history has been unusual. He achieved something of a reputation in

Australia as a‘ boy soprano, and sang in church choirs and at concerts. When his voice broke at 15, however, he gave up all thought of singing, and it was not until 1918, following his discharge from the A..F. that he turned again to singing. A Master of Oratorio Toward the end of the war, the army authorities released a number of Australian soldiers with long service records and offered them courses of study to fit them for post-war careers. Harold Williams chose singing, and thanks mainly to persistent encouragement from his friends he stuck to his studies, and eventually blossomed out as a concert singer. Once established, he had success after success. Perhaps the most spectacular has been in oratorio, of which he is a master. Of a recent performance of Elijah, Neville Cardus said: "A model for all young singers-he has made the part his own." The London Times observed, fol(Continued on next page)

HAROLD WILLIAMS « (Continued from previous page) lowing a performance of Elgar’s The Kingdom, at a Three Choirs’ Festival at Hereford: "One always associates these famous works with great singers of the past, but to-day, Mr. Harold Williams transcended all memory by his magnificently dramatic interpretation of Peter's address to the men of Judea." But he can turn with equal facility to opera, concert work, and broadcasting. He has sung Boris Godunov, Faust, Pagliacci, and other operas at Covent Garden, and played The Marriage of Figaro with the British National Opera Company all round England. The British National Opera started off as a co-operative venture, run by the artists themselves. It prospered for some years, attracted some of the best artists in England, then faded out. Mr. Williams also broadcast Figaro several times from the BBC. With the exception of an Australian tour ten years ago, he lived in England continuously from the end of the last war until February, 1940, when he returned to Australia. He has decided to stay indefinitely. In addition to concert tours, he has been teaching at the Sydney Conservatorium and broadcasting for the ABC. He did an interesting weekly session How I Sing This Song, which be-

came almost a request session, so many letters did he receive. New Zealand Itinerary It is expected that Mr. Williams will arrive in Auckland in time for a studjo performance from Station 1YA on Monday, November 24, though his itinerary depends, of course, on shipping movements. He will make studio appearances in Wellington, Christchurch (at Christmas), and Dunedin (New Year). He will give patriotic concerts in Auckland and Wellington. Henri Penn, who has just concluded a most successful tour of the NBS station with Winifred Carter, the harpist, will be his studio accompanist.