GRAND OPERA FROM AUSTRALIA

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 763, 5 March 1954, Page 6

GRAND OPERA FROM AUSTRALIA

Ten Full Broadeasts from WC Stations

by the National Opera of Australia, will be heard from NZBS stations on ten occasions during the company’s New Zealand season, which will open in Auckland on Tuesday, March 9 with The Barber of Seville, broadcast from 1YC. This station will broadcast IJ] Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi on Wednesday, March 17. Other broadcasts will be from 2YC on Tuesday, April 6 (Faust), on Thursday, April 15 (La Boheme), and on ‘Thursday, April 22 (The Abduction from the _ Seraglio); from 3YC on Monday, April 26 (The Barber of Seville), on Thursday, May 6 (The Abduction), and on Monday, May 10 (JI Trovatore); and from 4YC on Saturday, May 15 (Faust), and Tuesday, May 18 (JI Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi), The company will spend three weeks in Auckland, three nights in Hamilton, three weeks in Wellington, ten nights in Christchurch, two nights in Timaru, eight nights in Dunedin, and four nights in Invercargill. The duties of conductor will be shared by Warwick Braithwaite, conductor of the National CR Sd SRS of eG ene a? a Mn eta Sal ( operas, presented

Orchestra, Georg Tintner, of Auckland, and Dimo Galliungi, of Sydney. All broadcasts will begin at approximately 8.0 p.m., and all the operas will be sung in English. "This policy of presenting the entire repertoire in English has already been the cause of much discussion," Frank Monk, honorary representative of the Company in Auckland, told The Listener. "But I think it an excellent policy, for if opefa is always presented in the language in which it was written it will never be popular with the general public; it will always remain the cultural property of a select coterieand that would be a very sad thing. The object of this tour is to bring the full enjoyment of opera to as many people as possible. English-speaking a must lose a great deal if they ear only operas. sung in a foreign tongue. In Eurepe the practice is for an Italian. opera presented in Germany to be sung in German, for a German opera in Italy to be in Italian, and so on." To ensure technical fidelity in the broadcasting of the operas NZBS technicians will attend as many rehearsals as possible. They may employ as many as ten microphones, placing them so as to obtain a good pick-up of sound from all parts of the stage and a correct balance between the various sections of the orchestra. Previous experience with the broadcasting of the Italian Grand Opera Company's performances suggests that four "footlight" microphones may be employed, with four more for the orchestra, and possibly two overhead to look after any activity toward the back of the stage. The requirements, however, vary with the auditorium and with the opera itself. From the listener’s point of view perhaps the. most important performance of all on the opera night is that of the rtechnician responsible for "mixing" the various microphones. On his skill depends the balance of the entire broadeast. He must anticipate. the entrances nd the movements of the performers stage and switch in the appropriate fiicrophones. Others, not for the 1oment required, must be deadened in order to exclude extraneous sound. And, over all, there must be maintained a harmonious balance, neither singer nor orchestra being emphasised at the expense of the other. New Zealanders are already making a major contribution to the musical side of the tour. Heather Begg, Auckland contralto, is regarded as one of the outstanding soloists; in an orchestra of 32 players there are 16 New Zealanders, and in a chorus totalling 36 members, 26 are from this country, mainly from Auckland and Wellington. They have been conducted in rehearsals so far by Mr. Tintner. "The New Zealand members will give a very good account of themselves," Mr. Tintner said. "They are all young, trained voices, and very keen. Rehearsals have been going ahead, in separate groups, for some months, and we have assembled in Auckland in good time. The New Zealand part of the orchestra, too, is most promising, including the very best players available." Australia has supplied most of the key players, but, said Mr. Tintner, more New Zealanders would have been employed if they could have been found. "There was a shortage of wind players,

especially flute, clarinet, trombone and trumpet." For The Barber of Seville Mr. Tint‘ner will use an unusual overture. "But it is the one which Rossini himself intended should be used," he told The Listener. "Two overtures were written for The Barber, the first being lost. Rossini replaced it with another which he orchestrated in two strikingly different ways. One was used for his Queen Elizabeth of England; we will play the other, which is without percussion or trombone, from a facsimile edition of the music Rossini himself handed to his .English publishers with the rest of the score for The Barber. This version has a lightness of orchestration befitting the style and subject of the rest of the opera, but the custom has developed of playing an overture which is a mixture of the two versions." Mr. Tintner’s fellow-conductor, with Warwick Braithwaite, is Dimo Galliungi, | who has spent many years conducting | operas in Europe. He is of Albanian descent, but was brought up in France. where he studied at the Paris Conservatorium, and later joined the orchestra of the Opera Comique as a French horn player. He deputised for the conductor from time to time, gradually turning more and more to conducting and producing. In 1932 he began a seven years’ tour of Italy, Albania, Greece and Rumania. In Greece he helped to introduce French and Italian opera, translating yand producing them himself in Greek. Later he carried out similar work in | Egypt, where he became conductor of | the Cairo Greek Philharmonic Orches-_ tra until his. departure for Australia a_ few years ago. The Director of Productions, John Dudley, is also one of Australia’s bestknown operatic tenors. He has had over twenty years’ experience in the theatre, having joined the J. C. Williamson Company in 1932 as a leading tenor. Subsequently he sang at Covent Garden for four consecutive seasons, and went on tour as principal tenor for the D’Oyly Carte Company from 1937 until 1939. He began producing for the Australian National Opera in its first .season in 1951, and still takes important tenor roles.