"To Beatrice Elliott —An Intelligent Artist"

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 7, 25 August 1933, Page 5

"To Beatrice Elliott —An Intelligent Artist"

i a far cry from the great musical centres of Europe and America to New Zealand, but Madame Beatrice Ellictt, the well-known singer ‘who has returned to her native heath after several years abroad, is happy among the memories of the famous people she met during her studies. To the Auckland representative of the "Radio Record" Madame Elliott spoke of the places she had visited, of the people she had met and the operas she had seen. "The first three years of my .musical training were spent in London where I studied under several well-known teachers. A friend advised me to go to America where one finds musical groups of all kinds-those who specialise ‘in operas, those who study nothing but concert music and oratorio, and so on. New York and Chicago were revelations to me and there I was successful in meeting many of the big people in the world of music. Benjamin Gigli, the tenor who took the place of the great Caruso at the, Metropolitan Theatre, in New York; Margherita D’Alvarez, the greatest living contralto of to-day; Rosa Raisa, with her husband, Rimini, both of the Chicago Opera Company; Toti dal Monte, the gifted coloratura soprano; Tito Schipa, called the lyric premier, now at the Metropolitan of New York; Schumann Heinke, possessing yet a beautiful voice; Claire Dux; Florence Austral, the majestic Aus- . tralian nightingale; Percy Grainger; and many more of great fame. ; "In Chicago I had the pleasure of assisting at the premiere inaugurating the New Civic Opera House which the American people claim to be the largest theatre of the world. The splendour of this magnificent theatre is unsurpassed. It is'a skyscraper of imposing greatness, built on the left bank of the Chicago River. The acoustics are . perfect. .Here gather the finest singers of the world, some of them drawing a salary of £400 per night.

"A friend of mine, Claire Dux, advised me me to go to Germany, and it was there, in Berlin, that I came under Germany’s greatest music master, Professor Michael Raucheisen. Inhis studios I met Europe’s musical celebrities, and I will forever retain’ the happiest memories of my stay in Berlin."