RICHARD CROOKS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21904, 3 October 1936, Page 9

RICHARD CROOKS

GALA CONCERT TO-NIGHT

This evening at the Theatre Royal at 8 o’clock, also on Wednesday night, Messrs J. and N. Tait will present the world-famous andyery .popular singer, Richard Crooks, who oh Tuesday and Thursday last sang before two capacity •audiences at the Town Hall, Wellington, and both the press and public acclaimed him the best and most entertaining , tenor who had ever appeared in New Zealand. Seats for tonight’s opening gala concertmaybe selected at the D.I.C. until 11.30 this morning, and afterwards the plans _ will be on view at the Theatre Royal. Tickets at 3s may be purchased to-day at the Theatre Royal confectionery shop, or at the doors this evening. Richard Crooks’s records have familiarised many with the rare beauties of his voice and singing style. They are now to have the final satisfaction —for which nothing is an entirely convincing substitute —of hearing this

great singer at first hand. Richard Crooks’ open, winsome, honest person-ality-just as much as his celebrity, make ’ him sought on all hands for parties and glamorous functions, yet he prefers to live Quietly, m tne pany of his wife and two children. MrCrooks , sings in English, Italian, French, and German. “His superb control and diction,” wrote a critic recently, “held the audience spellbound. He refused to sacrifice the soft beauty of his voice to volume, but each note penetrated to the furthest corner of the large Town Hall. He : is such a sincere artist that at times he appeared to be overcome with emotion. It did hot matter if the piece was an aria feom an opera or a popular song, he sang it with all the warmth of feeling and colour of which his incomparable voice was capable. Richard Crooks is very with his encores, and in Wellington he responded to a large number of requests for popular ballads. He has a repertoire of Shore than 300 numbers.