ABTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Sadler’s Wells Stars In Opera

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31121, 26 July 1966, Page 13

ABTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Sadler’s Wells Stars In Opera

Two star* from Sadler's Wells will take leading roles In the New Zealand Opera Company’s production of “Die Fledennaus,” which will begin its national tour in Christchurch on August 20.

Victoria Elliott, principal dramatic soprano of the London company, will sing Rosalinda, a role she created for the sumptuous new Sadler’s Wells production at the London Coliseum in 1959. Peter Grant, a tenor with many West End successes, will sing the role of Eisenstein. Grant sang Eisenstein on an Australian Elizabeth Theatre Trust tour in 1963-64 to the Rosalinda of New Zealand's Mary O’Brien. Other roles in the Johann Strauss, jun., opera will be taken by New Zealanders. Heather Begg will sing Orlofsky; Angela Shaw, Adele; Paul Person, who has just returned from three years’ study at the London Opera School, will sing Falke; Boyd Gavin, Alfred; Graeme Gorton, Frank: Silvio Famularo, Dr. Blind: Margarette Burnett, Sally; and Grahame Clifford will play the non-singing part of Frosch. Richard Campion will be the producer and Desmond Digby, a Sydney-based Aucklander, will be the designer. Robert Feist, an American conductor prominent on the European scene, will be the musical director and will share the conducting with Laszlo Heltay.

Miss Elliott has sung the role of Rosalinda many times and also recorded it, writes the London correspondent of “The Press.” In fact, she says she will learn her fourth English translation of the part for her 3s- - New Zealand visit; this is more difficult than learning a foreign version, she explained, because there is the danger of lapsing into one of the earlier versions.

Miss Elliott has made guest appearances in all the main opera houses and concert halls in Britain. The leads in “La

Traviata” and “Madam Butter-

fly" are among other roles she; has sung at Sadler’s Wells, and Leonora in “11 Trovatore,” Santuzza in “Cavalliera Rusticana” and Lady Macbeth are roles she has sung at Covent Garden.

She has a reputation for shattering glasses with her singing. With a high note she once broke four glasses in a London restaurant.

The 8.8. C. television programme, “A Question of Science,” featured her in an attempt to repeat this but it failed in the studio; however, viewers subsequently sent 21 broken glasses along with plaintive letters to the 8.8. C. One woman said Miss Elliott's broadcast had broken one of her best sets of glasses. Miss Elliott took a break from singing last year to concentrate on two projects near [her heart: to buy a country i residence with several acres of ground in Kent, near FolkeI stone, for her parents, and to

j start the conversion of her [home in Ealing, London, into | flats—she is an ardent interior decorator who includes “papering my walls” among her hobbies.

During the year she made a number of concert appearances, and sang “Madam Butterfly” in London. Before she agreed to go to New Zealand Miss Elliott had planned a holiday in the British summer months with her 16-year-old son, David. She left London for New Zealand last week. PURE HUMOURIST

Joyce Grenfell, who will begin her second New Zealand tour in Christchurch on Wednesday next week, has been described as “a clever practitioner of pure humour.” “I suppose you could call Miss Grenfell’s art pure humour, as contrasted with the applied humour of the more fashionable entertain-

ers,” wrote B. A. Young in the “Financial Times” after Miss Grenfell’s show opened in London last year. “Applied humour states a point of view, it strives to leave you thinking after the laughter dies down. Pure humour has no other object than to make you laugh. 1 can’t see anything wrong in this; it's the principle that inspires “Three Men in a Boat” and “The Importance of Being Earnest” and “Un Fil a La Patte,” the principle that sustained “Punch” for the 70 years before Malcolm Muggeridge became editor. “People who are tired of being raked by satirists may well find Miss Grenfell’s onewoman evening a haven of rest and refreshment in a pretty tiresome world. “In Miss Grenfell’s world there are no race riots, no Rachmanesque landlords, no doped racehorses, no homosexuals. no mods and rockers, no rush-hours, no napalm.... Hers is the world of the cosy, well-upholstered middleclasses; and if it has as much relevance to the world of today as it has to life on Mars, there is no reason why it should not be a viable source of entertainment “As a matter of fact Miss Grenfell, with her sensitive eye and ear for behaviour, has extracted from it an even-

What’s Ahead

ing that is, in its way, as expert as the performance of the American sick-comics, and probably more so. It’s a question of being tuned to the right channel.” Since her visit to New Zealand in 1963, Joyce Grenfell televised a show in the United States, made a record of some of her sketches and songs, toured numerous countries, and appeared in the films “The Americanisation of Emily” and “The Yellow Rolls-Royce.” She will be accompanied on this three-centre tour by the pianist' and film and theatre composer, William Blezard.

SPANISH GUITARIST Suddenly, there’s a feast of classical guitar. And the latest in the *recent succession of guitarists to visit Christchurch is Jose Luis Gonzalez, who will give concerts here on August 12 and 13. Gonzalez settled in Australia in 1962 and has been teaching, giving concerts and making records there ever since.

Born in Alcoy, Spain, in 1932, he studied the guitar at the Valencia Conservatorium under Rafael Balaguer. Spanish municipal and Government scholarships enabled him to study under Regino Sainz de la Maza in Madrid and under Andres Segovia at Sienna. Each year at Santiago de Compostella virtuoso course Segovia granted Gonzalez the maximum award of an “honourable mention.” Gonzalez started his recital career in 1958 and has given concerts in Germany, France, Portugal, Morocco and Spain. ♦Segovia last year, Almeida and Montoya this year. LITTLE SYMPHONY A whole new range of musical literature would be opened in New Zealand with the formation of the Little Symphony Orchestra, according to its first conductor, Henri Temianka. Temianka, founder and director of the California Chamber Symphony Orchestra, will appear in the dual role of conductor and violin soloist in some of the 14 concerts.

He says a small orchestra has many advantages and should be an exciting prospect for New Zealand. “Each player retains his individuality. He is not just part of a faceless mass. Another advantage is you do not lack hotel accommodation when you go to small towns.” The Little Symphony will give a concert in Timaru on Saturday evening, in Oamaru next Monday, Nelson the following Wednesday, and Blenheim the Thursday.

ART SYMPOSIUM A symposium will be held in the Durham street gallery on Saturday evening on the situation of the artist in New Zealand.

The panel of speakers will include Professor H. J. Simpson, head of the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts, Hamish Keith, head keeper of the Auckland City Art Gallery, John Coley, a lecturer in art at the Christchurch Teachers’ College, and P. J. Beaven, the Christchurch architect who was the main organiser behind the Canterbury Society of Art’s current Decorative and Lively Arts Exhibition. Among the suggested directions of the symposium were the questions whether there were too many New Zealand artists teaching, and whether opportunities for artists in industry were too limited. JIMMY SHAND AGAIN The Scottish entertainer, Jimmy Shand, will return to New Zealand next month with a new show and a different routine. Touring with the famous accordionist will be the singers, lan McLeish and Ivy Carey, a pianist, Peter Straughan, and a comedian, Jimmy Fletcher. The 12-centre tour will include one-night stands in Christchurch on August 18 and Timaru on August 22.