Singer well versed in Bach role

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32568, 30 March 1971, Page 18

Singer well versed in Bach role

The Yorkshirenjan, Mr P. Todd, who will take the role of the evangelist in the Royal Christchurch Musical Society’s annual performance of Bach’s “St Matthew Passion” this week, said yesterday he was looking forward to the experience even though he has sung the role on numerous occasions in the last 15 years. Mr Todd has sung the part of the evangelist with the famous Bach choir in London’s Royal Festival Hall. Now he teaches singing in the music department of Auckland University.

Otago University had recently created a similar teaching post and he believed it was only a matter of time before Canterbury University’s music department followed suit, Mr Todd said. Two of his pupijs were Christchurch singers—Messrs C. Lackner and C. Doig, both

of whom showed considerable promise, he added.

GOOD VOICES IN N.Z.

New Zealand possessed a number of good voices but the basic problem was what to do with them once they were trained. Opportunities within the country were limited, and this meant that anyone with talent had to go overseas for advancement and employment. Virtually all that was left for them in the employment field in New Zealand was teaching music. What Mr Todd would like to see established in the country is a national song contest like that in Melbourne, which offers a scholarship to a minimum value of $2OOO. Such an amount would enable the winners to travel overseas for advanced training and to test themselves against stiffer competition, he said, . , In the three years he has been in New Zealand, Mr Todd has made tours for the Chamber Music Federation. Concerts were well received and on a relative basis were as well attended as similar concerts in Britain, he said.