Overseas gift idea

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32737, 14 October 1971, Page 6

Overseas gift idea

Christmas comes early for New Zealanders with friends and relatives abroad, and the list of presents suitable for postings is by no means endless.

“What am I going to give them this years?” The question can be a mind-bender. If they fancy a little culture, or simply enjoy an evening out at the ballet or opera, gift vouchers may be the answer. Covent Garden seats need not be expensive. Even a 50p voucher will pay for a seat in the gods at most performances, and for between 70p and £1.70 there is a choice of 800 seats in the house any night of the year if the recipient books in time. VALID FOR YEAR Gift vouchers to Royal Opera House performances can be bought for 50p or £l, or in multiples of £l. A gift voucher is valid for one year. Productions at the Opera House immediately after Christmas, for which there may still be seats, include Britten’s “Billy Budd,” PucIcini’s “Pelleas et Melisande,” conducted by Pierre Boulez, with Elizabeth Soderstrom and George Shirley. I In February, there will be performances of “Cosi Fan Tutte” and Peter Hall’s production “Eugene Onegin,” and, later. “Simon Boccanegra,” and “The Flying Dutchman,” and in March, a new K reduction of Verdi’s “Naucco.” ROYAL BALLET After Christmas, the Royal Ballet will be performing “Swan Lake,” “La Fille Mai Gardee” “Giselle,” "Serenade,” "Field Figures,” “Enigma Variations,” “Romeo and Juliet,” "Diversions,” “La Bayadere,” “Marguerite and Armand” (Fonteyn and Nureyev), “Song of the Earth,” “Les Noces,” Jerome Robins’s “Afternoon of a Faun,” and a new ballet by Sir Frederick Ashton. Stars include Antoinette

Sibley and Anthony Dowell, Lynn Seymour, Merle Park, Georgina Parkinson, Deanne Bergsma, Monica Mason, David Wall, Donald MacLeary, Michael Coleman, and Alexander Grant. A £6 voucher provides information about Covent Garden. The voucher makes the recipient a “Friend of Covent Garden,” and entitles the holder to attend rehearsals, special performances, lectures, concerts, master classes, and private parties. Free copies of a glossy magazine about opera and ballet are available.

Vouchers and the mailing list may be obtained from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

MRS M. J. C. BURFORD, who was successful in her first attempt to enter local polities. Standing for the Greymouth Borough Council, she gained the second highest number of votes. The list was headed by another woman, Mrs A. Innes, who was a member of the previous council. Mrs Burford is the wife of a Greymouth dental surgeon and the mother of four young children. She gained a BA. degree at the University of Otago and taught at primary schools before joining the staff of the Otago Girls’ High School. She has taken part in a number of community affairs in Greymouth during the last seven years.