Macann joins opera

Press, 15 August 1978, Page 20

Macann joins opera

The New Zealand bassbaritone, Rodney Macann, will make his debut with the Welsh National Opera next year, in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” The opera will tour the United Kingdom. He was invited lo join. ; the opera company after 1 its musical director, Richard Armstrong, saw his recent performance in I “Balshazzar’s Feast” with : the Birmingham City Or- | chestra. i That. performance earned Macann impressive reviews in Britain’s major daily papers and music magazines. The 36-year-old singer said he felt his career was “really beginning to take off.” He said that in the past he had concentrated on concert performances, but now he wanted to move into opera in a

serious way, reports NZPA. Rodney Macann left Christchurch in 1966 to join the 8.8. C. Singers. He made his major concert debuts — including Carnegie Hall and the Berlin Festival — in 1970, and has developed his career steadily since then. He was last in New Zealand two years ago, when he toured with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Next year he hopes to return to New Zealand, although his plans are not yet settled. As well as touring with the Welsh National Opera next year, Macann will perform in a series of concerts with the Halle Orchestra, with Dame Janet Baker and John Mitchonson. The performances will include Vaughan Williams’s Sea Symphony, “Messiah,” and “The Dream of Gerontius.”