Soprano leads busy life

Press, 30 November 1978, Page 6

Soprano leads busy life

■j Good organisation is the jkey to combining a successI ful singing career with a , ■[ happy family life, says the 1 ■ Australian soprano, Nance ; Grant, who arrived in , I Christchurch on Tuesday for;. ’ltwo week-end performances. Miss Grant, who is princi- : pal singer with the Austra-[ Ilian Opera Company, lives; i in Melbourne with her husband. Tan Harris, an I accountant, and their three 1 i children. Her days are well j organised to fit in singing , practice as well as such family commitments as col- , Jecting her children from school, and housework. Nance Grant has singing engagements until March,. 1980. As principal singer she .must give at least 20 per-j Ifonnances with the Austra-1 lian Opera Company next year, and will do a 10-con-; cert series for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, as. well as fulfilling engagements in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. . Christchurch audiences ■ will be the first in New Zealand to hear her sing. She is 1 one of four soloists in a per-.

formance of Beethoven’s [ “Missa Solemnis” on Saturday evening, and she will) [sing in the “Benedictus” from the “Missa Solemnis”! on Sunday morning. Both performances are in honour of Mr Robert Field-Dodgson, [who has been conductor for I the Royal Christchurch Musical Society for 30 years. Miss Grant has found a [“tremendous” interest in opera in Australia. Several ; years ago Australian singers had to go overseas, but now because of the “marvellous” ; Australian Opera Company I they were coming back, she said. The Australian Opera Company used to do one oi l two seasons a year in Melbourne. but would do five there next year, and the Vic- [ toria Opera Company would [also perform, she said. [When the Melbourne Arts Centre with its concert hall I was finsihed,' it would push Melbourne ahead even further in this field. The Sydney Opera House had really “sparked” people's interest in opera, concerts and oratorios, said [Miss Grant. She thoroughly enjoyed performing there, j Nance Grant, who was

awarded the M.B.E. m 19 16 seriously at 17. Many people) for her services to music,[today learnt to sing tool believes her ability to sing [young and “burnt them-l comes from her Welsh an-:selves out” before their cestors. She started to sing'voices matured, she said.