Non-stop pace for singer

Press, 10 March 1982, Page 7

Non-stop pace for singer

Plenty of energy, determination. and motivation have kept Jane Manning, the British soprano, going through a non-stop schedule in the last few weeks. She arrived in Christchurch yesterday. Before leaving London for Christchurch last week, Miss Manning had just returned from a hectic 11-day tour of England, and before that an engagement in San Francisco. She has already been to the United States twice this year, and a third visit there, plus others to Australia, Finland, Sweden, and Berlin will occupy the next few months. Recognisd as one of the world's leading exponents of twentieth-century music, Miss Manning has been brought here by the Christchurch Arts Festival, with support from the Southern Regional Arts Council, S and the University of Canter- ! bury. ! In Christchurch she will sing the world premiere of a work by the Wellington composer, Lyell Cresswell, who is at present composer-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh. “Prayer for the cure of a sprained back” is a Maori poem which was translated into English by Arthur Thomson, and put to ■ music by Mr Cresswell. “It is an extremely strenuous work,” she said. “I am experienced in doing hard music, but this is physically hard. It has been marvellous for limbering up, and has really stretched me." Miss Manning, who will leave Christchurch on Friday for an Australian tour, is well-known for the wide variety of work she performs, from Haydn to Noel Coward, but it is with contemporary music that she has really made her mark. “There are not many people wanting to perform this, as it is very hard,” she said. “It is

unknown territory, and with conservative audiences you have to sell that work.” She was born in Norwich, into a family keen on song. Initially, she learnt the piano, until a music teacher found that she had the “special gift” of perfect pitch, being able to identify any musical note. She completed a graduate course at the Royal Academy of Music, and then spent several years teaching music. She attended summer music schools in Devon, where she met many of the people who were, to help shape her future career. Later, Miss Manning gave up teaching, which she loved, to take a special singing course in Switzerland run by Professor Frederick Husler, and his assistant, Yvonne Rodmarling. “They taught the economical use of air in singing,” she said. “You do not need all that much air if you sing properly.” At that time she was given her first singing engagement in London, and the author of a “rotten review” of the performance, Anthony Payne, later became her hus’band. Mr Payne, who will join his wife for her Australian tour, is a well-known London critic and is now making his name as a composer. Her career “burgeoned” from that point. Now she has a busy schedule in Britain and abroad. As well as singing, she also gives lectures, and takes master classes. She suffers from asthma, and her recent 11-day English tour was to promote a film on how to cope with the affliction. She finds the condition does not affect her singing, because of the breathing methods she uses. Both her Swiss singing instructors were asthmatics. Miss Manning will give lunch-time concerts today and on Friday at the James

Hay Theatre. Her selection of music will be different at each.As well, she will perform at the University of Canterbury tomorrow, and will give a lecture there on Friday on singing and contemporary music. The other visiting artist performing in the Arts Festival this week is Richard Mapp. He will play Rachmaninov's Concerto Number One with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra on Saturday evening in the Town Hall auditorium. Mr Mapp will also give a recital of works by Beethoven, Chopin, Bach-Busoni and Ravel in the auditorium on Tuesday evening.