Two N.Z.S.O. concerts

Press, 25 July 1984, Page 23

Two N.Z.S.O. concerts

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra will give two concerts at the Christchurch Town Hall this week. Both will be conducted by the orchestra’s principal guest conductor Franz-Paul Decker from Germany. ! The subscription concert on Saturday features Irish mezzo-soprano Bernadette Greevy and English baritone John Shirley-Quirk in songs from “Youth’s Magic Horn” by Mahler. The programme also includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) and the overture from Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro.” The second concert on Sunday features Bernadette Greevy in Elgar’s Sea Pictures. The programme also includes Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 (The Great) and Beethoven’s Leonore No. 3 Overture. 1976 was the last time Franz-Paul Decker conducted the N.Z.S.O. in Christchurch. Since then he has been much in demand as guest conductor throughout the world. Born on the Rhineland, he studied composition and conducting at the Cologne Hochschule fur Musik, and graduated from the University of Cologne.

Following a brief period as chorusmaster in one of the region’s many opera houses, he made his debut as conductor with the Cologne Opera at the age of 22. Four years later he became musical director of both the Wiesbaden Symphony and the Staatsoper. International recognition came in 1962 when FranzPaul Decker accepted leadership of the Rotterdam Philharmonic. Then five years later he was chosen to succeed Zubin Mehta as director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, a posi-

tion he held for nine years. He has conducted most of the leading orchestras in the world, including Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Leningrad and Brussels, as well as all the London orchestras. Recently he has again become heavily involved in the international opera field and earlier this year conducted Rosenkavalier and Gotterdammerung for Teatro Colon Buenos Aires. Bernadette Greevy, according to many international music critics, is one of the finest dramatic mezzos singing today. Bom in Dublin, she has sung with many leading orchestras an distinguished conductors including Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Charles Groves, Pierre Boulez and Sir David Wilcox. Her recent appearances have included performances of Tippett’s “A Child of Our Time” conducted by the composer in the United States and in Stockholm, and Verdi’s “Requiem” in the Brighton Festival.

She also sang for Pope John Paul II at the open-air Mass in Dublin where she is believed to have had the largest live audience recorded, 1.3 million people, and one of the greatest

television audiences, 1000 million viewers. Her operatic roles include Rosina in Rossini’s “Barber of Seville,” the title role in Massenet’s “Herodiade,” Delilah in Saint-Saens’ “Samson and Delilah,” and Charlotte in Massenet’s “Werther.” Bernadette Greevy last appeared with the orchestra in Christchurch in 1977. John Shirley-Quirk is one of Britain’s best-known baritones. Bom in Liverpool, his early musical studies were on the violin. He started a successful

career as a lecturer in physics and physical chemistry, and then served in the Royal Air Force. Singing, however, soon took over his life and it was not long before he began making his mark in British musical circles. Since then he has sung all over the world with ; most of the leading orchestras and conductors. Benjamin Britten created several roles for him, including the multiple characters in “Death in Venice,” in which he made a highly successful' Metropolitan Opera debut ;in 1974. In 1977 he won enormous acclaim for his role in Tipgjtt’s “Ice Break” at Covent arden. In the field of opera he has been most closely associated with the English Opera Group and Scottish Opera. He devotes a considerable part of each year to appearances with the major orchestras in the United States, and , appears regularly at the major musical centres on either side of the Atlantic. ! During iJohn ShirleyQuirk’s first visit to New Zealand in 1981 he gave a recital in Christchurch with Maurice Till.