ENTERTAINMENTS, ETC.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 81, 3 October 1904, Page 6

ENTERTAINMENTS, ETC.

_. * .—. — MR. WATKIN MILLS. The farewell performance of Mr. Watkin Mills on Saturday night was, as it deserved to be, a triumphant success. The Opera House was filled with an 'j audience whose appreciation was marked and enthusiastic. Mr. Mills was at the disadvantage of having just arrived after a railway journey of two hundred miles, and his train having been delayed, had to rush post-haste from the platform to liie stage. The programme was an exacting one, calling out all the powers of. the vocalist, whose grand and rich voice, mastery of his subjects, and versatility were displayed. The programme included Handel's "Honour and .Arms" and "Droop Not, Young Lover," "O cv, Palermo," Gounod's "Nazareth," "The Windmill" (Nelson), "The Old Plaid Shawl," "Father O'Flynn," "The Hundred Pipers," "In Sheltered Vale." (from the German), and "The Queen of Connemara." To these were added, as encore pieces, "Still as the Night," "The Lost Chord," "The Sweetest Flower that Blows," and "Pretty "Creature." In some of the more popular and familiar peces the enthusiasm of the audience reached the highest pitch. The 'pianoforte accompaniments by M. Parlovitz were sympathetic in the highest degree, and in the two pieces "Thou'rt Passing Hence" and "The Lost Chord," in which they were supplemented by .an organ obligate by Mr. W. Spencer Jones, the combined effect of the two fine instruments, strictly subordinated as it was to the melody, was highly impressive. M. Parlovitz, m his pianoforte solos, showed fine command of his instrument, and played with exquisite expression. Mr. Mills's numerous admirers will be pleased to know that he contemplates returning to New Zealand next year.