THE CONSERVATOIRE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 89, 12 October 1938, Page 5

THE CONSERVATOIRE

SUCCESSFUL CONCERT

An excellent and varied programme was given last evening in the Town Hall Concert Chamber by those connected with the recently-formed Wellington Conservatoire. The Conservatoire, which has Mr. Anexander Kipnis, the famous Russian basso who recently toured New Zealand, as its patron, has been formed to provide specialised training in all branches of musical, vocal, and dramatic art. Its principals provided most of last night's programme, being assisted by those who have enrolled in the choir. The choir of mixed voices, conducted by Mr. Thomas Wood, opened and closed each half of the programme, singing very effectively "New Zealand," "The Clouds That Wrap the Setting Sun," "A Love Dream," "Dave Durden," "Come to the Greenwood," "All Through the Night." "When the Heart is Young," and "When Summer Days Grow Mild." The voices blended well and the choir was responsive to the conductor's beat. Professor W. Dear-den-Jackson played .with dynamic energy several pianoforte solos, his major contribution being the Liszt paraphrase of Wagner's "Flying Dutchman." In addition to this and to playing with marked taste some of the accompaniments for the vocalists, he showed his musical versatility by playing several bassoon solos, Handel's "Sarabande" and Godfrey's "Variations On a Once Popular Song" being amongst them. These were perhaps the most popular items on the programme. Mr. Thomas Wood used his bass-baritone voice robustly and to advantage in "The Two Grenadiers" (Schumann). "II Lacerato Spirito," from Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra," "Honour and Arms" from Handel's "Samson," and "To the Forest" (Tschaikowsky). Miss Karen Look, the possessor of a pleasing mezzocontralto voice, contributed "The Witches' May Song" and "The Fairies," two Mendelssohn compositions, and Miss Zena Willis, contralto, was warmly applauded for her singing of "The Question" (Schubert) and "Life and Death" (Coleridge-Taylor). All the vocalists were recalled to give encore numbers. Elocutionary items were contributed by Mr. Errol H. F. Muir. Thomas Bracken's "Not Understood" and Newbolt's "Ballad of John Nicholson" being the most acceptable. Miss Doreen Dickinson, a danseuse, was the guest artist. Her character story dance, "The Little' Prince in the Tower," was very effective, but even better received was her Spanish dance, "Asturiana Soy." The. Wellington Conservatoire's inaugural concert was an undoubted success, and one looks forward to its production towards the end-of the year of "The Rebel.Maid."