FULLER-GONSALEZ SEASON

Evening Star, Issue 19894, 16 June 1928, Page 5

FULLER-GONSALEZ SEASON

GRAND OPERA AT HIS MAJESTT'I Dunedin ■ is recognised throughout New Zealand and Australia as haring a musical public which is most critical and discerning. Only the best of music will suit its taste, and from Saturday next the cognoscertic will enjoy a banquet of grand opera. Years have passed since grand opera was sung here, and the event is of great importance to the musical community. Having a first-hand knowledge of the high musical standard demanded in Dunedin, the Fuller firm has chosen a brilliant repertoire for the season at His Majesty’s Theatre. Opening with Verdi’s popular ‘II Trovatore’ on Saturday night, the Fuller Gonsalea Company will follow with ‘La Tr«viata,’ ‘ Faust,’ * Lucia di Lammermoor,’ ’Nprma,’ ‘ Rigoletto, ‘ Mignon,’ ‘Carmen,’ ‘Un Hallo in Maschero,’ ’ Barber of Seville,’ and ‘ Carmen.’These are without doubt the most popular works in grand opera, and are included in the repertory of every opera house in Europe and America. Yet the gems will he available to ail as, following a policy which has proved highly successful, the Fuller firm has fixed a scale of charges that will suit the pockets of both rich and poor. A grand opera season is a gigantic undertaking owing to the lingo cost, but the glowing approbation of the Melbourne and Sydney audiences, which packed the theatres nightly for exceedingly lengthy seasons, prompted the Fuller brothers to semi the company to New Zealand. The brothers Comaicz, headed bv Maestro Ciovanni Consalez, who directed a season of grand opera in Australia and New Zealand in I9IG, established in both countries u reputation which the forthcoming tour promises to eclipse, as they have brought with them Irom the land of song and the home of opera a band of singers and artists said to bo tar in advance of ariy combination previously heard in New Zealand. The company has seventeen nHueiuals in all, a chorus, operatic ballet, and orchestra, numbering nearly eighty. IVith only two exceptions, th* principals are quite young, having voices possessing the' freshness ol youth, and they have all had some years of experience in the great opera liousos of Europe and America. Of the company which was here twelve years ago, only Signor Scamuzzi, the dashing baritone, remains. The chorus, which forms a background to the singers and Carnes on the_ action of the stories, won the approbation of Australian critics, while _ the orchestra is composed of musicians who know every bar of the operas. ’I ho ensembles are magnificent, ihe Melbourne 1 Age. ’ saying recently that the operas were staged on a grand scale.

llioro are lour sopranos in the company, Hosita Silversloi is a dramatic soprano of the highest class, and is tailed Iroin Australia as being also a. wonderful actress. Voulli, beauty, and charm are possessed by Margherita I’lor, a lyric soprano, and Olga Poletti Alaria llenkina (a Russian) are brilliant coloratura sopranos. The mezzo-sopranos arc Nina Algozzina, who takes the part of tho gypsy in ‘II 1 rovatorc,’ and Carmen in the opera of that name, and Matilda Phrimmer, a rising talented, young, and dainty artist. Tho tenors include Alessandro Roto, who fairly brought down tha houses in Australia in ‘Lucia di Lammermoor ’ and ‘La Favorita,’ Brandisio Fannucci (a lyric-dramatic, who is outstanding as Faust), and Arturo Tamburini. The baritones are Vicleffo Scamuzzi, whose past performances iu Dunedin have not been forgotten, Franco Izal, a vocalist and actor of high quality, and Francesco Federici, a cultured artist, Ernesto Fumagalli has a reputation tor being magnificent, both vocally and histrionically, in the heavy basso parts, while the other basso is Antonio Alfiori. The box plans open on Monday.