DUNEDIN COMPETITIONS SOCIETY

Evening Star, Issue 22721, 7 August 1937, Page 30

DUNEDIN COMPETITIONS SOCIETY

INTEREST IN FESTIVAL There is always genuine interest in the progress of contestants at an annual festival. Each year marks the debut of a promising singer or elocutionist, and the experience provided on the platform of the Competitions Society at this early _ stage has been acknowledged by artists who subsequently .have made their name in the wider field of artistic effort. Imbued with the idea of promoting the highest possible standard at each year’s festival, the Executive Committee of the society has again compiled a most attractive syllabus for this year. Certain new features have been introduced, the outstanding one being the Gilbert and Sullivan and .light or comic opera contest. The entries for this section are very gratifying, and lovers of Gilbert and Sullivan will find this contest particularly interesting. The entries for the grand opera aria contest, which proved such an attraction at last year’s festival, are again satisfactory, whilst the chief piano solo for the “ Moller Trophy ” has also provided a splendid field of contestants. On the elocutionary side, the interest has been well maintained, whilst the number of entries for impromptu speeches is much higher than usual. Short plays are always an attractive feature of the festival, and the entries under this heading have been unusually satisfactory. The total entries are again very heavy; approximately 2,400 have been registered. •'* The .engagement of qualified adadjudicators is one of the essential preludes to a successful Competitions Festival. In this respect the society has been singularly fortunate in its choice. The services of an English adjudicator, Mr Anderson Tyrer, of the Board of the Trinity College of Music, London, have, by arrangement with this'body, been secured. Mr Tyrer has had extensive experience in adjudicating at some of the greatest festivals in the British Empire, and his visit to the Dunedin Festival is being looked forward to with great interest by competitors. He will judge all the vocal work. Mr Ernest Jenner, _of Christchurch, whose musical ability is well known in Dunedin, will adjudicate the instrumental sections. Mrs Zoe Bartley Baxter, a ‘ well-known performer in Auckland, will judge the elocutionary work, whilst Miss Peggy Holmes, of Christchurch, will be responsible for the dancing decisions. Souvenir programmes are being printed, and will soon be available; A perusal of. these will indicate the quality of the excellent programmes to he submitted over the full term of the festival, which begins on August 18 and extends without a break until September 4.