ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 June 1936, Page 5

ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY

HONORARY MEMBERS’ CONCERT It must have been gratifying to the recently appointed conductor of the Greymouth Orchestral Society, Mr. S. A. N. Sullivan, to note both the performance of the Orchestra under his baton, and the appreciation of the large audience, at the first honorary members’ concert of the 1936 season, which was held in the Town Hall last evening. The programme was well chosen, with exceptional balance, and the Orchestra gave it full justice, their work being a tribute to the preparation under Mr. Sullivan, and a promise of better things to come. The Society was equally fortunate in its choice of assisting artists, and as a whole the programme was most enjoyable. The Society seems again to be’ on a firm foundation, and provided that the public support it deserves is forthcoming, it proposes to produce a light opera. The Mayor (Mr. W. Meldrum) congratulated the conductor and the orchestra upon the standard of the evening’s performance, and appealed to the public to support the Society, in view of its valuable contribution to the musical life of the community. He pointed out that the cost of music was a heavy drain on the Society’s resources, but that if more members were secured, the Society would then be in a position to offer an even greater variety of numbers at its concerts. He also thanked the assisting artists for their numbers. The orchestral portion of the programme comprised six numbers, the “Barber of Seville” overture (Rossini), “The Desert Song” selection (Romberg), “Naughty Marietta” selection (Herbert), the intermezzo “The Creole Queen’” (Hall), “11 Trovatore” selection (Verdi) and the march “Hero of the Game” (Cobb). Each number was nicely brought out in its different moods, the outstanding items probably being the selections from “Il rrovatore” and “Naughty Marietta,” although the “Creole Queen” was tunefully played. For her numbers. Miss Elsie Finch (soprano) choose “Unforgotten Melody” (Haydn Wood) and “A Heart is Free,” and gave each an artistic interpretation, receiving an enthusiastic reception. Her encore number “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life,” from “Naughty Marietta” was even more popular. A favourite with Greymouth audiences, Mr .Arnold Perry (Hokitika), further enhanced his reputation in the songs “I Bring My Love” (Thurston), and the Spanish serenade "Paquita.” In response to an insistent demand for a second encore his pleasing lyric tenor voice was heard in “The Star. He was accompanied by Miss MeSlierry* The programme was given added variety with a violin selection by pupils of the Convent of Mercy, Misses Tessie McSherry, A.T.C.L., Una and Mona Murray, with Miss Nancy Harrie at the piano, “Spanish Dance No. 3, Opus 12” (Moskowski), and was an excellent performance.

EXHIBITIONS PRESENTED. Prior to th© conclusion of the programme, Mr R. T. Bush, Honorary local representative of the Royal Schools of Music, London, presented Misses Teresa McSherry and I jm Murray with the exhibitions won by them last year 9 t the Practical Examinations of the Schools. He , first thanked the Orchestral Society for affording him the opportunity of making the presentations publicly and stated that it probably fell to his lot to make more similar presentations than any other of the representatives in this Dominion. Greymouth had had a large proportion of these honours, and this reflected to the credit

not only of the exhibitioners but to the excellent teaching available in Greymouth at the Convent of Mercy. As in a general way little was ever said regarding the work being carried out by the Sisters at the Greymouth Convent, it was a pleasure to him to publicly refer to the successes achieved by their pupils and to tell the Greymouth public of their achievements. In addition to the honours awarded by the Royal Academy and Royal College, London, pupils of the Convent were always among those awarded by Trinity College, London. This indicated the highly efficient teaching available in Greymouth. Singularly enough, the honours won by pupils from the Convent of Mercy had all been for violin work and included gold and silver medals, bursaries of £l5 and £lO, and most important of all, two travelling scholarships, those won by Miss Mary Martin and Miss Cecilia Keating, the latter being at present at the Royal College, London, continuing her studies. He then presented Miss Tessie McSherry with the Silver Medttl won in the Final Grade and Miss Una Murray with her £lO bursary awarded in the Intermediate grade examinations. In doing so, Mr Bush mentioned that Miss McSherry’s honour also carried with it a free entry for her L.A.B. examination worth £5/5/-. He said that Miss Murray was a little unfortunate in having missed a medal by one mark. He congratulated both young ladies on their successes and hoped their aim wouli} be to secure the scholarship which would take them to either the Royal Academy or the Royal College of Music, London, the schools looked upon by musical people throughout the British Commonwealth as the Mecca of Music.