WESTMINSTER GLEE SINGERS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 3 December 1929, Page 7

WESTMINSTER GLEE SINGERS.

CELEBRATED ENGLISH SINGERS. By arrangement with Edward Branscombe, who organised the Empire tour, the Westminster Glee Singers, under the direction of Henry Hay ward, will appear in the De Luxe Theatre on Tuesday, December 10th. The company is an entirely new one, the members of which were selected by Mr Branscombe from great Cathedrals, church choirs, Colleges of Music and musical institutions of England, and embarked on a tour of the British Empire whiih commenced in Canada where they gave over four hundred concerts over a period of eighteen mouths, which has never been equalled in the Dominion. There are six boy soprano soloists and seven adult artists in the company and their programmes, which are changed night ly, consist of folk songs, madrigals, glees, anthems, plantation melodies, English, Scotch, Irish and Welsh national airs, vocal dances, solos, duets, humorous quartets, sailor shantcys and vocal song scenas. Thoroughly to appreciate a great portion of the music submitted at public performances one lias to be in some sense a musician; but any person with but half an ear can revel in the performance of the Westminster Glee Wingers, who fly into classical altitudes, but they sing the folk songs and national melodies of the Old Country, which in the days gone by made even the blood of our forefathers tingle. In these old songs there *s tunefulness, there are charm and daintiness, and these fascinating qualities are made the most of by the cultured singers who form the present company. Whether it be a stately madrigal or a frolicsome waltz; whether it be a jovia! glee or a tender cradle song or whether these singers disport themselves in some sacred echo from a great English Cathedra], the effect of so line a combinations of boys' and men's voices is captivating in the highest degree. Only one performance can be given in Levin and the box plan is at Stannard's.