MUSICAL' PROGRESS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22300, 24 December 1935, Page 14

MUSICAL' PROGRESS

INFLUENCE OF EADIO VISITING PROFESSOR'S VIEWS KEENER INTEREST AROUSED Under engagement to give a series of broadcast talks from the national stations on musical subjects Mr. Roland Foster arrived by the Monowai yesterday. As' well as being professor of singing and director of the Opera School at the New South State Conservatorium of Music, Mr. Foster is also the founder and honorary director of the city of Sydney Eisteddfod. which is by far the largest event of its kind in the Commonwealth. The entries this year exceeded 10,000. Mr. Foster has previously visited Xetv Zealand on several occasions as adjudicator at the Wellington and other competitions, and he was then much impressed with the high standard of musical attainment displayed by the competitors. One of the chief objects of his present visit is the hope of discovering a voice or voices of outstanding character, suitable for a professional career. He is confident of success in this, as some of liis best pupils in the past come from New Zealand. Mr. Foster mentioned that Miss Ruth Scott, the brilliant young Auckland soprano, who has met with great success in Sydney, has just signed a theatrical contract for a long engagement in Adelaide, and has an exceedingly promising future. Another New Zealand singer, Merle Miller, of Lyttelton, whom Mr. Foster heard at Wellington in 1923, and advised to come to Sydney for study, is now distinguishing herself in London. The current view that broadcasting has a deteriorating influence on music is directly opposed by Mr. Foster. "Far from in any way having an injurious effect on music,'-' he said, "we lind that it is just the reverse, because through hearing music over the air people are awakening to a greater appreciation and a keener interest m music than they formerly possessed." Referring to musical conditions in Sydney, Mr. Foster said there was a strong upward tnend of musical activity and appreciation. Following three years of depression, . during which broadcasting was unjustly blamed for the decline in concert-going, there has been a definite revival of musical activity in every direction. The most notable event of the year's music in Sydney was Sir Benjamin Fuller's great opera season in English. This was a really splendid undertaking, with a companv of British artists, who would compare favourably with any Italian company that visited Australia. The performances, Mr. Foster said, proved conclusively that opera can be sung in English quite as attractively as in any other language, and with the additional advantage of enabling the audience to hear what it is all about.