Music and Drama

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23020, 23 April 1938, Page 14 (Supplement)

Music and Drama

THEATRICAL NOTES

COMING PRODUCTIONS THEATRE AND CONCERT HALL HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE To-day.—Stanley McKay's Gaieties. TOWN HALL CONCERT CHAMBER May 6.—Royal Auckland Clioir. LEWIS EADY HALL April 27.—Chamber Music Society May 10.—Auckland Juvenile Choir. May 24 and 26.—-Sheridao Players, Juvenile Choir Concert The second season of the Auckland Juvenile Choir will open with a concert on May 19 in the Lewis Eady hall. The choir, which is trained and conducted by Miss Ida Holmes, will present a varied selection of part songs, including numbers by Beethoven, Brahms, Sterndale Bennett, Denza, Mendelssohn and Edward German. Assisting artists will be Miss Isabel Langlands, violinist, and Miss Aileen Warren, pianist. Play-Writing Competitions

After lapsing for one year, the playwriting competitions conducted by the British Drama League, fiew Zealand branch, will be held again this year, the closing date for entries being July 15. There will be two competitions, one for junior writers not over 18 years of age, and one for senior competitors. The plays will be judged on their plot, construction, characterisation and dialogue and the results will be announced at the finals of the national drama festival. Advanced School of Drama

The Auckland Area Committee of the British Drama League proposes to hold an advanced school of drama from May 10 to 14, provided that sufficient registrations are received by the beginning of the month. The classes will be held in the evenings and will include mime, stage movement, ( make-up, stage design, production and rehearsals. The director of the school will be Miss Elizabeth Loe, official tutor of the New Zealand branch of the British Drama league. Such a school should be of great value to amateur dramatics in Auckland and it is pleasing to see the area committee taking this action, particularly as the summer school was not held this year. Handel Medal Awarded

Mrs. Lawrence Townsend, well-known in America as a discoverer and promotor of musical talent, was invited to the German Embassy last month to receive the Handel medal, bestowed annually for service in behalf of Handel's music. It is awarded by the town of Halle, Germany, where the composer was born 253 ye<*>rs ago. Mrs, Townsend has spent much of the last 15 years helping such modern artists as Rosa Ponselle and Richard Crooks, both of whom made their capital debuts at her musicalea. She gave Fritz Kreisler his Vienna debut when he was 18 years old and her husband was United States Counsellor in Austria.

"Swing" Invades Carnegie Hall

The austere Carnegie Hall, which corresponds in New York to the Queen's Hall in London, was invaded a short time ago by music in its newest form —"swing"—interpreted by its foremost