Auckland Singer In New Opera

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23157, 1 October 1938, Page 20 (Supplement)

Auckland Singer In New Opera

t • COVENT GARDEN AUTUMN SEASON [from our own correspondent] LONDON, September 12 Mr. Percy Heming, who is.organising the autumn opera season at Covent Garden, to open on October 10, mentions that one of the singers will be u young New Zealand bass, Mr. Oscar Natzko (Auckland), who is to appear in "The .Serf." '"The Serf" is a new opera oy Mr. Gcorpe Lloyd, who is a young composer net yet 25. The programme for the season, writes Mr. Heining in the Daily Telegraph, contains old favourites and a new work —old favourites because that is what" most people want —and a new opera, a new English opera by a composer still nearer 20 than 30, because it would surely show a want of spirit to stick -in the rut of the "repertory. "If we believe in opera at all, we cannot allow that everything worth saying has already been said. "At the same time, the world we live in must be recognised, and if George Lloyd's new opera 'The Serf' is to be our adventure, there will be steadying compensation in 'Faust,' 'Rigoletto' and 'Madam Butterfly.' We have not lost our heads in the Clouds. ' ' • r, "As for the singers, the names of most speak for themselves, but there will be a few newcomers who should interest the public. I will mention a

young New Zealand bass, Oscar Natzke, who is to appear in 'The Serf'; a Welsh tenor, John Fullard; and a new soprano, Hella Toros. Miss Toros was born at Trieste, but is English by marriage."