EDNA THOMAS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19476, 11 May 1925, Page 3

EDNA THOMAS.

RETURN VISIT. The announcement that the inimitable Pldna Thomas, whose fascinating spirituals and creole melodies have brought the world to jier feet, would give an extra costume recital at Burns Hall, Dunedin, on Thursday, May 14, came ns a delightful surprise to music-lovers of this city. The warmth and charm of the singer’s personality, her consummate art, , and ' the quaint songs that she sings in her beautiful mezzo voice, made a deep and lasting impression in Dunedin, and the greatest interest is being manifested in her return visit. Miss Thomas has just concluded an unusually successful season at Invercargill, and the end of her South Island tour is drawing to a close. After she has toured the. North Island Miss Thomas will give fW concerts in Australia before proceeding to London, where her agent has booked a long tour in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Discussing the enthusiasm of the New Zealand people for the spirituals, Miss Thomas remarked that the reason they appealed to the. Christchurch people, as to the English, was because of their great amount of sentiment and heart interest. “I always like to say that above all else the heart beat is first, and one must appeal to an Englishman's heart and sincerity,” says Edna Thomas, “because of the wealth of emotion in Scotch songs, the people of Dunedin appreciated the spirituals for their strong emotionalism and poetic setting, and a personal relationship was very soon established between my audiences and myself. In Wellington, on the other hand, with its more cosmopolitan peoples, they had a much wider and more varied appeal.”