NEW ZEALAND SINGERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20322, 2 February 1928, Page 16

NEW ZEALAND SINGERS.

LONDON STUDENTS DOING WELL. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 24. Miss Anne Williams, the well-known teacher of singing, gave an “ at home ” at 14 Clifton Gardens, this week, which «had particular interest for New Zealanders. Miss Ada Crossley was present and two of Miss Williams’s former pupils —Miss Stella Murray and Mr Robert Geddes, both New Zealanders and professional singers. A number of Miss Williams’s present pupils sang during the afternoon, and New Zealand interest lay chiefly in the performances of Miss Lorna Smith (Dunedin),Miss Doris Black (Wellington), and Mrs Holmes (Christchurch). Miss Lorna Smith, who was on holiday with her parents until October, remained in London to take a course in singing. She has been with Miss Williams for ( barely two months, but those few who had heard her sing at the beginning of her course of intensive tuition are of opinion that she has made wonderful progress. She has a rich contralto voice which she is learning to use with considerable effect and dignity. Miss Smith first sang in a dainty trio, “ Puppilette.” In a duet —Lithuanian Song (Cnopin)—with Miss Molly Mitchell (a Cornish girl), she had greater opportunities, and the number was one of the most successful of the afternoon’s entertainment. Miss Smith also sang two solos, in both of which she sang exceedingly well. The first was “ Sun Above Me ” (Pergolesi, the English version arranged by Mrs R- H. Elkin) and the, second, “ The Robber Man ” (music by Herbert Hughes). Miss £)oris Black has been in London for several years, and has also had the advantage of tuition in Italy, but she has not been heard in public very often. She has remarkable control over a soprano voice of fine quality, her high notes being particularly good. The two songs she chose gave her an opportunity of showing she is well able to deal with the most difficult work. These were “ The Snow Maiden’s Song,” from the opera ‘ Th© Snow Maiden,” and “ The ; Rose Enslaves the Nightingale ” (Rinsky-Kor-sakov), both of which she sang with the facility that only comes with years of training. Miss Black’s voice is not a powerful one, but it is a good one and she knows how to use it.