RICHARD CROOKS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22999, 30 September 1936, Page 4

RICHARD CROOKS

APPEARANCE OF FAMOUS TENOR There was a very large queue outside the D.I.C. early yesterday morning, formed by those who were anxious to procure seats for the only concert to be given at the Town Hall by Richard Crooks on Monday night next. “ Musiclovers,” wrote a Sydney critic, “.knew Richard Crooks by repute as the leading tenor of the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. They had gained a more direct view of his vocal capabilities by listening to his records. But few of the audience which filled the huge auditorium of.the Sydney Town Hall could have been prepared for the full extent of artistry which he revealed to them.. This was . the perfection of singing—a beautiful voice, refined and moulded and coloured — and it served to express not ,only the externals but the most inward and intimate spirit of the music. The audience took Mr Crooks to its heart almost before he had uttered a single note. His personality is singularly free and genial—the very thing to appeal to the democratic Australian public. When at the end of his first song he noticed people waiting round the door, and remarked cordially, “Come and take your seats; I’m in no hurry,” his conquest was complete. A voice of masculine resonance, yet velvety quality, and an ardent whole-hearted singer, tensely feeling and imparting the sentiment of every word, and there you have the renowned tenor.” Another critic wrote the following: “ Rarely has Australia heard a tenor voice of such lyrical perfection as that of Richard Crooks. His purity and variety of tone, his effortless production and warmth of feeling, combine to break down the opposition of the most austere intellectualist.” Although the booking is heavy there are still plenty i of seats at the highest and lowest E rices which may be selected at the M.C.