WEDDING OF TOTI DAL MONTE WILL BE BROADCAST.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18545, 20 August 1928, Page 11

WEDDING OF TOTI DAL MONTE WILL BE BROADCAST.

GORGEOUS CEREMONY WILL BE ON AIR THURSDAY

At the invitation of the \ ery Rev Dean < -rowley, and by courtesy of the J. C-. Williamson-Melba Grand Opera

Company, the New South Wales Broadcasting Company have arranged to broadcast the marriage of Signorina Toti dal Monte and Signor Enzo de Muro Lomanto, which will take place at St Mary’s Cathedral on Thursday, August 23. The service,

which will be fully choral, will com-

mence at approximately 20.45, and his Eminence Archbishop Cattaneo. the resident Papal Legate for Australia, will be the celebrant. The directors of the J. C. Wil-liamson-Melba Grand Opera season are arranging foe a full chorus from the company, and Signorina Lepa Scavizzi will be the soloist during the signing of the register. In answer to.requests that have been received from the adjoining States and. New Zealand, the transmission will be. broadcast on dual wave lengths of 442 metres and 28.5 metres.

There will be no re-broadcast by the New Zealand Radio Broadcasting Company.

Signor Lomanto is a native of Naples and was brought up from babyhood to the rhythm of music. ‘.‘They say I cried musically,” said Lomanto through his interpreter. “No wonder I am a lyric tenor now! ” Lomanto’s father was a chemist, but the boy had no liking for pills and potions, and wanted to go in for a musical career. Lomanto senior, however, wisely decided that the lad should first take up some practical study in case his voice failed. So Enzo took up law. but he studied'at every opportunity under good teachers at the Naples Conservatoire. His uncle was responsible for this advantage. While working at the .University on his legal course, he asked his nephew what he most desired, and the reply was: “ I want to sing,” So he was taken to the Conservatoire to have his voice tried. To his uncle’s astonishment, the director told him that Enzo had a lyric tenor voice which should not be allowed to be lost, and it was quickly arranged that the great De Lucia should give him lessons. The promise of his earlier days has been amply fulfilled. he is indeed a great artist, with a wide interpretative gift, but modest withal. “It has been a gamble between law and music. Music won ” is Lomanto’s simple version of it all. It is two years since Toti dal Monte was in Australia on concert tour for J. and N. Tait. She has been working harder than ever since she left, and has big Chicago contracts to x which she will return at the end of the present engagement. Toti dal Monte was the first world star to broadcast in Australia. The transmissions, by 2FC during the Grand Opera season of 1924 were remarkable for their success, and the /enthusiasm the'-- aroused. The consequent boom in the sale of wireless sets was unprecedented. The announcement of the grand opera broadcast was made two or three davs prior to the dates arranged, and the night Toti dal Monte sang to 2FC listeners, it was practically impossible to buy a crystal or a yard of aerial wire in Sydney. The Signorina acknowledges no virtues, and boasts a few harmless vices, among which is superstition, particularly regarding the colour red. “ Always I include a bit of red somewhere in my toilette on nights when I make a big debut,” she admitted.