SINGER RECEIVES HUGE SALARIES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 164, 13 July 1931, Page 1

SINGER RECEIVES HUGE SALARIES.

MR HUGO LARSEN TALKS ON WORLD’S ARTISTSJ Mr Hugo Larsen, who has made aM dashing entry into his career as an im-l presario in Australia and New Zealand! by bringing two artists of world re-1 nown. Mark Ilambourg and Peter Daw-1 son, in company, to these shores, has! known many of the greatest musicians! in the world to-day. Chatting with an interviewer, Mr!

Larsen discussed some of the great artists with whom he had been in contact in various parts of the world. “ Take Martinelli, for instance,” he said. “ I went with him to Warner Brothers’ studio while he made his first talkie. He sang an extract from 4 Aida.' and ' beautifullv he did : T . i-

it. I consider he I is the logical successor to Caruso. The! Americans call him the ‘ Millionaire! Tenor.’ I have seen him put his namel to a contract which brought him! 200,000 dollars. He is engaged for life! by the New York Metropolitan Opera! House, and each year, when his severj months there are up. he has the choice! of many contracts for concert tours.j Another highly-paid man is Mr Stoko-I wski, who received 70,000 dollars al year and 10,000 dollars gratuitv fori conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra.l “ The highest paid artist in the world,! however, is not a man at all, but al boy, Yehudi Menuhin, the violinist.] In my opinion he is equal to Kreisler] and Heifetz rolled into one. I heard] him play in Paris to a house worth] almost a quarter of a million francsJ His father will not allow him to play

for less than £IOOO a concert, and he] almost invariablv receives more. In] the course of a letter to me. the lad’s] parent said he permitted Yehudi to] give only twenty-five concerts a year. I have made overtures for a tour of Australia and New Zealand. He is] booked up till the end of 1933, but may] consider a tour to this part of the world in 1934. Child Violinist. “ There is a child violinist named] Ruggieri Ricci, aged nine years, who promises to be even greater than Menuhin. Born in the poorest quarter of San Francisco, he was ‘discovered* and adopted by Louis Persinger, who taught Menuhin. I have seen Ricci : playing with his toys half an hour before appearing with one of America’s ' greatest orchestras. He had not a ; care in the world and nervousness was ; not in him. He has been carefully ' looked after because his health has 1 i been weak.” ‘ The greatest musician in the world,] 1 to Mr Larsen’s way of thinking, is : Pablo Casals, who returned to the con* ’ cert stage as a consequence of unrest in Spain. He is a Catalonian and a| 5 close friend of the Spanish Royal Family, from whom he received finan- ; cial aid for his Barcelona Orchestra on which he is reputed to have personally spent £200,000. He arranged popular L concerts at the equivalent of lid en*; ; trance. Cortot is classed by the visiting entrepreneur as one of the leading pianists in the world to-day. The best of the younger school is Vladimir Horowitz, who signed a contract for eighty concerts, some at £4OO each. Another promising youngster is Jose Iturbi, a Spaniard, who was overlooked till he went to the United States. Now it is almost impossible to get near his concerts. » Mr Larsen is not content to stay slavishly to the concert platform. He was at one time in touch with Gene Tunney for a lecture tour.