NINE-YEAR-OLD CONDUCTOR
HOLDS BATON FOR A SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Toronto, Dec. 23. Michael Spivak, aged nine years, took the baton from the conductor. Sir Ernest Macmillan, and conducted the Toronto Symphony Orchestra through two movements of Haydns "Toy Symphony." while Sir Ernest Macmillan played the cuckoo's part in the symphony. The idea for the performance came from Sir Ernest, who had heard of Spivak only that day. The boy did not make a false move and brought the orchestra to its feet to share the applause and timed his encore and bows perfectly. His parents said that Michael practised conducting by listening to gramophone records, but practised the symphony on a piano and with records until he knew it backwards. Interviewed, Michael said he considered music an important part of his life, but he is "a little too young to discuss his ambitions."' He has been attending symphony concerts since ho was four.
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Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 304, 26 December 1945, Page 5
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152NINE-YEAR-OLD CONDUCTOR Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 304, 26 December 1945, Page 5
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