THE MICHIGAN DAILY ziv Conductors Will Participate In Festival's Six Coi UWMAT MARCH icer " ser man Pianist Is Political Exile true veteran of thp concert stage, dence that Mr. Schnabel has become ur Schnabel can look back on a one of the greatest exponents of the eer of 38 years in which he has works of this man, Johannes Brahms. yed and lived in most of the coun- Nix On Encores!' s of the world. One of Schnabel's iron-bound rules orn in Austria 53 years ago, Mr. is not to give encores, as he believes nabel made Germany the center that masterpieces must be followed his concert and teaching activities by something trivial as an additional il he had to leave because of polii- heavy work does not usually please conditions. Although his sons the audience. However, once he broke ke the United States their home this rule. and his wife live in London most This happened in Washington,' he year. D.C., some years ago when a faulty [e was fortunate in not having chair prevented him from playing the put in long years of preliminary first part of his program to his own ning in his youth. At ten he was satisfaction. While playing he felt epted as a pupil of Leschetizky the chair slipping and sliding be- continued with him for five years neath him, and though Schnabel tried 11 the regular instruction he ever to brace his heels on the floor to' -. hold it in place it was of no use, and Meeting With Brahms he found himself stretching his arms he story is told of his experience and legs to reach the keyboard and ring at one of Leschetizky's studio pedal. certs. After finishing his selec- It was found that the chair was , an elderly bearded man arose equipped with special sliding knobs n a far corner of the room to ask keep the legs from damaging the amazement: carpet. They were removed and How in goodness' name can you Schnabel played the only encore in r all of this so correctly?" his concert experience "making is probably more than a coinci- amends to Beethoven." To Take Place .*. THOR JOHNSON How To Be A Tenor How can a tenor sing more than 26 years in opera and still keep sweet and young on high .notes? Giovanni Martinelli, who has contrived to do this, gives credit to his chef and good man Friday, Noemio Guido. I Dr. Ormandy, Harl McDonald To Lead Again Saul Caston, Juva Higbee And Thor Johnson Also Will Direct Orchestra For rapidity of baton-shifting a' conference track meet has nothing onf this year's May Festival. During the six-concert program five conductors will handle the direc- torial stick. For Eugene Ormandy, regular conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, it will be a familiar experi- ence. Violin prodigy at five, profes- sor in violin playing at 16, he has been conducting for almost a quarter! of a century. He has directed the New York Philharmonic, the Minne- apolis Symphony and the Philadel- phia Orchestra. Saul Caston, associate conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1936, has been playing first trumpet with the organization since he was 21. Beforehe joined the orchestra when he was 16, he played in the Russian Symphony and with the Young Men's Symphony. Mr. Caston will direct the Orchestra in the Fri- day afternoon concert. Harl McDonald, who will lead the orchestra in the first performance of his Sante Fe Symphony, has been at one time or another, an orchestral player, concert pianist, lecturer in composition, research worker in prob- lems of tone measurement, choral and orchestral conductor. He prefers to think of' himself as a composer, however, and a long list of works in large and small forms, which are fre- quently performed, justify him in that preference. Last year, he also conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in the prem- iere of one of his symphonies. Thor Johnson will conduct the Choral Union in its Festival presen- tations. He has won distinction as the organizer and musical director of the Mozart Festival at Winston-Sal- em, N.C.; as the holder of the Beebe Foundation Scholarship for a year's study abroad; for his conducting of University Little Symphony on tours involving more than 60 concerts throughout the Middle West and South. Director of the Young People's Fes- tival Chorus, a welcomed fixture to Festival programs, Miss Juva Higbee has gained wide fame as the trainer of countless hundreds of boys and girls for choral singing. Carillon To Be Featured Prof. Percival Price, University Carilloneur, will play short programs on the Charles Baird Carillon each . . Podia m HARL McDONALD Cordon Truly American Artist Norman Cordon, the Metropolitan Opera'e new bass-baritone star is truly an American artist. Born in Washington, North Caro- lina, he started his singing career as a choir boy, earning four dollars a month.. He attended Fishbourne Military Academy and later entered the University of North Carolina, where he played in a saxaphone quar- tet. It was there that he began the serious study of music which he con- tinued for four years at the Nash- ville Conservatory of Music under Gaetano de Luca, then for two years in Chicago under Hadley Outland. Cordon's real singing career was launched when, after a series of per- formances with the San Carlo Opera Company, he was signed by the Chi- cago Grand Opera Company. He made his debut with that organiza- tion as Angelotti in "Tosca," and was hailed by Herman Devries, dean of Chicago criticis, as "a singer of great promise." Cordon followed this very success- ful first appearance with an amaz- ing operatic record, which included learning simultaneously a score of roles in 15 lyric works and singing 24 performances in five weeks with ever-increasing success. Next came appearances with the Detroit Civic Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra under Stokowski, a return engagement with the Chicago Grand Opera Company and a 39-week radio engagement. - Last season he sang with the St. Louis Grand Opera Company . as Landgrave in "Tannhauser." Re- turning to Chicago, he sang in "Thais," "Rigoletto," "La Traviata," "Turnadot," "Aida," "Lucia,"' "Car- men" and "La Fiamma" with the Chicago City Opera Company. THIRD MAY FESTIVAL CONCERT Jueav #if96ee , ... ... CONDUCTOR of the d Young People's Festival Chorus I The Young People's Festival Chorus, directed by Juva Higbee, is made up of sev- eral hundred young people from the Ann Arbor Schools, Miss Higbee has worked with this organization for many years, influencing the musical career of many of her stu- dents. The performance of this group with that of the Choral Union presages splen- didly trained choral singers for the years to come. Star of Opera' ConcertRai'Sre MISS LILY PONS, the world's premier coloratura, will appear in concert in Hill Auditorium on Friday evening, May 10. fflnY FG S TI VFL I' dill Auditopium I ~1 evening Festival at 7:45 p.m. preceding the concerts. :1 i ..,mil The, 1940 U A The University Musical Society presents the forty-seventh annual May Festival, to be held May 8-11. For almost fifty years the May Festivals have presented the outstanding Music Personalities, and this year have again attained the same high standards. 1' SOLOISTS LILY PONS ..... DOROTHY MAYNOR ROSA TENTONI. ENID SZANTHO. GIOVANNI MARTINELLI LAWRENCE TIBBETT. .Soprano Soprano ..Soprano Contralto ... Tenor . . Baritone I1OBERT WEEDE NORMAN CORDON RICHARD HALE JOSEPH SZIGETI EMANUEL FEUERMANN ARTUR SCHNABEL Baritone .Bass Narrator Violinist Violoncellist . Pianist ORGANIZATIONS The Philadelphia Orchestra The University Choral Union The Young People's Chorus CHORAL WORKS "THE INIMITABLE LOVERS" Vardell "SAMSON AND DELILAH" Saint-Saens G. PRICES: SEASON TICKETS: (Six Con- certs) may be ordered at the Main Office of .the School of Music, on MAY FESTIVAL COUPONS from Season Choral Union Tickets en- titles original holders to price re- INDIVIDUAL CONCERT TICK- ETS will be taken from the unsold season tickets and will be offered 1 11