THE MICHIGAN DAILY
J udith liRelig,x
Nl'oted Soprano;
Will Smig Here
European Opera Celebrity
Is Finshing First Tour
In Western Hemisphere
Although Judith Hellwig, con-
ce't Soprano and opera star, has
been in tlie Western Hemisphere for
only one season, her performances
here seem to indicate that she wil
have a tour in this hemisphere as
successful as those she enjoyed on
the Continent.
Her perforliances in Ann Arbor
WII be the last two in a seties of five
s£-appear nces with the Philadel-
phia Orchestra. She first appeared
in New Orleans with the orchestra,
under the direction of Eugene Or-
niandy, with the presentation of Bee-
thoven's Ninth Symphony.
She went next to Philadelphia, as
a soloist with the orchestra, in their
presentation of Verdi's Manzoni Req-
uiem. The Ninth Symphony will
again be given when Miss Hellwig
comes to participate in the May Fest-
ival. Honegger's "King David" will be
the other performance presented./
In 1941, Miss Hellwig sang six
different roles at the celebrated
Colon Opera ini Buenos Aires. She
was heard as Susanna in "The Mar-
riage of Figaro," as Micaela in "Car-
men" as Elsa in "Lohengrin," as Eva
in "Die Meistersinger," as Pamina in
"The Magic Flute" and as Adele in
"The Bat."
The first two opera6 were conduct-
ed by Albert Wolff, the other four
by Erich Kleiber. She also had the
14nor of being selected by Arturo
Toscanini for four Buenos Aires per-
formances of Beethoven's Ninth
symphony.a
Miss Hellwig was born in Hungary
and received her training at the Vi-
enna State Academy of Music when
only sixteen.
yCairroll Glenn'
Is Sensatwnal
young Violinist
Atrac~ive Carroll Glenn, young
4Enerican violinist, has pre-dated her
first Ann Arbor appearance with a
swift-moving series of musical suc-
cesses that have establishdd her as
dice of our leading artists in an in-
credibly short time.
A native of South Carolina, Miss
Glenn received public recognition in
193$ when she was the sole winner
of the Naum1 g Foundation Award
and its attendant Town Hall recital.
Her performance on that occasion
*on, her the Town Hall award for
1939 and an engagement on the
1939-40 Town 'Hall Endowment
Series.
Carroll Glenn has also appeared
With the major symphony orchestras
In this county. She mnade her or-
&6estral debut with the Chicago Sym-
phony as a previously unknown vio-
fist. Her' engagement with the
Minneapolis Symphony caused Con-
ductor Dinitri Mitropoulos to ex-
5ress amazement over the fact that
such playing should come from a
girl who had never gone to Enrope
Phild elhia's
Baton Expert
Started Career At Early
Age; Has, P lenomneal
Musical Memory
Dynamic, blond Eugene Ormandy,
conductor of the Philadelphia -Or-
chestra, began his musical life at the
age of two.,
Already able to recognize musical
scores at that age, Ormandy first ex-
hibited the phenomenal musical
memory which allows him to conduct
all his repertoire from memory. By
the time he was five, he was already
enrolled in the Hungarian Royal
Academy of Music and at 15 was a
professor of music.
A young immigrant of 21, Ormandy
cane to America. His first job was
a violin chair in the Capitol Theatre
Orchestra in New York where he soon
became concertmaster.
Conducted Concerts
From this first break, Ormandy
began his sensational rise to the top
of the musical world. He soon was
conducting the New York Philhar-
monic in the Stadium Concerts.
His success was so great that he
was engaged as guest conductor of
the Philadelphia Orchestra when Ar-
turo Toscanini fell sick. Thenhe was
engaged as conductor~of the Minne-
apolis Symphony.
Now permanent conductor of the
Philadelphia Orchestra, Ormandy's
brilliant conducting has won great
acclaim. His gift of inspiring or-
chestras to their best i4as made pos-
sible the utmost in musical perfor-
mance.
Memorizes Scores
His tremendous memory for music
has startled musicians who play un-
der him. His ability to memorize the
scores in a very short time makes it
possible for him to watch the per-
form ance very closely.
Ormandy's colorful memory is sup-
plemented by his only superstition,
his baton. The old, battered shaft
is watched as though it were emer-
alds by the master conductor.
The history of the baton is the
history of Ormandy's rise. It was
used in every performance after his
debut at the 9apitol Theatre.
Now leading the great orchestra,
Ormandy still uses the musical vir-
tuosity to good effect in keeping the
orchestra on top.
Ann Arbor Chorus
To SingIn Festival
Under the direction of Juva Hig-
bee, the Youth Festival will present
"The Walrus and the Carpenter," a
children's cantata by Percy Fletcher,
at the 1942 May Festival.
Fletcher in composing this work
took the text from Lewis Carroll's
poem, but although Carroll's poem is
unusual and difficult, Fletcher has
succeeded in retaining not only the
atmosphere of the text but in actu-
ally emphasizing some of its most
curious and fantastic moments.
The cantata with its foolish verse
and whimsical music is simple but
particularly adapted to the voices of
America's New Wagnerian Success
Peerce s Success Partially Due
To Remarkably Lar ge Repertory,
Of prime importance in the rise of 1
Jan Peerce to recognition as one ofy
America's leading tenors has been his
remarkable repertory.
Peerce can deliver anything from
Cole Porter's "Night and Day"
to Richard Wagner's "Tristan. and
Isolde." The acquisition of this ver
satility was necessary when.he ::be-
gan to sing for a number of weekly
radio programs. Included among-
these programs was a weekly opera,
for which lhe had to learn a new
operatic tenor role every week.
"And don't think that doesn't have
its problems," said Peerce. "I had to
learn Italian and German. almost,
overnight, and had to brush up on my{
college French by burning the mid-
night oil."
But it has given him an inexhaust-
ible repertory on which he can draw
at a moment's notice to fit any occa-
sion: opera, oratorio, lieder and bal-
lads.
Peerce's musical beginnings were
not unlike those of most children in
this country. As a child his mother
scraped together a weekly half-dol-
lar to provide him with a violin les-
son. Young' Jan utilized what he
learned by forming a small jazz band,
and worked .his way through college
and medical school playing at parties.
Although he completed his medi-
cal course, he decided that his first
love was music, and abandoned a
medical career to rise to the top of
the musical ladder.
He soon put his violin aside to de-
vote himself entirely to the develop-
ment of his vocal genius. In short
order he became the leading tenor
of RadioCity Music Hall. Since then
Peerce has sung in every major con-
cert hall in the .United States, from
Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl.
Peerce has never been to Europe,
but if the stamp of European ap-
proval means anything, none could
be more final than when Art o
Toscanini, hearing him sing, cried
out: "Bella Voce!" and immediately
signed the tenor to appear as solo-
ist in theCarnegie Hall performance
of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
which the great maestro conducted.
Peerce is so busy with his music
that he hasn't even time for a hobby.
His schedule through the year con-
sists of a five-months opera and con-
cert tour, engagements on radio pro-
grams,:plus weekly performances at
the Radio City Music Hall.
"And then I have a family," says
Peerce. "I suppose if you call what
you do in your spare moments a
hobby, my. children are my hobby."
.4
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Enid llSZfrANTH'JO
Helen Traubel, soprano, will make her Ann Arbor debut as a tri-
umphantly great star of Metropolitan Opera. For Americans her suc-
cess has assumed special significance, for she is a native American
artist. Miss Traubel began her career in St. Louis. In 1939 she gave an
unforgettable concert in New York, the first of several performances
which led to her emergence as a great soprano.
* * *
Helen Traubel Is Anerica's
Newest Great Musical Artist
_
When Helen Traubel makes her
local debut in this year's May Festi-
val, it will be another chapter in the
story of the triumph of America's
newest great musical artist.
A practically unknown young so-
prano until three years ago, Miss
Traubel received national acclaim
and made music history in her per-
formances of two months in 1939. A
first Town Hall recital in October,
followed by her appearance on the
Ford Hour the next Sunday, an en-
gagement with the New York Phil-
harmonic a week later, her Metro-
politan Opera debut as Sieglinde in
"Die Walkuere" in December, and a
new personage had taken her place
as one of the transcendent artists of
song.
Miss Traubel's success has assumed
a special significance for American
music lovers, for she is truly an
American success. She is a nativet
American artist trained entirely in
America.
Discovered By Damrosch
Born in St. Louis, Miss Traubel
was discovered by Walter Damrosch,
the venerable sage of Wagnerian op-
era. Coming to St. Lodis to conduct
a Saengerfest in 1935, the great con-
ductor waxed indignant when first
asked to conduct for Helen Traubel.
But when, at a rehearsal, the un-
known soprano made her way with
thrilling mastery through one of the
most difficult of all operatic arias,
the great "Libestod" from "Tristan
and Isolde," Damrosch threw his
arms around her and kissed her.
Two years later Damrosch wrote
a new soprano role into his opera
"The Man Without a Country" es-
pecially for Helet Traubel, who made
her first Metropolitan Opera appear-
ance in it during the 1937 spring
season.
Prepared For Opera
For more than a year afterwards
Miss Traubel was a star on a weekly
radio program over one of the major
networks. Though well on the road
to success she announced a decision
to retire from professional appear-
ances in order to devote herself to in-
tensive preparation for the achieve-
ment of her greater goal, Wagnerian
opera.
Then followed her unforgettable
two months' rise to her present posi-
tion as one of the greatest sopranos
of all time. Now, in the absence of
Kirsten Flagstad, stranded in Norway
by the war, Helen Traubel has be-
come the Metropolitan Opera's Wag-
nerian hope.
WORED-FAMOUS CONTRALTO
Enid Szantho, the world famous young con-
tralto - of the major Opera Houses of
America and Europe - whose appearances
made musical sensa ion was born in Buda-
pest. Mie. Szantho studied voice at the
Royal Academy of ,Music and Dramatic
Arts of Budapest. After her first New York
recital, the New York Times stated: "BY
THE GORGEOUSNESS OF HER VOICE
AND THE PERFECTION OF HER AR-
TISTRY, SHE SCORED A SENSATION-
AL SUCCESS."
"One of the most glorious artists of 'or
tne." --EUGENE ORMANDY
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"The most beautiful contralto voice in
the -orld." -FRANZ SCHALK
THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 7' SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 9
saammmmmmmme
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MR1R1N
THE GREAT AMERICAN CONTRALTO
She is a true concert singer whose grip on the public
is steel. She is that certain powerful sort of musical
attraction that people mean when they speak of "the
good old days."
-MARCIA DAVENPORT, Collier's Magazine
At the foundation of Marian Anderson's life and art
is religion. No gothic abstraction, ornate with dogma;
Ito primitive frenzy, shot through with jungle rhythms;
rather the consecration and light of "The Ode to Joy."
-RVTl WOODURY SEDG WICK, Readers' Digest
FIRST CONCERT,
WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 6th
FELIX KNIGHT
..
.TENOR .
Dcspilce Ivis yont II. ix KNIGT1 , lyric tenor, has made
for hinscelf an enviable reputation in widely diversified
fields, inc ludiin g Opera,. Concert, Oratorio, Motion
P/ct eres<, Rcordings, and Radio. Made his operatic
debut in "Cavalh'ria JRustwcana," and followed tis
s(ccess wili/h many others. Knight has appeared in many
radio roles, and has recorded the George Gershwin
Memorial Album and the Jerome Kern Album.
THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 7th
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