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 ii 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 I r I f "The most beautiful contralto voice in the -orld." -FRANZ SCHALK THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 7' SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 9 saammmmmmmme === I 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 I I. 4 f I I/ I V 111 11 El' I. I r'l