mUsic SUJPP'LEMEN a IftY 43UtI tit SUPPLEMENT VOL. LVI, No. 114 A1N .-1RiC",,MICHIGAN, SUND'lAX', 2APiRIt., .t 946 May Festival ill Climax Musical Sed ason AII-Brahnis Program Will Be Presented Kapell Will Play D Minor Concerto This year's Festival program marks the second consecutive year in which an all-Brahms program has been pre- sented. The solo spot for the concert has been given to William Kapell who will play the Concerto No. 1 in D minor for piano and orchestra at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. First Appearance A top flight concert artist, the 23-year-old pianist will be presented in Ann Arbor for the first time. A native of New York City, Kapell's musical ability was first noticed when he won a contest open to children of the Settlement Schools in the city after only six weeks of study under Dorothea Anderson LaFollette. Wins Town Hall Award In later years of study at the Phila- delphia Conservatory and Juilliard Graduate School, as a pupil of Olga Samaroff Stokowski, he won several awards including the Town Hall En- dowment Series Award in 1942. The award is made each season to an ar- tist not over thirty years old who has given the most notable recital of the previous year in New York's Town Hall. Kapell was the youngest musi- cian ever to win the award. July of that year marked his first appearance in New York at the Sta- dium Concert, he played with the Philharmonic-Symphony in the Sov- iet-American Concerto of, Ar am Khatchatourian. Performance of this work at Boston's Symphony Nall the next year was so sensationally su- cessful that Serge Koussevitsky re- engaged him for five more perform- ances. Appeared With Twenty Orchestras Since the 1943-44 concert season Kapell, in nation-wide concert tours, has appeared with twenty. of the country's major orchestras. After an appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1944 he signed a prece- dent-breaking contract with them for three years. In 1945 he made an extensive tour of the Australian con- cert -stages, presenting twenty-six programs in all. One of the numbers in Kapell's program, the Academic Festival Ov- erture, will be repeated from last year's program. Other numbers on the Sunday afternoon program, which traditionally contains a sym- phony and concerto, are the Sym- phony No. 4 in E minor and the Concerto No. 1, which Kapell will play. Youth Chorus To Participate Children To Sing 12 American Folk Songs The children of the fifth and sixth grades in Ann Arbor Public schools will deck themselves out in their best bib and tucker this year once again to participate in the May Festival concerts. 380 children compose this year's Youth Festiyal Chorus, which, under the direction of Marguerite Hood, will sing a group of 12 American folk songs The children are chosen propor- tionally from each school accord- ing to its enrollment. Tryout con- tests are held, and the children with the best singing ability are chosen to be in the festival. Those who do not participate in the Chorus, work at school on a performance they give for the other students. The children begin rehearsing for the concert the first of March. They rehearse half an hour each day in their own schools. Later they rehearse collectively several times each week. The Youth Festival Chorus,a reg- ular feature of the May Festival since 1913 when the first Festival was held in Hill Auditorium, has drawn much favorable comment. In addition to vocal talent, the Chorus has always been recogniz- ed for the discipline among the children. There is always a murmur of approval in the audience about Ornandy Will Conduclt Philadelphia OrchesItra Symphony To Participate in May Festival Programs for Eleventh Consecutive Year MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM Six Concerts -Four hays-/1May 2, 3, 4, . TIHE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA PLAYS IN ALL CONCERTS Making its eleventh annual visit to AnnArbor, the Philadelphia Or- chestra, under the direction of Eu- gene Ormandy, will again participate in each of the six concerts of the May Festival Series. The Orchestra claims the dis- tinction of being older than the Declaration of Independence,.hav- ing as its direct origin a group of musicians who gave concerts in the great Pennsylvania city as early as 1757. The present orches- tra was founded in 1900, and has had only four permanent conduc- May Fesivl Aims Giver, BDr. Sink For the fifty-third consecutive sea- son the University Musical Society presents to the members of the Uni- versity in particular, and to the public in general, the annual May Festival. In accordance with well-estab- lished tradition, six concerts will be provided. The Philadelphia Or- chestra will participate for the tors throughout its long career: Fritz Scheel, Carl Pohlig, Leopold Stokowski and the present music director, Eugene Ormandy. Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1899, Ormandy came to this coutrly at the age of twenty-one, with a reputation as a child prodigy, having become a music professor when he was seventeen years old. His career in America began with an unobtru- sive position as a back-row violinist in a small orchestra, after which he progressed rapidly from concert- master, to assistant conductor, to permanent conductor of the Minne- apolis Symphony, and finally to the podium of the Phiadelphia Orees- Noted especially for lhis pheno- menal memory, Ormandy conducts all his concerts without a score. Ile has endeared himself to his listeners by constantly building his programs with his favorite axiom in mind ---. "My audience must have one thing to buni." He there- by ta.kes his audinces int a ind of partnership with him, choosing music of well-laoved and classical reputation as well as music of more modern and popular appeal. The orchestra which he now con- ducts has an exceptionally youthful membership, 20 per cent of the play- ers being less than 30 years old. It makes one of its most enthusiastical- ly received appearances yearly at the Children's Concerts and the Concerts for Youth, designed for listeners be- tween the ages of thirteen and twen- ty-five ,years. Immediately after the Festival the Orchestra will go on a one-month tour throughout the Pacific Coast, where it will appear for the first time since 1937. Rosalind Nadell To Perform tin May Festival Rosalind Nadell, versatile young mezzo-soprano of radio, concert and opera, will again be featured at this year's May Festival. Miss Nadell has achieved success in a very short time. Beginning her musical training at the piano when she was nine, she was lured into a singing career when she heard Grace Moore sing in the movie, .One Night of Love" three years later. Born in Philadelphia, Miss Nadell was fortunate in coming to the at- tention of Mme. Marian Szekely- Freschl, the eminent Philadelphia teacher, who trained the singer until she was ready for her first audition. Because of her ability to sing both contralto and mezzo-soprano parts, Miss Nadell has mastered an exten- sive repertoire including the roles of Carmen and Mercedes in the opera "Carmen," Delilah in "Samson and Delilah," Amneris in "Aida" and others. In 1943 she won the Marian An- derson Award for her concert work. She has sung with the New York City Center Opera Company and made her Broadway debut as Juno in "Helen Goes to Troy." In this year's appearance at Ann Arbor, Mist Nadell will include in her rep- ertoire Prokofieff's cantata, "Alex- ander Nevsky" in which she was the soloist for the American premier performance. Thursday, May 2, 8:30 Soloist: Jussi Bjoerling, Tenor EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor Symphony No. 5 ...................... Sibelius "Ah ! Fuyez douce image" from "Mallon" ........ .... Mas n t Flower Song from "Carmen"............Biet Jussi Bjoerling "The Perfect Fool" ...................... Holst "Che gelida manina" from "La Boheme".........................Puccini "E lucevan le stelle" from "Tosca" . ....Puccini Mr. Bjoerling "Daphnis and Chloe," Suite No. 2.......Ravel Friday, May 3, 8:30 Soloists: Nathan Milstein, Violinist Ruth Diehl, Soprano Jean Watson, Contralto William Hait, Tenor Nicalo Moscona, Bass UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION ALEXANDER HILSBERG and HARDIN VAN DEURSEN, Conductors Requiem Mass ........................Mozart Choral Union and Soloists Hardin Van Deursen, Conductor Concerto for Violin in D Major, Op. 35 .:. . .....................Tchaikovsky Nathan Milstein Alexander Hilsberg, Conductor Saturday, May 4, 2:30 Soloist, Anne Brown, Soprano FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS ALEXANDER HILSBERG and MARGUERITE HOOD, Conductors Overture, '"The Bartered Bride" .......Smetana American Polk Songs. Festival Youth Chorus Marg uerite Hood, Conductor "Ritorna vincitor" from "Aida" ...........Verdi "Voi 1osapete" from "Cavalleria Rusticana"......................Mascagni Anne Brown Finlandia ............................ Sibelius Excerpts from "Porgy and Bess"......,Gershwin Miss Brown Scherzo and Nocturne from "Midsummer Night's Dream" ................ Mendelssohn "Till Eulenspiegel" . . .................. Strauss Saturday, May 4, 8:30 Soloist: Bidu Sayao, Soprano EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor Symphony No. 40, G minor ..........Mozart "Batti, batti" from "Don Giovanni". .. Mozart "Ali, non credea mirarti" from La Sonnambula" . ..,...... . .. Bellini Bidu Sayao Soliloquy.......... ..................Rogers Dos cantares populares ..............Obradors "Lundu da Marchese de Santos". . . . Villa-Lobos "Il faut partir" from "La Fille du Regiment" . ....... . .......... . .... Donizetti Miss Sayaco "Pines of RomeP'.....................Respighi Sunday, May 5, 2:30 Soloist: William Kapell, Pianist ALEXANDER HILSBERG, Conductor All-Brahms Program Academic Festival Overture Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, for Piano and Orchestra Maestoso Adagio Rondo: allegro non troppo William Kapell Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 Allegro non troppo Andante moderato Allegro giocoso Allegro energico e passionato Sunday, May 5, 8:30 Soloists: Rosalind Nadell, Contralto Salvatore Baccaloni, Bass UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor Overture and Venusberg Music from "Tannhauser".. ........ .,...... ..Wagner "Son imbrogliato" from "La Serva Padrona".......................Pergolesi "Ragazze che son" from "Le Astuzie Femminili" . ...................... Cimarosa "Madamina" from "Don Giovanni".....Mozart "Udite, tutti" from "Il Matrimonio Segreto"................ ........Cimarosa Salvatore Baccaloni Cantata, "Alexander Nevsky". .....Prokofieff Choral Union and Rosalind Nadell Six Concerts Will Be Given I Four Days Annual Series Will Be Presented May 2-5 Climaxing the musical season, the fifty-third annual May Festival will be presented by the University Musi- cal Society May 2 through 6 in Hill Auditorium. As in previous years, six concerts wil be presented in the four days and the Philadelphia Orchestra, under the baton of Eugene Ormandy, will par- ticipate in all of the programs. Alex- ander Hilsberg, former concert master of the orchestra, will be heard here for the first time as associate con- ductor. He will direct the orchestra Friday evening, Saturday afternoon and in the all-Brahms program Sun- day afternoon. Eleven Soloists Featured The Festival will feature eleven solo artists, the University Choral Union, under the direction of Hardin Van Deursen, and the Festival Youth Chorus, directed by Marguerite Hood. Bjoerling At Opening Concert The 1946 May Festival will open Thursday, May 2 with Sibelius' Fifth Symphony. Jussi Bjoerhing, lyr- ic tenor, will highlight the first con- cert with arias by Bizet and Puccini. The second concert at 8:30 p.m. Friday, May 3 will feature Nathan Milstein, violinist, in Tchaikovsky's Concerto for Violin in D Major. Mo- zart's Requiem Mass will be sung during the first half of the program by the Choral Union and four guest soloists; Ruth Diehl, soprano; Jean Watson, contralto; William Hai, tenor; and Nicola Moscoona, bass. Youth Chorus, Anne Brown The Youth Chorus, conducted by Marguerite Hood, will make its an- nual Festival apearance in the Sat- urday afternoon concert. The chorus, composed of children between the ages of 5 and 10 from the public schools of Ann Arbor, wil sing the tone poem, Finlandia, by Sibelius. Anne Brown, Negro soprano who gained fame through her role in the Gershwin operetta "Porgy and Bess" will include excerpts from the broduction among her selections in the afternoon concert. Bidu Sayao, Brazilian soprano who was forced to cancel her appearance at last year's festival because of ill- ness, will be heard this season at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 3. The Philadelphia Orchestra will open the evening concert with Mozart's Sym- phony No. 40 in G Minor. All-Brahms Concert The Orchestra will be heard in an all-Brahms program Sunday after- noon with Alexander Hilsberg con- ducting. William Kapell, prominent young pianist, will play the Con- certo No. 1 in D minor. The Academic Festival Overture which was played last year will be repeated and the. orchestra will conclude the concert with Brahms' Fourth Symphony. The concluding concert of the Fes- tival will be presented at 8:30 p.m. Sunday and will feature Rosalind Nadell, contralto, and Salvatore Bac- caloni, bass. Highlight of the pro- gram will be the cantata "Alexander Nevsky" by the modern Russian composer Prokofieff. The work, which will bring the Festival to a close, will by sung by the Choral Union and Miss Nadell. May Festival Began in 1894 The May Festival, which hasnbe- come a traditional music event at the University, was begun by acci- dent in 1894, as a result of an at- tempt at economy by the Board of Directors of the University Musical Society. The Musical Society had been pre- senting a yearly concert series for fifteen years. Each season the closing program featured the Boston Sym - phony Orchestra. In 1894, after the usual climax had been announced, it was learned that the orchestra could not appear. Boston also maintained a special traveling orchestra known as the Boston Festival Orchestra, and it was engaged to play at the con- cluding concert. Since one of the CHARLES SINK ... president of 'U' Musical Society eleventh time, and will be heard in all of the concerts. The Univer- sity Choral Union, organized in 1879, will be heard in two pro- grams; and the Festival Youth Chorus, organized in 1913, in one of the matinees. Distinguished soloists, both vocal and instrumental, will take part. Symphonies, other orchestral works, arias, choral works, etc., will char- acterize, the several programs. It is hoped that music-lovers and lay- men alike will find something in each program in which they will be par- ticularly interested. The University Musical Society is grateful to students, faculty, and. to the public generally, for the cordial reception with which its efforts have been met during the years. It trusts that in spite of the serious and complicated problems of the day, the Festival of 1946 will not only equal in cultural importance, but may even exceed those of past years, thus justifying the Society's legend, suggested by its first Presi- dent, Henry Simmons Frieze, "Ars Longa Vita Brevis." Charles A. Sink, president University Musical Society IIOLST, VILLA-LOBOS: Haines Lands Representation Of Contemporary Composers Anne Brown Will Feature Torgy' Songs Commenting favorably on the amount of contemporary music to be found on the programs for the 1946 May Festival, Dr. Edmund Haines, instructor in composition at the School of Music, cited the names of Holst, Rogers, Prokofieff and Res- pighi.+ "The hardest thing for an audi- ence to face is a new style" Haines asserted. The same condition pre-1 vails whenever a new style is intro- duced in literature or in art, he con-+ tinued. There is certain to be a little lag in bringing audiences to appre- ciate a new idiom, but each period will have its own means of expres- sion, he said. Tendency To Prefer Older Works Asked about the tendency on the part of audiences to prefer the old masters, Haines pointed out that when we listen to music of the past we hear only the music that has been good enough to survive the test of time. "Since audiences hear a little bit of everything that is being done today, there is a natural ten- dency to call it all trash if one part of it doesn't live up to their expec- tations." There must be new music, he ex- plained, because composers are work- ing with a period which has never come before. "Ears are prejudiced because they are trained in listening to certain types of sounds." Experimentalists Will Win In the battle between the compos- ers and the critics of modern music, the experimentalists will win out as they always have, he asserted. There is always an eventual audience that will listen to the music if it is really See HAINES, page 2 'ALEXANDER NEVSKY' CANTATA Choral Union To Sing in Friday, Sunday Concerts The University Musical Society Choral Union will sing Mozart's "Re- quiem Mass' in Friday's concert un- der the direction of Prof. Hardin Van Deursen, and the cantata "Alex- ander Nevsky" Sunday evening. Organized in the fall of 1879, the Choral Union, then the Mes- siah Club, was comprised of mem- bers of the Congregational, Meth- odist, Presbyterian, and Episcopal churches. When the Club's name few high school students to an eighty year old tenor. The group has performed an- naully since it was organized, both in the Choral Union series of con- certs and in the May Festival. In- cluded in its repertoire are almost all the major oratories and operas adaptable to concert performances. The "Messiah" is presented each year during the Christmas season by the chorus and several prominent He received his Bachelor Of Music degree from Northwestern University, did some graduate work at the Uni- versity of Southern California, and received his Master of Music degree at this University. Before coming to Ann Arbor he was conductor and mu- sic instructor at Huron College, S.D., the University of Wyoming, and Al- bion College. In addition to his work in the University, Prof.,Van Deursen is Dean of Bay View Summer College ANNE BROWN... Negro soprano to sing at festival. Anne Brown, American Negro artist of both the dramatic theatre and the concert stage, will include excerpts from the George Gershwin operetta "Porgy and Bass" among her selec- tions at this year's May Festival. It was in the leading role of "Bess" that Miss Brown made her sensation- al debut as a soprano soloist. The critics' applause of her beautiful voice and fine artistic musicianship have since resulted in her appearances as soloist with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski, the New York Philharmonic, the Phil- adelphia Orchestra at Robin Hood Dell, and the Detroit, Toronto, Buf- falo and other symphony orchestras. :.. :.: -.: . ,......fat a