THlE MTCTTIGAN DAILY SUNAY, MARCU -127, 191 N1EVER A DULL MOMENT': Staff Trio Lays Festival Groundworkil Dr. Sink Recalls Great " SC It ' ~ P'is sh . * * 0 By MARY STEIN There's more to a May Festival concert than meets the eye and ear-the three staffers who work year-round behind the scenes at the Musical Society's Burton Tow- er~ offices can vouch for that. They are the local Grover Whal- ens who welcome visiting artists at station and airport, the master- minds who figure out rehearsal schedules, the press agents who -see that every city and hamlet for miles around knows about the May Festival. AND, SANDWICHIING sales- manship between their other jobs, Gail Rector, Mrs. Mary Parkas and Miss Deanne Smith also get behind the Musical Society coun- ter and sell Festival tickets. "Not once in 17 years has my job been monotonous," Mrs. Farkas says. Besides being Dr. Charles A. Sink's secretary, she sends out press releases and ad- vertisements, and lays out con- cert programs-all months be- fore the Festival begins. Second of the hard-working trio under Dr. Sink is Miss Smith, who as cashier and bookkeeper keeps track of the society's fi- nances. RECTOR, a graduate of the Muisic School who calls himself an "ex-bassoonist," is assistant to D~r. Sink. Hie describes his job as "trying to foresee' the unpredictable and then making sure it doesli't hgp- pen." In his four years as Dr. Sink's right-hand man, he confesses he has become somewhat blase about acting as welcoming com- mittee to musical celebrities ar- riving in Ann Arbor. In Dr. Charles A. ! i.k's meliti al n fehook, scores of biz namves in American and Euiropean Iimsic a ,;,'pr'ominently. artists '\ o appa edt a I aIii' U IeA'ln I May1Festival- I "IndChoral Union conicerIt6 - f iI nc inlhr I t:, 11!'1:it 1 M .IIfwa] S(!oity pJl' ci~ lil's num1erou 101s a ncdotd 'y. DR. SINK telly one story tht pov'ides all interesting sidelight; on Conduct or Leopold Stokow -ki. It Seem~s that dutrill -th) May Festival of 1936, Stokowski was invited to h(. guiest ofl hono r at a post-c('eCrt party. Mysteriously, i hreisud,.: ! ( , ;St okowski was seen at, a local piuh, happily lc'id in p.1 a t ng of ! _I,_ ,ii>i in college' songs-,''!I,. Sink XII N MIM!E. SC'luiiianrir ini :osne to Ann Arbor,'" Dr. Sink recalled, "concerts wvere' held in Uix eriit y Hall.'' 'Phe ar t2£I:: i, ~wen t, on, wait ~( ilul i eama II"green rood-" before periformances, >1nd( Mine. '1-lhiilttm 'Ilenk wanttel to know how% to fe o thle stage 1Iroinithe roi. "Right thirougfh that door," pointed Dr. Albert Stanley, musical director at that tite. "But I Can't get throup h its " exclaimed Mille. .Schumann-Heink, who was built on tradlitionlally ge,1nerous prima-donna lines. "Go Sideways," Dr. St anle~y advised. "Mein Gott, T have no sdwy, was the opera singer's retort. 'SNGI 'PRO FESSOR): HaroW Hwig To Sing, Here On May Fesoimvai Program Soprano Phuis [Lote111Iebi i t Shirley IT iia. eII 'Fo i il !1"' 1ilsjet'< I Aer t '. Solritlto V! 1i ) 11 ias ,tI ! re t r t f1,0111 seasN \itli the Z a Opera Cove(nt Ga -iden, , Luond. will be heard for thew first t imet in Ann Arbor wihren sh7e appears in the May Fes tivA. One of five soloists to make their initial appearane here at that time. the sopsranio will be heard in Brahms " Requiem" Fri-I day night and in the world lire-' nmere of Llewelyn Gomer,'s- "Glo- ria in Rxcelsis" Sunday afternoonl. ALTHOUGH MISS Russell's childhood ambition was to be- come a concert pianist, an acei- dent prevented furtheri study. Shte then entered the (Cleve- land Institute of Music to study voice under Marie Kraft. There she received her Bachelor of Music degree and an Artist Di- ploma. At present Miss Russell is con- tinuing her studies under the di- rection of Mine. Lotte Leonard. j- k A COMPARATIVE newcomer to the concert stage, the young soprano made her first profes- sional appearance at the 1948 Cin- cinnati Music Festival under the direction of Fritz Busch. At that time the Cincinnati Times-Star .music critic, Louis John Johnen said of her, "Shir- ley Russell . .. displayed hith- erto unsuspected vocal beauty. Her exquisitely clear notes were a. delight to the ear and her manner was charming in its lack of affectation." Fritz Busch himself showered praise on Miss Russell for her per- formance in the role of Sophie in the May Festival there. FA1OUS ';CGARETTE (GIRLJ'; On OperaItIio,0 Movies S >1,mea o-sormno '.cho w~ill appear as May 5eslvalConcert, has Ihad a rai,;oInd concert wvork. A natl iv eeican artist. wh1o a ~t ry,. Miss Swart hou t got 'her start ts sloistin ;a Kasas Cityv chulrcht "' I 1'hoir aith ieagt of 13. (A IYS SWARTHTOI" Yout h Chorits Daily -'ryson BEFORE THE RUSH-Gail Rector, left, and Miss Deanne Smith are shown issuing series tickets for the May. Festival. Single ticket sales open at 9 a.m. tomorrow. " (Continued from Page 1) "There will always be an ele- mnent of the unpredictable in the Job, though." he says. "Perform- ers often don't look like their pic- tures, and I've sometimes been puzzled trying to pick out my man from the crowd descending from a train or plane." "If he's a violinist, his instru- ment gives him away. But singers are often hard to identify." WHEN CONCERT artists who speak no English arrive, Rector takes care of the "unpredictable" by arranging with the language department for interpreters. The situation almost got out .I of hand last fall, however, when the French National Symphony, 96 strong, came to town equipped with one interpreter for the en- tire orchestra. Even Rector was sorely taxed to cope with the language difficulties that arose. "Both the visiting mu- sicians and Ann Arbor merchants had trouble making themselves understood." However, artists always find Ann Arbor a cordial city, he says -"And we always find them con- siderate, never demanding." RECTOR ALSO arranges time and place for rehearsals. In the flurried weeks before May Fes- tival, this task gets complicated. First the Choral Union prac- tices separately, then with the Musical Society's orchestral group under the direction of Lester McCoy; then, jiust be- f ore the Festival, with the new- ly- arrived Philadelphia Orches - tra.j Besides the larger tasks that the staff faces, there are many small but important details that are ironed out as part of day-to- day routine. Items like issuing music and keeping track of Choral 'Union personnel fill in the chinks of the staff's job. I Flutist Plays on Platinum Harold Haugh's appearance with} the Choral Union's Sunday aftet'- noon concert in this year's May3 Festival will not, be his first taste of concert work at the University. An Associate Professor of Music at the University for the last year, he has made several appearances in tile Choral Union's annual rMes- siah performance B u r i n t lie Christmas season. NOTED FOR his unusually flex- ible, tenor voice, Prof. Hfaugh has been interested in vocal work sine his early high school days. A na- tive of Cleveland, hie sanrg in sev- eral of the lar'gest cliurchc; in the city while working his way through Hiram College. After earning his B.A. atI Iliram, Prof. 1laugli entered Union "Theological Seminary in New York. After receiving his M.A. in Sacred Music at the Seminary, hi ehecamre ani or- dained minister. Prof. Haugh soon attained na- tional prominence as a soloist fol- lowing his outstanding perforin- an('es with the New York Oratorio Society. the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston. thte Bach Festi- val, Salt Lake Or'atorio Society and in numerous recitals and or- (hestral engagements. Fortmerly a member of the fac- Uly at the Oberlin School of Music, Prof. Haugh joined -the Un iver'sity faculty last fall. During the last year' lie has taken time out~ from his teaching duties to sing in a number of concerts in the Middle West and most recent- ly its Florida. kiddies to wave back to their proud parents in, the audience. But that's a part of the training they get in concert etiquette. A fewr songs are always special favorites- with the young chor us. TIhis yeatr two songs by Brahms and Schumann which were writ- teni for the Schumann children are gi'eet ed with loud oo's and all's and are sung with gusto that is difficult to tone dtown. ALTHIOUGH Miss Hood reports "little disciplinary difficulty", a few minor casualties occur each year. The most frequent of thlese mlishaps are c'onnec'ted with tile mall fountain when an overly en- thusiastic admirerfal in. For- tunately these impromiptu baths usually take place after rehearsal. .N I'ER A successfulaudition wit~h IIhe Ch1icag'o Opera Company, the yun singer rose rapidlyt to famel~. She m.a(k her debut at the M111tropolta in "ia Gioconda,'' The roles with which she is most closely associated are those of Carmen and Mryignon. Since her initial app~earance ats Bizet's cigarette girl, she hats establish- ed herself as the ranking Car- mnen oif the day. Choice of 800 radio editors as "the best female classical vocalist on the air," Miss Swarthout macde her entryv into big time radio in the early thirties. :4 a4 s* FIRST HIEARD as soloist on the General Motot's Hour, the mezzo- soprano has since appeared regu- larly on "The Voice of Firestone", "Ford Sunday Evening Hour"' and the "Bell Telephone Hour." The climax of her radio ca- reer cane when she sang the leading female Ipart in "Romeo and Juliet" under the baton of Arturo Toscanini on an N IC Symphony Broadcast. That Miss Swarthout's voice of- fers the rare combination of con- tralto warmath and coloratura ex- pressiveniess,, has been one of the primec factors enabling her to break from the traditional obscur- it y of mevzzo-sopranos, accoringl! to crtitics5. First flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, William Kincaid, will bring the only platinum flute in the world to Ann Arbor for the May Festival concerts. The flute, made of precious' platinum with silver keys, was made by Verne Powell of Boston. The platinum has been alloyed 'with iridium and is one of the toughest and most heat resistant metals known to man. SO PERFECT is Kincaid's in- lstrumnent that the accuracy of the pitch runs into infinitesimal frac- tions. The flute was displayed in the hall of metals at the New York World's Fair. Kincaid might well have the >world's most Perfect flute, for critics say he is one of the world's most renowned flutists. Kincaid joined the Philadelphia {Orchestra as solo flutist in 1922. His solo appearances throughout the nation have mounted to more than one hundred performances. e , . i THE WOIItE.uiO1VTVeD ItPLADELAPIII.A 0IIEIA - ___. . _. _._ .r1 m1 _......_._.... _ _-_-__ ._.® ...u _ __ ._ .._. _ _..__... _ , _ __ _ _.______ _ T HE M AY F ESTF1VAT\Ij OR FIFTY-SIX YEARS all musical rocid IIavc, led. t~)o i Arbor forthis w'orld-fam'ous event, which annually brings to) a close the season's mu11.sical activi- ties provided by the University Musical Society. It. ,s a l t tin cilinuX to [well tl six ma jor concerts by artists and orga1ni'/ations it) which a va. iI fie Ofmusic liter-At ure is covered. - ----- ----- Twenty - four composers will be represented 'In the Festival of '49. Has appeared since 1936 at all. :lest ival Concerts. The Philadelphia Orchlest ra will be here igain fIhis year for :ill six eolieris. EUGENE OR,.MAN DY.. Conduct or ALEXANDER HILS BERG .. . .Associate Condut or invite you to take advantage of the opportunity of attending te 'estival. Com71- plete ticket information may be found at the bottom of page four. ------ ----- r I U I liii I i tv I I d i 9 ioe di4t4~ 7T0 make Their tzebut in fdnnhgpbo,' I III ; Y . w ill III I IN Ili I I 1 11 11 I I 1 1 1I 11 11*I 1 ; . °'It1111it ".3 11 11111 I