PAGE TWO THE MICHIGAN DAILY SUNDAY, MARCH 2d, I955 PAGE TWO THE MICHIGAN BATTY SUNDAY, MARCH 29 1955 _......, VIOLINIST JEANNE MITCHELL: Virtuoso Pursues Life-Long Interest Johannesen Schedules Concerto Performance OPERA STAR NELL RANKIN: Soprano Noted for Numerous Roles Jeanne Mitchell, young Ameri- can violinist to perform here dur- ing the May Festival, has been greeted by critical acclaim wher- ever she has performed. Still in her 20's, Miss Mitchell is currently on her fifth cross-coun- try tour. At the time of her Town Hall debut, in December, 1947, New York critics unqualifiedly predict- ed her future success. A music crit- ic said that "the qualities that dis- tinguished Miss Mitchell's playing are those that distinguish the -artist from the technician." She has been soloist three times with the New York Philharmonic- Symphony Orchestra in Lewisohn Stadium. Last season she was solo- ist during the regular winter sea- son. Parents Enjoy Music Miss Mitchell has been interested in music all her life. Her parents, both of whom enjoy music, put radio earphones on their daughter when she was a year old. "It was music," she said, "and I can't swear that I remember it. But they say that my mouth drop- ped wide open and I was lost to the world, listening." When she was two, she started picking out tunes on the piano. '"It seems as though I was always taking piano lessons, but begging to play the violin," she relates. Her formal violin study began at the age of eight after her family had moved to New York from Wil- mington, N.C., where she was born. She started work with Chester La- Follette and has had no other teacher. Four years later, Miss Mitchell made what she calls her first pro- fessional appearance. She was solo- ist at a Masonic meeting in Floral Park, N.Y. and received an um- brella for her performance. When she made her New York debut, she was already graduated from Columbia University's Bar- nard College where she had stud- ied under the Joline music schol- arship. College Education Miss Mitchell would not permit her interest in music to interfere with her general education. She feels that a college education is important for the development of personality and that the extent of the development in personality is readily apparent in the degree of artistry at a musician's command. It is her artistry that prevents her from suffering from stage fright. "I stave off stage fright by caring for the music as I play it, by believing with all my heart that what is best in me will come out, and by not thinking of myself. "I listen for the beauty in the music. That way," she explains, "without sacrificing musical in- C4>- 1 Grant Johannesen, who will play Prokofieff's Second Piano' Concerto during the May Festival, has won audiences on three con- tinents, through concerts, record- ings and radio appearances. The American-born virtuoso has climbed to the top of his profes- sion since his New York debut in 1944. Famous orchestras all over the world, including the Paris Conservatoire, Lamoreux, New York and Boston Symphones, have engaged and re-engaged him. Many Recordings His recordings include works by Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart, Poulenc, Faure and Grieg. Asked which composition or composer he prefers, Johannesen said "the piece I am playing at the time." Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, a second generation from Norway, Johannesen began to imitate the piano teacher around the corner before he was five. His talent was so apparent that his parents engaged Mabel Borg Jenkins to teach him. At eight he was composing musical scores and putting on theatrical entertain- ments. Makes New York Debut Since his New York debut, he continues to perform there annual- ly in solo recial and with symphony orchestras. A New York music crit- ic wrote, "An unusually satisfying experience. Seldom does one hear solo playing so clean, so elegant, so thoroughly competent and at the same time so completely in- formed with all the qualities that are called musical." In 1949, after being the first American to win first prize at the Belgian International Piano Fes- tival, Johannesen toured Europe, appearing in Paris, Brussels, Ber- lin, The Hague and Amsterdam. He was also soloist in the opening con- cert of the International Aix-en- Provence Festival. Summer Recitals During the summer season, Jo- hannesen is heard at popular sta- dium concerts. Included on his summer tours are the Hollywood Bowl, Grant Park in Chicago and the Chataqua concerts. When the few vacation weeks come along, he repairs to the Rocky Mountains, where he likes to go hiking. He also enjoys skiing, but, as he says, "A career at the piano rules out the more exciting possibilities of Slalom and Christie." Nell Rankin, Metropolitan Op- era star, will appear in Beethov- en's "Missa Solemnis" during the second May Festival Concert, May 6. Only 26 years old, Miss Rankin, a mezzo-soprano has achieved in- ternational success by being the first American to win the Inter- national "Concours de Musique" in Geneva. As winner of the Geneva con- test, she sang 24 guest perform- ances with the Basel State Opera. She then appeared with the Vien- na State Opera and at La Scala in Milan where she sang a lead- ing role in the Verdi "Requiem." The performance marked the 50th anniversary of Verdi's death. Metropolitan Debut Following her successes in Eur- ope, Miss Rankin returned to the United States for her debut with the Metropolitan Opera Company, Nov. 25, 1951 as Amneris in "Aida." Subsequent performances with the Cincinnati May Festival and in New York and Canada estab- lished her as one of the most gift- ed young singers on the American concert stage. Miss Rankin is accredited with making a dead city come alive. The ancient Roman city of Sa- bratha in North Africa had been lying dormant for centuries. The Prime Minister of Libya invited Miss Rankin to sing in the 2,000 year old Roman theatre which marks the site of the an- cient town. The invitation was a signal honor, since the theatre is a monument used only on historic occasions. The concert was attended by an international audience of 3,000. The Libyan Prime Minister flew from Cyrenaica for the occasion. The entire Arabic Parliament, as well as Arab chieftains from the Near East attended. Turning Point Miss Rankin's performance was a turning point in the city's his- tory. At the concert's conclusion, she contributed the $5.500 proceeds to the Libyan Government with the suggestion that the money be used to construct an Arab village, now in the process of completion. A corner stone on one of the buildings will bear Miss Rankin's name. Prefacing her American debut with years of intensive study and performances abroad, Miss Ran- kin feels that the big advantage of European operatic experience is the heavy emphasis on rehear- sals. As an example, her debut role as Otrud in "Lohengrin" with the Zurich Opera, was prefaced by 40 rehearsals. Despite this exhaust- ing schedule, while in Zurich she gave 126 operatic performances in 13 leading roles and found time to appear onthe concert stage. Today, Miss Rankin is the youngest American singer ever to have appeared with the world's three greatest opera companies- Vienna State, La Scala and Met- ropolitan. Local Appearance Her local appearance is part of a concert tour which will take her to 15 states and to Canada. The tour willtinclude an engage- ment, as soloist with the Pitts- burgh Symphony for the First In- ternational Festival of Contem- porary Music. During the Festival, Miss Rankin will introduce four sonnets by the Swiss composer, Frank Martin, and will sing Vaughan Williams' "Tudor Por- traits." i Society Head Describes Local Concert History i VIOLINIST JEANNE MITCHELL tegrity, playing cannot be cold, but warm." She admits she becomes exhil- arated and on edge, but, she says, "when I am well prepared, I can turn it into musical excitement and a kind of projection." Her musical excitement was ap- parent when she played Prokof- fief's "Second Violin Concerto" in 1950 with the New York Philhar- monic-Symphony Orchestra at Lewisohn Stadium. After her performance, even the members of the orchestra cheered her. Miss Mitchell says that it was the greatest thrill in her musical career. A New York critic described it, "when the Philharmonic Sym- phony fiddlers yell 'bravo' after a solo violinist's playing, the rendi- tion has met its severest test with unqualified success." Violin Study Miss Mitchell, who is unmarried, lives in New York and continues her violin study with LaFollette. Besides music, she is interested in carving and modeling, but, she ex- plains, not on any magnificent scale. She enjoys piano playing ,square dancing, swimming and modern dancing. She appreciates the live theatre-"almost any play," the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company's Gilbert and Sullivan, and music in all forms. Of her own career, Miss Mitchell has the long range view. Despite critical assurances that "she has arrived," she feels that her success is something that will have to be proven. "The American public does not have a chance to cultivate taste in good music," Miss Mitchell com- mented. "'How can the whole public have a cultivated taste in music when they hear so little of the best. There are very few radio stations in the country that play classical music. No Chance Therefore, people do not have a chance to get their ears attuned and have their hearts opened to good music." "How hard the juke boxes work," she says. "If forces for good music worked as practically and as in- cessantly for only a quarter of the time, the public's musical taste could be bettered." Practicing was a problem, for she lived with her family in a small city apartment. She solved the problem by renting a separate room in a building near home. During the summer, she lives in a renovated barn in the country. Her only audience is the cows and two horses in the pasture sur- rounding the building. "They seem completely stupefied by my playing," she said. "Henry Simmons Frieze .* was the 'sparkplug' of Ann Arbor's musical life." Describing "A Century of Music in Ann Arbor" in a recent issue of the Michigan Alumnus' Quarterly Review, Charles A. Sink, president of the University Musical Society, traces the developments of music study, appreciation and concerts in Ann Arbor. When Prof. Frieze came to the University in 1854, he was brought as head of the Department of Lat- in Language and Literature. "He was also an accomplished amateur musician and at different times he served as choir director or or- ganist in several of the churches." He often induced musicians from the East and elsewhere to stop off at Ann Arbor for some sort of musical performance in connection with his church acti- vities. open Music School Prof. Frieze and Calvin Cady, who had arrived in Ann Arbor in the early 1880's, joined with sev- eral other musicians and opened the "Ann Arbor School of Music." Prof. Frieze suggested that both the Choral Union and the School of Music become divisions of the University Musical Society which had organized about the same time. The purpose would be to as- #0 sociate the music of the Univer- sity with that of the community. Shortly thereafter, the Univer- sity decided to offer courses in theoretical music in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, and Cady was invited to accept an instructorship. Thus, he became musical direc- tor of the University Musical So- ciety, conductor of the Choral Union, director of the School of Music and a music instructor in the University. In 1888 Cady resigned and was succeeded by Albert A. Stanley, organist of Grace Church, Provi- dence, R.I. Upon recommendation of University president James B. Angell, the name of the Ann Arbor School of Music was changed to the University School of Music. Boston Symphony More important concerts were given, the Choral Union expand- ed its repertoire and as a closing event in- the concert series, from 1890-93, the Boston Symphony Orchestra was heard in old Uni- versity Hall. In May, 1894, the Musical So- ciety engaged the Boston Festival Orchestra, conducted by Emil Mollenhauer, to come to Ann Ar- bor for three concerts, "and theyj boldly announced it as the 'First Annual May Festival. Thus they inaugurated a tradition even be- fore the first event had taken place." The next year, the number of concerts was increased to four, later five,{ and still later to six- the number which has been the rule for the last three or four decades. For the first 11 years, Emil Mol- lenhauer continued to bring the Boston Festival Orchestra to Ann Arbor, but in 1905 the group dis- banded and the Chicago Sympho- ny Orchestra, with Frederick Stock as conductor, was engaged instead. It continued to visit Ann Ar- bor for the Festival for the next 31 years, through 1955. At that time the Philadelphia Orchestra took its place. Leopold Stokowski conducted the concerts the first year, but since then the orchestra has been under the musical direc- tion of Eugene Ormandy. In the meantime, the University Choral Union has increased its membership to more than 300, an- nual performances of Handel's "Messiah" have been performed and 15 years ago the Musical So- ciety developed an annual Cham- ber Music Festival. These concerts take place each year in February in the Rackham Lecture Hall. For the past decade an Extra Series of five concerts, supple- menting the Choral Union Series has been scheduled. From this brief resume of the history of the University Musical Society, Sink tells of some inter- esting people he has met during his association with the Society. "Prof. Stanley used to tell a story about Ernestine Schumann- Heink. On one occasion when she sang in University Hall, she was chatting with Prof. Stanley as to how she would get on stage. "He pointed to some steps which led to a panelled door opening on the stage. She looked at the door, then at Prof. Stanley, then again at the door. "She said to Prof. Stanley, 'How do I get through the door?' He humorously replied that she would probably have to go through sideways. The great artist smiled and said-'Mein Gott, I have no sideways!' She did manage to get through the door." Cellist's Marriage On another occasion, Gregor Pi- atagorsky the noted cellist, ar- ranged to be married at Sink's home, and asked to keep the cere- mony secret until the bride could notify her family in Paris. A few days later some reporter found out about huge transatlan- tic telephone bills between the Michigan Union and Paris. "Fol- lowing his clue, he dug up infor- mation about the ceremony at the county clerk's office, an then we were obliged to admit all. Every- thing came out happily, because sufficient time had elapsed for the bride to inform her family." Sink has been associated with the University Musical Society for the past 50 years and its president since 1927. He was graduated from the University in 1904 and holds two honorary degrees from Michi- gan State Normal College and Bat- tle Creek College. For several terms between 1919 and 1930, he was a member of the House of Representatives and of the Senate of the State. He has also served on the Ann Arbor City Council and Board of Education and has been appointed to numer- ous commissions. Editors May Festival Supplement written and edited by David Kaplan, '56, Daily Music Editor and Kathy Severance, '55, As- sistant Daily Music Editor. v U k~:~~SSS*:*'.: .... . ......v........*........... ......... . . . . . . . . ..*.... ........4..... :f H i. 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