The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-06
FornIn md TihaIdi

Fornia and Tibaldi
 x One of the great musical attractions | of the season will be Rita Fornia, so- \ prano and Arturo Tibaldi. violin. In Il joint recital at the Jefferson next II Tuesday night
 l Rita Fornia, the young lyric soprano, Y who has already made a marvellous X success in opera and concert here and
 abroad. has planted her standard well | up with those of the great stars. | Miss Fornia is American, having N been born in San Francisco, Patti came \ to San Francisco when Miss Fornia was II young girl, and at that time she was | wild with desire to go on the stage and II be another Patti, but her father would Il not hear of 1t. After a great deal of | persuasion, he finally consented to allow N her to go to New York and here she met \ Emil Fischer, who insisted that she \ should go abroad, and Miss Fornia sent 50 many teegrams to her father that A Ahe sent her the money to go for six
 emonths.
 Miss Fornia then went abroad and
 Alluded in Berlin Her teacher thought she T was coloratura soprano. She made her \ debut in the coloratura role of Eudaxia II in La Juive.' This was at Hamburg Y and in- tine company at that time were | Marion Weed and Carl Burrian. She also sang at tliat time Rosina in "Il Barbiere | dj siviglia', and Inez in "L,Africaine''
 
 Magic Flute. She sang this role ! to the unusual transpositions, making \ E flat the highest note. Miss Fornis I soon discovered that this color ! atura singing was ruining her voice, y and she then went to Paris and began ' to study anew with Jean DeReszke. The
 Raext time she made her debut as a Sssw soprano.
 sS Arturo Tibaldi. the young violinist, is The godson of the Duke and Duchess of \ Connaught, who both take a great per
 sonal interest in his career. At the \ time of his birth, the Duke honored him II by entering his name for the Royal
 Rifle brigade. this being the dukes own
 regiment, but after all. he was not des- \ tined for a military career. At very X early age. he began to show his taste ] for music, and even when he was barely | three years old would be quite con \ tent listening to his mother practicing 1 her violin provided he was given two ' little sticks to scrape together and imag- inc he was doing the same thing. How A,ver, his fondness for music was not
 Encouraged. and at the age of he
 N-sfsent to public school where he
 #jined until he was 15. At this tirne
 K after much persuasion to both his
 Ejents he was permitted to go abroad
 u Florence and begin his musical { studies under Professor Faini; and after one year with this excellent teacher he | showed SuCl pTomlSe that ne was aI- lowed to continue until he had passed | all the highest examinations. | After this he came to London and placed himself under the tuition of the f late August WiIhelm5. finally making his ! debut in that town at the St. James hall on which occasion Madam Emma Flames | made her last public appearance in Eng X fand Later he toured on the continent ! meeting with great success and visiting hmany towns.
 " Ethel Barrymore in "Mid-ChanneI"
 Miss Ethel Barrymore, in Sir A. w Pinero's ''Mid-Channel," will appear. at the Jefferson theatre Wednesday and Thursday nights, ,it s.Mid- -Channer' Is one of the most pow | erful plays Pinero has ever written. It's plot is developed in Pinero's well-known masterly manner; it's characters are ! drawn with unsparing fidelity; its dia- | lcgue is terse and often epigramatic; its denouement is as surprising as it Is | thrilling, and itsfarraignment of certain l evils of modern society is no less scath- | ing than that in 'The Second Mrs. Tan | gueray." w
 l Miss Barrymore's acting of the com 1 plex emotional role of Zoe Blundel the i unhappy wife, Is the greatest achieve ! ment of her career thus far It has set
 hter free from the often reiterated charge !, of being merely personality actress" l and has enabled her to prove that she ! possesses the ability to portray a char ] acter entirely foreign to her own; that ] she is capable of far greater acting than !, any she has heretofore had the oppor- l tunity to do.
 Charles Frohman has surrounded Miss l Barrymore with a aIsurporting company of ] such excellence that "Mid-ChanneI" was z pronounced the best acted play in New l York this season.. Charles Dalton, as ] rheo Bundell, theA husband. heads the l conpany. which Includes H. Reeves ] Smith, Eugene OiBrien, Maud Milton, J Louise Drew, Helen Freeman, Marianne l Thurber and others. \ The play has been produced with all JAf Pinero's minute attention to details I md with all Frohman's lavishness and 1 representations and producing harmon | ious effects Tho outline of the play | as given in the advance notices is as follows: rheo and Zoe Blunde1l. after 14 years 1 of married life. have ''got on each I others nerves." Theo has bad temper l and u tendency to bully. Zoe has bad | temper and sharp tongue and exas- | perates Theo by being constantly. sur ! rounded by a crowd of men chums 1 whom she calls her tame robins,'' The 1 two quarrel, like cat and dog. J Their 1 old friend Peter Mottraln, a kindly bach | elor. tries 10 make peace between them, | ! and tells them little alegory about a
 lief in the middle of the English Chan
 yd where the sea. however smooth itI q elsewhere. is always rough. At that