Evening star., 1927-05-26
M u SIC
OPERA COSTUME RECITAL.

z Genevieve, r. Bond. whose HUSBAND
.Rollin Bond, is organizer and director
@of the group known as the Washing'
stonians. presented some young singers
dn a unique type OF recital last night
at the Opera School of the Washing
sonians, ass N street southwest. This
building. which is designated as the
southwest branch of the Bond enter
prise. is one OF the very old houses,
with the high ceilings and beautiful
doors of early colonial architecture.
An intimate atmosphere pervaded and
fhe audience, which flied the room,
showed much enthusiasm as the pro-
gram progressed.
Mrs. Bonds idea is to teach stu
dents with voices suited to operate Sc
aections the roles they might eVentu'
allv sing in productions, and then, IN
these costume recitals, give them op-
portunity to get the histrionic erect,
as we'll as sing the arias. duets, ETC.
In this way they not only nave e&-
berience for developing their abilities
themselves before an actual audience,
but. incidentally, they show how they
are liable to "come through" in pro-
the way in which the pupils built up
the dramatic color OF various operate
scenes last night with simple but ef-
fective background, appropriate cos
tunes and very good accompaniment
at the piano by Margaret Bowie Grant.
AR. Bond directing. The same singers.
in the concert style of singing ariaS,
were less convincing than when in ac-
tion and costume. This was particu-
larly true of Elsie Schultze, who has
big and warm quality of voice. She
was without expression in Some
where Deep in My Heart" from
CHERRY Blossom Time" when she
sang 1t concert style; later. in the vivid
role of the maligned SantuzZa in the
scene from "Cavalleria Rusticana,"
she proved the most effective Of the
group singing on this program.
The opening scene was from II Pag-
liacci." Oswald Barber, who has a
strong voice, but little fineness as yet
in singing, gave the famous prologue
in English. Mary Whelchel, who has
a light. high soprano voice. quite got
into the role of Media and her enunci.
alton was very good. Brewster Mar
shall, a young baritone, who is a ma.
tive Washingtonian, showed a really
beautiful voice and good stage pres.
ence both in his role of Silvio and
later in the duet from "The Force of
Destiny" sung with Agostino Aran-
clio, an Italian. who sang this particular
number excellently and also did the
lighter serenade in II Pagliacci," in
the role of Peppe. Mr.. Marshall needs
to clarity his enunciation and work
particularly on his diction, but he has
a fine voice to work with. Terry Bel.
lanca an Italian tenor sang the pop-
ular Sob Song" with heavy drama
ties: a little repression in the acting
and more legato in the singing would
greatly improve this number, for
which he has the temperament and
voice.
Another Italian singer who has real
voice and proved not little skilled in
the art Of singing was Guiseppi Bruno.
His two numbers, both in Italian, were
well done.
Florence Macmillan did the ''Un bel
Dr. of Madame Butterfly" well, al
though she showed considerable ner-
vousness. a quality also true of
Thelma Doyle's singing of Schubert's
"Ave Maria," with violin obbligato by
Rose Novak, who later gave a pert
little vocal number from Chimes of
Normandy" in costume. Selections
from III. M. S. Pinafore" and Cherry
Blossom Time" also were presented,
making the program quite lengthy
with the solo numbers included.
Others appearing in the program were
Everil Worrel Murphy, Catherine Pas
sero. Virginia Doyle, Ruth McCor-
mack, julius Di Georgi, Salvatore
Cello and Dorothy Davenport.
The opera costume recital will be