The Wilmington morning star., 1947-04-13
BY w. G. ROGERS

Associated Press Arts Reporter
NEW YORK. April H. R Al
average of five debuts a week
or 16 in all, is scheduled for the
New York City Opera company!
current three-week stand at Cit,
Center.
Three of them took place the
opening night in Strauss "Ariadne
Auf Naxon," and perhaps help ex
plain why the performance, under
Conductor Laszlo Halasz, showed
scme strain. Margit Bokor ane
Virginia Haskins, as composer ane
Zerbinetta, made debuts which
though they disappointed the crit
les. delighted the audience, anc
Ann Ayars appeared for the frs
time in a minor role.
High spot was the return of Ella
Flesch in the title role; few COM
posers are as mean to their so
pranos as Strauss is to his in this
opera, especially to the one who
sings Ariadne, but Miss Flesch
practically stopped the show with
one of the Ariadne Arias.
Virginia MacWatters, Hubert
Norville and Doris Doree, who
made previous d ebuts WITH
Falasz, now are scoring successes
| at Covent Garden, and a fourth,
! Eugene Conley. has just won the
plaudits of the opera comicue-
Giordano's Andrea Chenier,'
not heard here since 1882, was
; scheduled for presentation this
week, with Vivian Della Chiesa as
Maddalena.
A trombone recital, which is
about as rare as a hens tootf
will be presented tomorrow after
noon in town hall by Davis Shu'
man, a Russian born, American
educated musician who regards
the trombone as something moro
than an instrument which drive:
the neighbors crazy.
Shuman who holds an engi
neer's degree, always had a hank
ering to get into music and, en-.
couraged by Koussevitzky ane
given a scholarship to the Juilliare
school, he made the break. He
has played with the Pittsburgh
Symphony and other orchestras'
i1cluding the Met" Now he
teaches at Juilliard, has a tran
scription published every now anc
then, works On q proposed guide
to trombone playing. and tries tc
persuade composers to write mu'
sic for the trombone.
Three of them have obliged, ane
at the recital he will play theil
compositions, as well as some ole
chamber music, assisted by Vic
linist Mischa Mischakoh, Pianis
Leonid Hambro and a string en-
semble.
NEW OF ART
Painting and sculpture free
with a deep romantic feeling are
exhibited in the Knoedler gal
leries.
The sculptor is Mirko, an Ital
ian; the painter is Corrado Cagli
born in Italy but a fugitive from
there in the late 1905 when hi
began to be afraid that the Fascis
regime. which had destroyed sew
eral of his mura1s, would turn it
attention to him personally.
Cagli, who served about fiv'
years in the U. S. Army and i
now an American citizen, returned
to Italy while he vas in uniform
/ Current Italian art, he says, i
fresh. alive, humanistic and char
~acterized by an original metho'
Of expression, and h Knoedle
show corroborates this. It sell
pretty well in its native land, ant
If is produced by a variety o
local schools, Of which the Roma
is perhaps best known. 1t is no
new, he claims, sor 1t dates bacl
more than a decade and a hal
when it was both romantic an
anti-Mussolini.
Sculpture by Ivan Mestrovic, So
year-old Yugoslav, is on view il
the Metropolitan Museum through
May.
Andrew Wyeth. 30, Of Chadd
Ford. Pa, will receive the aware
of Meri Medal and a 81, 900 priz,
from the American Academy o
Arts and Letters at the joint SEES
sion of the Academy and tn
National Institute of Arts and Let
tiers next month. The award i
given annually to a non-member
and only once in five years tt
an artist.
NEWS OF BOOKS
Five authors and three ex-news
papermen have organized the his
tcry book club. Chairman Of tn
board is Carl w. Jones, former
president and publisher Of tn
Minneapolis Journal; Ray c. Dow
ell. who was a Houston and New
York newsman, is president; ant
Richard G. Green. New Yorl
LAWYER and former newsman, il
secretary and treasurer.
Bernard Devote heads the edi
torial board, Of which member:
are Randolph G. Adams OF thu
University Of Michigan, Stewar
H. Holbrook of the Portland Ore
CONAN, j. Frank Dobie Of Austin
Tex, ard Arthur M. Schlesinge1
Jr. of Washington.