Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-03
NEWS OF MUSIC
Mitchell Discusses
Sight-PIoy Concerts
By DAY THORPE


America" the five weeks Of
symphonies for high-school
visitors made possible by Mrs.
Merriweather Post. it is app
propriate to congratulate DR..
Mitchell and the symphony
and to thank Mrs. Post in the
name of thousands Of children
who heard the concerts and in
behalf of the ten contest final
lists who played here with the
orchestra.
Mrs. Post announced this
week that she Is happy with
the results of the Symptoms
addition Of the forty-eight
states to its territory of Wash
ington and environs, and that
she will underwrite the con-
certs again next summer.
The concerts were under
taken with three detectives:
To provide school children
from all over the country.
many of whom had never
heard a symphony orchestra
in the flesh. an opportunity to
experience the excitement Of
attending a real concert. To
find young performers of ex-
traerdinary talent, to have
them appear with the orches-
ira. and to award the best a
cash prize and a scholarship
to Juilliard. Finally, to ex-
tend the season of the orcheS-
ira by five weeks. thereby in
creasing the annual salary Of
It's players and allowing the
National Symphony to protect
its personnel from the blan-
dishments of other orcheStras
with longer season or a big
ger purse.
Audiences Increase
All detectives were met. The |
concerts got of to a slow start |
during the first days Of the |
season, but as word went |
around that an hour at the
Pan American Union was a
pleasant way to spend an
early evening-the concerts
began at 7:45-the kids sold
the idea to their chaperones,
or perhaps were convinced by
them, and as the season grew
older the audiences grew
larger.
The most welcome surprise
Of the undertaking, however,
was unquestionably the group
Of ten soloistS, the Semi-final-
lists from starting list of 230,
that turned up in town a fort
night ago to play concertos in
competition with one another.
In such a contest one would
ordinarily be happy if there
was one really good musician,
although the rest might be
classified in various degrees Of
of horrible incompetence. But
to the contrary, although I
was at the time incapacitated
and heard only the winner and
the runner-up, ! understand
not only from DR.. Howard
Mitchell himself but from a
number of other members of
the orchestra, that every single
one of the ten contestants was
astonishingly good. There was
not an indifferent performer
In the whole group. In the
drawn-out elimination contest
to decide the winner, at least
four of the ten impressed diff
ferent members of the orches-
ira as the very best of all
and If in talking to a half doz-
en- players in the orchestra I
uncovered four each with a
different favorite, it is pos
sible that in the entire orches-
ira there was a champion for
each.
Clearly, the symphony has a
good thing in its arrangement
for bringing young artists to
town. and clearly it appeals to
its young American audience
when one considers that
roughly half Of all high-school
visitors to Washington, in
town for at least overnight,
heard the National Symphony
in its Merriweather Post Sc
ries.
DIR. Mitchell Listens
I saw DR.. Mitchell one night
last week. and began to talk
about the next summer season.
The conductor always submits
to my telling him how to run
his orchestra with good grace.
1.-TWO ideas" I said. THE
young artists were terrific,
they gave life to the few con-
certs they took part in-the
audience liked them, the Or
chestral players liked them,
and you were as enthusiastic
as I've seen you in some time.
Why not expand your opera
tons and get soloist for each
Of the 30 concerts? Perhaps
you will be able to find 80 as
good as the 10 you had this
year. Most of the concertos
they will want to play will be
in the standard repertoire and
the orchestra can accompany
them without rehearsal. Not
one inexperienced auditor in a
hundred can tell the difference
between sight-reading of q
first-class orchestra and a re-
hearsed performance. and the
Sest of the young soloist and
the excitement of something
different every night would
make the concerts even more
attractive.
Nov If you buy my idea, !