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[[announcement]] [[image - black & white photograph]] Leonard de Paur [[image - black & white photograph]] Lawrence Winters [[image - black & white photograph]] Inez Matthews [[image - black & white photograph]] Luther Saxon de Paur's Opera Gala LEONARD DE PAUR, Conductor William Jackson, Assistant Conductor Featuring LAWRENCE WINTERS, Baritone INEZ MATTHEWS, Soprano LUTHER SAXON, Tenor Joy Mearimore McLean, Walter P. Brown, Berniece Hall Clyde Turner George Marshall Chorus and Orchestra UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ARTISTS SERIES MACKY AUDITORIUM, MARCH 11, 1957 [[/announcement]] [[newspaper clipping]] Chorus Stages Novel Operatic Concert By HERBERT DONALDSON The de Paur Infantry Chorus, a name which for a decade has been associated with excellence in choral singing, appeared in concert Saturday night at the Shrine Auditorium under a new name: "de Paur's Opera Gala." The reason for this change is threefold. Leonard de Paur, the group's director, has added women choristers and brought on the stage with the chorus three soloists and a small symphony orchestra. The men have shed their familiar army uniforms [[4 unreadable words]] in favor of white tie and tails. And the group is invading the field of opera – opera in concert form. This is not a new idea. For example, we have seen opera in this guise at Lawrence Morton's Monday Evening Concerts. But it is an experience infrequent enough still to be considered novel. 3 WORKS USED – Their program entertained excerpts from Gertrude Stein's and Virgil Thompson's "Four Saints in Three Acts," George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" and Oscar Hammerstein II's "Carmen Jones," the latter work deriving its music from Bizet's "Carmen," and shifting its original time and place to World War II down south. Most successful of the concert numbers was the Gershwin work. Its music, especially arranged by Robert Russell Bennett, seemed admirably suited to this kind of presentation. Most enjoyable of all was the beauty of solo voices, outstanding of which were soprano Inez Matthews and baritone Lawrence Winters. Both are veteran singers, [[edge of scan cut off]] never got across the immense Shrine stage, but enough illogical, entertaining fragments did. Typical vocal cadenzas, as on the words "Pigeons on the grass alas, short long grass, short longer yellow grass alas," etc., "Bed-Head-Said-Lead-Fled-Dead," and "1-2-3-4-5-6-7, all good children go to heaven," brought the audience chuckles. To be admired anew was the economy in the instrumentation of Virgil Thompson's score, played devotedly by the orchestra and sung re- [[e?]] chorus and [[/newspaper clipping]] [[newspaper clipping]] 2-A – Daily Press Utica, N.Y., Tues., Jan. 8, 1957 Great Artists Series Performance Brilliant Leonard dePaur led his chorus and orchestra last night in a brilliant "Four Saints in Three Acts" and a concert "Porgy and Bess." The evening was another in the Great Artists Series presented by Roland Chesley at the Stanley Theater. The Gertrude Stein "Saints," cleanly set to Virgil Thompson's score, was Acts I and III of the American opera. The choral work was excellent and the soloists attacked vigorously in their roles of lesser and greater saints. As may be expected, singing a Gertrude Stein text is not the easiest method of winning audience acceptance, but the work deserves and would repay further study by large sections of the assembled Uticans. Thompson's music, modern in idiom, extremely sparce and unadorned, is an almost perfect setting for the Stein work. Without a vocal line and somewhat dissident, the music allows the text to be heard and, if possible, to be comprehensible. Inez Matthews was a stunning St. Teresa and Bernice Hall deserves much praise for her St. Settlement. So do the two conversationalists, Joy McLean and Walter Brown. Lawrence Winters as St. Ignatius demonstrated his ability in the "Pigeon on the Grass" section. Miss Matthews, in the "Porgy" selections, displayed a fine lyric sense, in "Summertime" and "My Man's Gone Now." Winters gave excellent cynicism with the "Woman Is a Sometime Thing" and the agnostic "Ain't Necessarily So." With all the present pseudo-piety, it's good to hear this song again. The chorus was near perfect and good background to both the Winters songs mentioned. DePaur's control is fine, especially in "Promised Land," a spiritual, and "Oh, I Can't Sit Down," a show tune where the chorus must sing over a brass line. They did, and it was intelligible. The group also performed the third scene of the first act of "Carmen Jones." Further, the section chosen was fine for the males, giving Winters the "Toreador" song and George Marshall "La Fleur Que tu m'avais Jete," but it left little for Miss Matthews except to swing her hips. And perhaps a provincial reviewer shouldn't take issue with a Broadway hit, but Oscar Hammerstein II apparently vulgarized "Carmen" to little effect. The music sounded well, but the Bizet score is good on a barrel-organ. The prize ring words were incredibly foolish with the Toreador music. The audience, incidentally, seem to like "Carmen Jones" best. In the near capacity audience last night was Frederic C. Schang III, son of the president of Columbia Artists Management Inc. who manage the DePaur's Opera Gala. He was there to test Utica reaction to the performance. CHARLES RYAN Jr. [[/newspaper clipping]] [[newspaper clipping mostly obscured]] Crowd of Perform Three of [[Broadway's?]] durable smash the musical day night for a [[?]] ing program [[in?]] series – and in the it has been [[?]] Boise Community [[?]] [[association?]]. Exponents of rooted American the singers and the De Paur Opera rected by whose former [[Infantry?]] appeared in [[Boise?]] sponsorship in [[/newspaper clipping]] [[end page]] [[start page]] [[newspaper clipping]] [[box]] Colder [[/box]] Dodge City Daily Globe [[box]] Cowboy Capital of the World [[/box]] VOLUME 46 SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS DODGE [[CITY?]] KANSAS, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1957 ASSOCIATED PRESS NO. 36 [[/newspaper clipping]] [[newspaper clipping partially obscured]] HILL AUDITORIUM: DePaur Opera Gala A Mixed Blessing LEONARD DePaur has traded his famous Infantry Chorus in for a somewhat more mixed group of singers, several soloists, and an orchestra. This organization, named DePaur's Opera Gala, presented [[?]] night a program of music not often heard in Ann Arbor. "Four Saints in Three Acts", by Virgil Thompson, with libretto by Gertrude Stein, is an unjustly neglected work. Even the long playing [[record?]] of Four Saints, which was released by RCA a few years ago, been withdrawn. But for all its obscurity and musical simplicity, [[Four?]] Saints is a composition which deserves attention; it is all very [[?]]. The performance of Acts I and III of Four Saints heard last night compares favorably with the recording mentioned above; the soloists were all excellent, and the orchestra managed to be not conspicuously [[presumptive?]]. * * * ACT I, SCENE 3 of Carmen Jones did not fare quite so well. This [[work?]] is somewhat adulterated at best, but with so many hands in the [[text cut off]] The music is made by Bennett-Hammerstein-Bizet; the script by Hammerstein-Halevy-Milhac, Merimee. With all this tinkering, a certain amount of non sequitur was bound emerge. And so we have obviously Spanish melodies occasionally interspersed with Hammerstein, put into the mouths of itinerant workers. Carmen Jones serves one useful purpose: It gives us some idea of what Opera Comique is really [[?]], since we can understand most of the spoken dialog. But unquestionably it is the music of Bizet, and not the manipulations the other partners in this composite production, which sustains the interest in Carmen Jones. Soloists Lawrence Winters, Inez Matthews, Joy McLean and Luther Saxon, were all in good voice, although the occasionally off-key orchestra left something to be desired. The attempt to present Carmen Jones in an idiomatic performance, but with white tie and tails and evening gowns was not entirely successful, and it might seem that some more suitable choral work could have been selected. A condensed Porgy and Bess completed the program. Here Miss Matthews and Mr. Winters sang all the solo parts, with choral and orchestral accompaniment. The performance was overall quite satisfactory, although something of the spontaneous enthusiasm usually generated by this opera was missing. * * * ALTHOUGH Mr. DePaur has assembled a talented group for this Opera Gala, and many of his singers are quite outstanding, the overall effect is not nearly so satisfactory as the Infantry Chorus, which could be accepted without reservations. Still, the Opera Gala has brought music to audiences which they might not otherwise have had the opportunity to hear – David Kessel [[/newspaper clipping]] [[newspaper clipping laid partially on top of next clipping]] 13 The Burlington Free Press Saturday, April 27, 1957 [[/newspaper clipping]] [[newspaper clipping]] Where Do We Go from Here? DePaur's Opera Gala Makes Grand Closing of Lane Series By JOHN DONAHUE There is probably some disappointment in Burlington that the [[George?]] Bishop Lane artist series [[?]] The University of Vermont [[didn't?]] come up with its promised [[?]]. [[But?]] you couldn't prove it by the [[audience?]] last night in Memorial Auditorium. DePaur's Opera Gala got the kind of reception that artists dream about. At the final curtain, the chorus stood as if unable to comprehend the full impact the show had made on the audience. One nagging question persists: how is Leonard de Paur going to top this one? Burlington is heard his Infantry Chorus before and that was out of the top drawer too. The theater was not far from us last night. The Opera Gala consisted of generous excerpts from "Four Saints in Three Acts," "Carmen Jones" and "Porgy and Bess." Top Soloists The featured soloists were artists of the caliber of Lawrence Winters, Inez Matthews, Luther Saxon, Joy Mearimore McLean, Walter P. Brown, Berniece Hall, Claude Turner and George Marshall. The chorus of 14 men and 11 girls with a small orchestra made it a big production, requiring two buses for travel. "Carmen Jones" and "Porgy and Bess" are pretty standard fare for anyone who owns a radio or phonograph. It's still heartwarming to hear them given so authentically. Leaves a Question the "Four Saints in Three Acts" is quite another story. The Virgil Thomson music and what is called a libretto by Gertrude Stein enjoyed a certain notoriety at first, but it's not anything you turn on to listen to if you're reading a book. In one sense it's a pity, because the music is marvelously constructed, and as presented by such a company makes you wonder if it really is a spoof. The conductors amusing introduction assured the audience it could be taken seriously or not. This corner votes for the negative. It's too far from reality. Anyone who is familiar with the Jesuits knows that St. Ignatius Loyola wouldn't of been able to wait so long before putting in his say, and Winters made of vocally dominant St. Ignatius when he did get his chance. Our special favorites were Joy McLean as Commère and Walter Brown as Compère, the two mortals who act as kind of a Greek chorus amid all the saints. There are more than four and the acts of a funny way of going backward, repeating themselves or skipping around. Where's Hammerstein May be the answer to this "pigeons on the grass" mishmash is to have Oscar Hammerstein revise the lyrics as he did with "Carmen" for "Carmen Jones." In this, Miss Matthews' warm voice and dramatic sense balanced Winters' magnificently resonant and versatile baritone. Luther Saxon singing of the "Flower Song" was artistry of superlative caliber. Here is a worthy successor in the Roland Hayes tradition. But then, the whole company is one of which the conductor can be proud. It made a happy finale for the season. [[/newspaper clipping]] [[newspaper clipping]] 24 BUFFALO COURIER-EXPRESS, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 1957 Music Review dePaur-Conducted Program Wins Plaudits By KENNETH GILL There is plenty of logic in Leonard dePaur's audience approach. Heralded for several seasons as the leader of one of our finest seeing ensembles, the dePaur Infantry Chorus, this young conductor has now turned to his Opera Gala with its capsule versions of three good titles, making an interesting evening and renewed box office appeal. Last night, this operatic concertizing Was Given on the Stage of Kleinhans Music Hall auditorium, and a good-sized audience heartily applauded. In succession, the listeners were treated to portions from "Four Saints in Three Acts," "Carmen Jones" and "Porgy and Bess." Each of the sequences has been well constructed by Robert Russell Bennett, with a straight concert approach for the first and last and a good share of dramatic movement for the "Carmen" take-off. An orchestra of pit size accompanied a score or more of well-selected voices, while a well-typed platoon of soloists filled the cast leads. There was probably more appreciation on the part of the audience for Bizet turned Hammerstein and the Gershwin pieces then there was for the music of Virgil Thomson and the doggerel of Gertrude Stein. Weighty Accompaniment Not that the "Four Saints" was anything but well sung, but either by choice or error, the accompaniment was of such weight that little was understood. It goes without saying that "Carmen Jones" was made for this group, for both Inez Matthews and Luther Saxon, the Carmen and Joe of this addition, were in the original production. Just as accomplished was the work of Lawrence Winters as Husky Miller and that of Berniece Hall, Joy Mearimore McLean, Walter P. Brown and Clyde Turner as the side quartet. As Porgy, Lawrence Winters, on leave from the New York City Opera Company, was again a well-versed performer because of his alternate post in the original company. As in the case of Miss Matthews, Winters was in perfect control whether in Thomson, Bizet or Gershwin. Above all this array of fine voices was the guiding hand of dePaur, and the curtain calls accorded this reserved and talented director were proof of his success. Last evening's event was a sponsorship of the Zorah Berry series. [[/newspaper clipping]] [[newspaper clipping]] [[note]] Idaho – March 5/17[[?]] [[/note]] DAILY STATESMAN Persons Hears of Opera Group Gala is on its first nationwide tour, and includes a good portion of the personnel of the Infantry Chorus. Some 1300 persons crowded into Boise high school auditorium to hear excerpts from Four Saints in Three Acts and Carmen Jones, and a concert of tingling favorites from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. The three-portion program provided a wide range of expression for the three leading soloists – Baritone Lawrence Winters, Soprano Inez Matthews and Tenor Luther Saxon. Some 25 singers and an orchestra of the same number performed under de Paur's guidance. Winters, who was the alternate "Porgy" in the original production, is now on leave from the New York City Opera, where he is leading baritone. Director de Paur introduced his leading vocalists and raising the curtain on Four Saints, described as "something between an Opera and an oratorio," with libretto by Gertrude Stein and music by Virgil Thomson. The Prologue and Act I and Act III featured the voices of Joy McLean, Walter P. Brown, Berniece Hall, Miss Matthews, Clyde Turner, Winters, Saxon and George Marshall, along with the chorus. The same singers plus Inez Matthews as the red-skirted Carmen and George Marshall as Sgt. Brown appeared in Hammerstein's Carmen Jones – a modernized version of the Gypsy girl Opera classic transplanted from Spain into a southern U. S. town during World war II. Scene 3 of Act I was chosen for the Georges Bizet music adapted for the Broadway hit by Robert Russell Bennett. Conductor de Paur's guiding qualities combined with the chorus, orchestra and solo voices of Winters, Marshall, Miss Matthews and Miss Hall in the Porgy and Bess selections. Vigorously applauded were such Gershwin favorites as Summertime, A Woman Is a Sometime Thing, Gone, Gone, Gone, My Man's Gone Now, Promised Land, Oh, I Got Plenty O'Nothin', It Ain't Necessarily So and others. The program's length – about two hours and a quarter – precluded any encores, but the applause and curtain bows were evidence enough of the listeners' receptive mood. Concluding the 1956-57 Community Concert series will be Pianist Gary Graffman, on March 19... B. H.
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