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Voice teacher to leave UNL
for try at professional stage
Margaret Eaves, UNL instructor of voice.
By Dennis ESSermeier
"I really hops to sing, but it's a hard field to
break into," said Margaret Eaves, UNL
instructor of voice. Eaves wili leave her teaching
position at the end of the semester to go to
New York City, where she plans to begin a
career as a professional lyric soprano.
While professional singing is a competitive
and difficult field. Eaves has a list of impressive
credentials.
This spring she was winner of the
Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions for the
Upper Midwest. .
From there she went to the semifinals in
New York City to compete among the winners
from the 20 other regional auditions. Although
eliminated at those auditions, she regards the
experience as extremely valuable.
She noted the roughest competition is
always among lyric sopranos because there are
so many. Nevertheless, by virtue of her regional
audition win, she may audition for the
Metropolitan Opera Company again at any
time.
Eaves also was recipient of the 1974 Singer
of the Year Award from the National Assoc. of
Teachers of Singing (NATS). The competition,
in which she won $1,000, was judged on the
basis of an entire recital, not just a single aria
like the Metropolitan auditions.
Because of the NATS Artist Award, she will
give recitals throughout the year on college
campuses act ess the country.
"This," said Eaves, "is an excellent
opportunity, since half of getting a career
started is getting some exposure."
The first of these recitals will be in two
weeks in St. Paul, Minn. She will give recitals
this summer in Cleveland, Portland,
Indianapolis, Bloomington, Ind., Decorah,
Iowa, and other places. Her recital schedule for
the fall and winter has not yet firmed up but
she anticipates several performances.
Eaves was raised in Havre, Mont. Her father
was a farmer and ran a farm implement
business. At the encouragement of a music
teacher, Eaves decided while in high school to
go into singing professionally.
She attended the Interlochen National Music
Camp and there was encouraged to attend the
Cleveland she earned both an undergraduate
and masters degree in performance.
At the Institute, Eaves was active in both the
recital and opera programs. She was given the
Boris Goldovsky Award for her role as the
Governess in Benjamin Britten's Turn of the
Screw.
In 1972 Eaves went to Switzerland to study
French song with the .noted baritone Gerald
Souzay. ' ,.
Last summer she was an apprentice at the St.
Paul Opera Co. Understudying the role of
Abaglal in Ron Ward's The Crucible, Eaves was
able to sing for two weeks while the lead
soprano was sick.
Although Eaves grew up far from the center
of the classical music scene, she has no regrets
about coming from Montana.
"I definitely think it was an aid in every
way.
"I feel a better person for being there. I know
a lot of kids who feel that way about Nebraska
if they have a chance to get out, but if they
don't, they don't appreciate it."
Teaching voice has been , a rewarding
experience, Eaves said, but she finds it
demanding. It leaves her little time of her own
to develop as an artist.
While wanting her career in art song and
oratorio, she concedes that a singer today must
start in opera. Opera has, temporarily, captured
the public's fancy; that is where the jobs are
and where reputations are to be made.
Eaves will be leaving Lincoln in M3y but said
she hopes to return somedayon stage-as a
professional performer.
Sex symbol to live again on Sheldon screen
She was the last of the Hollywood sex symbols,
one of the last silver screen idols. And now in a
society without idols her name is brought up again
and again. Her story has been told by many authors,
most recently by Norman Mailer. Artists such as
Andy Warhol have paid her tribute.
At a time of rising curiosity about the life of one
of Hollywood's most intriguing personalities, the
Sheldon Film Theatre will present two of Marilyn
Monroe's most important films.
The Misfits and The Prince and the Showgirl will
be shown this weekend as part of the Feature Classics
Series. Shown along with the two feature films will be
an Everareen Film, The Apple Knockers and the
Coke, a short starring Monroe.
The Misfits was Clark Gable's last picture; it was
Marily Monroe's last picture; it was one of
Montgomery Cliffs last pictures. The controversy and
excitement that surrounded its filming was so strong
that nobody now remembers how good the film
really is.
done wonek
Rattigan; the best British ctnematographer. Jack
Cardiff; and Olivier himself directed.
The result was the brillian comedy The Prince and
The Showgirl. Olivier plays the Grand Duke of
'Carpathia, who is determined to have the fabulous
American showgirl he sees on stage in London. She is
wooed superbly, but falls asleep. The duke is
outraged and leaves her in his bedroom. When she
finally awakens, she discovers she is rapturously in
love and puzzled that the duke no longer wants her.
Political intrigue steps into play when the showgirl
becomes involved in a plot with the duke's son to
depose him. But in the end it is she who reconciles
father to son, settles the political questions and leaves
the duke with the understanding that though they
part, they will meet again some day.
The short film being shown before each feature
dates from the early '50s, and it is a strange and
perhaps frightening film. To a soundtrack of music,
laughter and applause Monroe disrobes while playing
with apples and a bottle of Coca-Cola. It makes one
vaguely uncomfortable because the thought keeps
recurring that maybe this was why she killed herself.
The films are being shown at 3, 7 and 9 p.m. on
Friday and Saturday at the Sheldon Gallery
Auditorium. Admission is $1.25.
, 'V. i'
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Monroe's role in the film seems terribly revealing;
it is easy to see that the part was made for her. She
displays a gentleness and a tired, childlike grace that
are appropriate, moving and very evidently a
reflection of herself.
The story of The Misfitts concerns three sometime
cowboys, played by Gable, Clift and Eli Wallach, and
the recent divorcee whom they have met in Reno.
She represents to each the idealized image of mother,
wife, sweetheart, mistress. She, in turn, is confused,
but loving, with a passionate desire for freedom, a
desire thai comes to a startling dramatic climax when
she accompanies' the three men on an expedition to,
catch wild horses for sale to a dog food factory.
Sir Laurence Olivier (three years before The
Misfits) was among the very first to recognize the fact
that Monroe could act. For several years he nursed
the dream of making a very special picture with her in
which her physical and intellectual attributes could
be played against his own.
0!ivir Mred the best British playwright, Terence
Wednesday, april 17, 1974
IVariSy Monro End Sir Laurenca Olivier in The Prince and the Showgirl, featured this
weekend at tha Sheldon Film Theatre.
daily nebreskon
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