(l to r: Douglas Mews, Rowena Simpson, Robert Ibell) Photo: Alex Garside
Rosina Buckman was a Blenheim-born soprano who became one of this country’s first international opera stars. She made many 78rpm records, and even alternated on stage with Dame Nellie Melba, often regarded as the greatest soprano of the age.
In 1922, Rosina Buckman undertook a tour of Australia and her home country, taking with her cellist Adelina Leon and pianist-composer Percy Kahn, as well as trunks full of spectacular dresses.
Fast forward nearly a hundred years, and Wellington soprano Rowena Simpson and the duo Hammers & Horsehair (pianist Douglas Mews & cellist Robert Ibell) are presenting a reminiscence of Rosina Buckman’s triumphant return home; albeit on a much smaller scale, with far more intimate venues and without the trunks of dresses!
Rowena and Douglas chatted to Upbeat and talked about Rowena’s growing fascination with the old “bel canto” singing technique of Rosina Buckman and her contemporaries, and Douglas’s love of old records and gramophones that preserve the sound of the performer without microphones or amplifiers.
