The Katharine Ridgeway Concert Company

              THE KATHARINE RIDGEWAY CONCERT COMPANY

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Direction:
Redpath Lyceum Bureau
Boston and Chicago

THE COMPANY:

MISS KATHARINE RIDGEWAY, Reciter
MISS, AGNES C. FARRELL, Pianist
PERCY F. HUNT, Baritone
GEORGE W. JENKINS, Tenor




MISS RIDGEWAY'S remarkable success as a reciter has made her personality of considerable interest.  The following extract appeared in one of our dailies, and is worth reproducing: —

Miss Ridgeway impresses one as being perfectly cultured, refined, and sincere — in fact, a really magnificent specimen of the best type of American girl, both physically and mentally.  She is large and splendidly built, without being the least bit heavy.  She has fully as many inches as Ellen Terry, with, perhaps, one or two to spare.  Her shoulders are broad, and yet she is slender.  Her face is much on the Gibson type, with a somewhat more generous mouth than he usually bestows on his women.  The most noticeable thing about Miss Ridgeway — noticeable even when she talks — is her voice, which is deep, rich, and resonant.  One feels curious to know if it is so naturally or is the result of training.  It is vibrant with feeling, and when she reads it is sweetly musical.

But a few years ago Miss Ridgeway had not even thought of reading or elocution.  At that time she was a student at the University at Spokane (her home has been at Spokane, Wash., since she was a child, although she was born at Atlanta, Ga.).  While there she heard Nella Brown Pond read.  Certainly Mrs. Pond had a great effect on Miss Ridgeway, for after hearing her she announced at her home that she was going to be a reader, and as soon as her course at the university was finished she went East and entered the Boston School of Oratory.  Then she studied under Miss Emma Greeley, founder of the Greeley School of Elocution and Dramatic Art, of whom she speaks most enthusiastically.  After a two years' course she was engaged by the Redpath Bureau to travel with the Temple Quartet.  She was with them for two years, making a tour of the United States and Canada each year.  Next year she was placed at the head of a company of her own, a position which she accepted very timidly, but where she has done the most successful work of her career.

She is most delightfully enthusiastic about her work in a quiet way, and it is easy to see that her heart is in it.  She enjoys traveling, and, with her splendid physique, one can easily understand how she can do so much of it without fatigue.

In selecting her support for the present season Miss Ridgeway has been remarkably fortunate in securing two phenomenal voices, a tenor and baritone, whose work will give unmixed pleasure.  Mr. George W. Jenkins, the tenor at Dr. Meredith's Church, in Brooklyn, is a native of Ohio, of Welsh parentage.  He began his work in Cleveland, where he filled one of the most prominent church positions before removing to New York.  He has wonderful natural vocal ability, a voice of most remarkable power, sweetness, and sympathy, which, together with his fine presence and artistic temperament, has brought him into prominence in concert and oratorio work.

Percy Fenton Hunt, the baritone, is now in Paris, returning to this country during the summer.  He possesses a perfectly superb voice of great richness, flexibility, and range, has studied in the best schools, and is easily one of the most promising singers of the day.  His teacher in this city, Mr. William H. Dunham, says of him: It gives me pleasure to state that Mr. Percy Fenton Hunt was my pupil for five years, graduating under my instruction from the New England Conservatory of Music.  I consider him one of my best pupils, and his unusually fine voice and attractive personality should win for him a foremost place among successful public singers.

Miss Agnes C. Farrell, the pianist, is also a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music.  She comes from California, where she early showed marked musical ability, winning, at the age of fifteen, a gold medal for her performance of a Beethoven sonata.  She came to Boston in 1898, and has studied at the New England Conservatory, under the famous teachers Carl Baermann and Edwin Klahre.  She is a very brilliant soloist, with a magnificent tone, and great technique.  She has a wide range, from music of the most popular character to the ultra classical.  She is a careful, intelligent accompanist, and of fine personal appearance.



PRESS NOTICES

MISS KATHARINE RIDGEWAY, who is now at the head of the Ridgeway Concert Company, which gave such an excellent entertainment at the Carnegie Music Hall, last evening, is a most attractive young woman.  She is entirely unlike what most of us expect an elocutionist to be.  One scarcely knows why the impression exists — it is probably due to our frequent harrowing experiences with novices — but one generally expects in a woman elocutionist to find an artificial person, — one who poses and talks for effect, and one who has great aims and ambitions, with little to found them on.  There is nothing of this sort about Miss Ridgeway, unless it be the aims and ambitions, for she has them; they are of the most serious and earnest kind.—
Pittsburg Despatch.


KATHARINE RIDGEWAY has a talent so personal and she has so thoroughly individualized her art that it is impossible to measure her by the most familiar standards.  People like her because they are compelled to by the woman's magnetism, and because, too, of her absolute sincerity.  In no art does love of truth make for force as it does in word interpretation.  In nearly all her numbers last evening Miss Ridgeway's love of truth was revealed.  One of the Sketches was a bit of a sermon in which truth was the text, and few sermons preached in St.  Paul have made deeper impressions.
Miss Ridgeway has a convincing personality as well as a convincing mentality, — so very tall that she would have been awkward had nature, combined with art, not made her graceful.  Miss Ridgeway has a voice of rich quality, resonant and flexible.  Its tones vibrate pleasingly, and it is resourceful in dramatic intensity.  Perhaps its best bit of imitation was in the boy's description of a passing difference with another boy.  The boyish tones were imitated perfectly.  The audience received all of Miss Ridgeway's work with marked favor.—

St. Paul Despatch, March 5, 1902.


IN Lazarre we read that Money … is sweated and toiled for.  It costs days and years, and comes in drops, and you might as well expect to find a kingdom.  Substitute for money in the above, Success or A place in the hearts of the people.  It means hard work and ceaseless toil and study, and when it comes the enjoyment of it is sweet.  To win such spontaneous admiration as came to Katharine Ridgeway last evening at the Steel Works, represents all the above and more, too.  A prodigious memory and a faculty for adapting one's self to any audience are the standbys of an elocutionist.  The audience applauded her longer selections to the echo, and in the shorter and humorous pieces, known as Katharine Ridgeway's Sketches, they were loath to part with the reader after a half dozen encores.—
Joliex (Ill.) News, Feb. 13, 1902.




PRESS NOTICES

PERCY F. HUNT, Baritone



KATHARINE RIDGEWAY made another annual appearance in Keokuk last evening as the closing attraction of the Y. M. C. A. course.  It would not be fair to tell how many times Miss Ridegway has appeared here, for she still looks very young.  She may come many more times and will be given a hearty and sincere welcome each time.
Girls who are ambitious will do well to study Katharine Ridgeway carefully.  Her method of achieving success is a good one.  It is to study hard all good models available — and then do it differently and better.  This was apparent last evening the way she did Eugene Field's little skit, The Night Wind, which has been done to death and new life given it by the genius of Katharine Ridgeway.  She is a true genius — a woman with a capacity for hard work, which is the true definition.  Think how much work it took to get the night wind down as fine as the sigh of a soul!
Katharine Ridgeway is not an elocutionist of the old school.  As has been said in this connection once before, she is an entertainer.  As an entertainer she is superb; as a reader she is beyond criticism, unless one wants to write a book on the new school she has founded.  She does it differently and better, and therein lies the secret of her being in demand on the platform for six nights a week for months — therein and in that expansive and fetching smile that is in constant use except in moments of tragedy.  She keeps in touch with her audience all the time, and in that magnetic touch which there is not room here to analyze.  Then, too, she has a power of visualization that is wonderful.  She has abandoned the old way of impersonation for the newer way of narrative from the outside of the subject — and when she succeeds in visualizing it, she has accomplished the chief thing for reader or writer to do to succeed.—

The Gate City, Keokuk, Iowa, Feb. 21, 1902.


MISS RIDGEWAY is one of those rare persons, a reciter who can recite.  The reader is generally an unmitigated bore, and one usually feels sorry for her, for himself, and for the audience.  It is not very easy to say why Miss Ridgeway is different, but she is.  She takes charge of her audience.  She creeps up into their sympathies; she compels thorough admiration, and she does it in simple, unaffected ways.—
The Asheville (N. C.) Gazette, Thursday, Dec. 12, 1901.


IT is useless to attempt to enhance the reputation of Katharine Ridgeway as a reader of note.  Her naturalness, her powers of imitation, her flexibility of expression, and her perfect enunciation are well and favorably known.  In her numerous rôles she was particularly appreciated, and encore after encore demonstrated the enjoyment of the audience.—
Rochester (N. Y.) Democrat, Nov. 22, 1901.

PERCY FENTON HUNT studied in Boston with W. H. Dunham, and graduated from N. E. Conservatory of Music.  Was soloist three years at Shawmut Congregational Church, Boston, and three years at Eliot Congregational Church, Newton.  Has done much concert work in and about Boston.  Studied two winters under Vannuccini at Florence, where he sang the bass part in Poliuto, being only foreigner in cast.  The past winter has been devoted to study in Paris, under Bouhy.  Has an extensive repertoire, including French and Italian songs and several operas.


MR. PERCY F. HUNT, of Boston, the soloist, has been heard before, privately, in Bangor, but this was his first public appearance.  His rich bass voice at once captured the favor of the audience, and his two solos and encore numbers were heard with great pleasure.  Mr. Hunt sings with a full, round tone of much beauty and with an effective method.  His musical career will undoubtedly be one of great success.—
Bangor (Me.) Daily Whig and Courier.


THE fine bass voice of Percy Hunt was at its best in his first number, Once I was a Gallant, Lortzing; his rendition of this, reinforced by the string accompaniment, made a strong effect, and he was compelled to respond to the demands of the audience with a song by Paul Rodney.
His other program number was the Gound aria, She Alone Charmeth My Sadness.  Mr. Hunt is an excellent singer who has received the best of training under William Dunham, the noted tenor, and being but twenty-two years of age, has excellent prospects.—

The Northern Budget, Troy, N. Y.


MR. PERCY HUNT, who has a remarkable voice in volume and quality, sang Life, by Blumenthal.—
Cambridge (Mass.) Chronicle.


WHILE Mr. Percy F. Hunt's voice is not tempestuously powerful, it is used with such refinement and intelligence that it is always pleasing to hear.  He might be termed a restful baritone, if there be such a thing.  His enunciation is so good that no one follows with the printed page when he sings; he can sing in the key and in English, and he did both.—
Troy (N. Y.) Record.


MISS FARRELL, Pianist




GEORGE W. JENKINS sang Sound an Alarm as only be can sing it.  His robust tenor voice filled the auditorium to overflowing.  He has great power and makes tremendous effects.—
New York Musical Courier, May 26, 1901.


MR. JENKINS is a tenor of unusual ability, and such voices as his are seldom heard in this city.  With a remarkable range, his high tones are exquisite and his enunciation most distinct.  The gentleman's work was most highly appreciated, and he was generous with his responses to encores.  The entertainment was delightful throughout.—
Ashtabula Beacon-Record, May 13, 1901.


GEORGE W. JENKINS, the New York tenor, sang as only a true artist can sing.  His group of Schubert's songs were full of sympathy and expression, and his rendition of Celeste Aida, from Verdi's opera, was exceptionally artistic.  He delighted his audience from start to finish.—
Berea Daily News, May 9, 1901.


MR. JENKINS' work as a tenor has seldom been equaled in this city.  While his high range was more than adequate for the acoustic properties of the hall his low notes were full of sensitive comprehensive feeling.  The singer was at his best last evening, and possessed great power.—
Waterbury Republican, Feb. 20, 1902.


HE has a fine high voice of great richness and power, and sings with much expression.  He sang most acceptably, and was several times encored.—
Waterbury American, Feb. 20, 1902.

BROOKLYN, N. Y. HAYDN CHORAL CONCERT.


HIS solo, the aria, Lend Me Your Aid, from the Queen of Sheba, by Gounod, was sung with great dramatic power throughout.  His entire work was most satisfactory.—
Brooklyn Eagle, Jan. 29, 1902.

PARKERSBURG, W. VA. THE CRUCIFIXION.


THOSE who heard Mr. Jenkins last evening had the pleasure of listening to an artist in the true sense of that word.  His voice evidences power and confidence, and possesses all those elements which can be gained by the highest cultivation.  The tenor part in the Crucifixion is extremely beautiful, and gave Mr. Jenkins the opportunity of displaying the wonderful scope of his voice.—
Parkersburg State Journal, March 25, 1902.


GEORGE W. JENKINS, of New York, who is endowed by nature with a tenor voice of remarkable beauty and volume, which cultivation has polished and rounded out with a finish that is effective in the extreme.  The tenor part in the Crucifixion is exquisitely beautiful, and gave Mr. Jenkins full scope for the most artistic rendering, which was fully appreciated by the large number of music-lovers that were present.—
Parkersburg Morning News, March 25, 1902.


GEORGE W. JENKINS, the New York tenor, was magnificent in his parts as soloist narrator.  His natural voice is marvelous in range and sweetness, and, with his cultivation and artistic interpretation, he is well fitted to meet any demands that may be made—
Parkersburg Sentinel, March 25, 1902.


THE concert given in Music Hall last evening by Gertrude May Stein, contralto, and George W. Jenkins, tenor, both of New York, was a great success.  Mr. Jenkins has a phenomenal tenor voice, with great power of tone, and sings with feeling and expression.—
Boston Globe, Nov. 20, 1899.


MR. GEORGE W. JENKINS, of New York City, delighted the audience at Music Hall last evening.  His rendition of Samson was exceptionally good.—
Boston News, Nov. 20, 1899.


GEORGE W. JENKINS, Tenor



MR. JENKINS' song recital, given at Case Avenue Church, was a great success.  His voice is powerful and his intonation is perfect.  His re-engagement is proof of his success.—
Cleveland Herald, May 11, 1900.


GEORGE W. JENKINS sang Onaway Awake, Beloved, from Hiwatha's Wedding Feast, last evening.  The singer was in perfect voice.  His voice was bright and full of pathos.  His articulation was good.  It is only right to say of this singer that once hearing this man insures a return engagement.—
New York Times, Jan. 6, 1901.


THE tenor soloist, George W. Jenkins, who sang Gaul's Holy City last evening, certainly deserves much praise.  Not only is his voice rich and sympathetic, but his intonation and articulation are so far above the average that it is certainly a great pleasure to hear this man sing.—
Brooklyn Eagle, Dec., 1900.


GEORGE W. JENKINS sang In a Persian Garden at a musicale given at the Probst Mansion.  The opening tenor solo, Before the Phantom, showed the stuff of which Jenkins is made.  His Alas, that Spring Should Vanish with the Rose and Ah!  Moon of My Delight, heightened the impression.  A great voice has this man.—
Musial Courier.


MR. JENKINS sang with much musical intelligence, and was recalled several times.  His full, rich voice filled the auditorium.—
Wadsworth Times.


COMFORT Ye and Every Valley were sung by Mr. George W. Jenkins with great expression and full of sympathy, and Thou Shalt Break Them was very dramatic—
Tenafly Daily News.


GEORGE W. JENKINS, of New York, sang the tenor rôles in Elijah to an appreciative audience last evening.  His If with All Your Hearts received hearty applause, and when he sang Then Shall the Righteous Shine he reached his climax and received an ovation.—
Whitinsville Press, Nov. 20, 1899.


GEORGE W. JENKINS, the New York tenor, sang to a very appreciative audience last evening.  He gave several English songs in his pleasing manner, which called for repeated encores.  His German songs could not have been more clearly and artistically interpreted had he been a German.  Nothing but highest praise has this singer received in this city, and we hope to hear him again next season.—
Adrian Daily News, Aug. 21, 1901.


GEORGE W. JENKINS sang the tenor solos with great effect.  His Cujus Animam was full of soul, and his phrasing was most artistic.  This solo is especially adapted to such a phenomenal, high, full voice as this artist possesses.—
Brooklyn Eagle, June, 1901.

TORONTO, ONT. THE REDEMPTION.


GEORGE W. JENKINS, the tenor, is the possessor of a smooth, attractive voice, of a fine virile quality.  He sings with dignity and expression and perfect enunciation.  The words of the penitent thief, Wilt Thou Remember Me, were beautifully sung by him.—
Toronto Mail and Empire, March 29, 1902.


GEORGE W. JENKINS, tenor, also of New York, has an excellent voice, especially in declamatory passages.  His enunciation is also clear.—
Toronto World, March 29, 1902.

MONTREAL, CANADA.  THE CREATION.


HE has a flexible voice of very pleasant tone.  His rendering of In Native Worth earned a great deal of applause, and his trio work with the other principals was quite satisfactory.—
Montreal Gazette, Jan. 23, 1902.



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