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ESSIE ACKLAND
Australian Singer's Career
Essie Ackland has now returned
to Australia for a brief concert tour
and music-lovers of this country will
have the pleasure and privilege of
welcoming back an Australian singer
who has definitely made a big re-
tation in England, Scotland and Ire-
land as an oratorio-singer and a
ballad singer. In addition, Miss
Ackland, in the ten years that she
has been abroad, has achieved a
markable success as a gramophone
celebrity. These two facts j&we
Miss Ackland to a big welcome
throughout the length and breadth
of the Commonwealth -- but, in addi-
tion, Essie Ackland is a thoroughly
unspoilt and sweet natured artist
who has been a fine advertisement for
this country, from every point of
view.
Essie Ackland is the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Ackland, of Mos-
man, and apparently her musical
gifts are inherited from her father's
side of the family, for while Mr.
Ackland has always been regarded
as a gifted pianist, his father, (the
late Mr Harry Ackland) was a re-
markably fine singer, who used to
be known in New South Wales as
"Harry Ackland, the Silvery Tenor."
A cousin of Essie Ackland - Virginia
Bassetti - is also a well-known con-
cert singer in Sydney.
Essie Ackland received the greater
part of her vocal training at
NSW Conservatorium where she
was a pupil of Mr. Roland Foster.
She also studied for a time with Mr.
Joseph Bradley, and she had lessons
from Madame Emily Marks when
that teacher returned to Australia
after a long absence in Europe and
America. Miss Ackland devoted con-
siderable time in Sydney to the study
of languages and also to piano les-
sons. Consequently, when she went
to London she found herself very
well equipped for her professional
career, and after a comparatively
short period of "coaching" with the
well-known London teachers, Miss
Ackland made her first appearance
in England. Success was with her
from the very beginning, and, she
quickly gained favour as a ballad
singer and also as an oratorio singer.
Then Browning Mummery introduced
her at the H. M. V. Studios, and her
gramophone records proved so popu-
lar that she was given a long-term
contiract and to-day is the best seller
of all the contraltos in the gramo-
phone field.
In private life, Miss Ackland is
Mrs. Morphew. Her husband (Regi-
nald Morphew) is another successful
Australian singer who has never
"looked back" since embarking on a
career in England.
Essie Ackland will appear in Can-
berra by arrangement with the
Musical Society on Tuesday, April
13, and she will be supported by
Raymond Lambert (pianist) and
Ernest Llewellyn, (violinist), who are
accomplished artists.
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