The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1945, Síða 20

18
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
June 1945
VALDINE CONDE
Valdine Nordal Conde was born with
the breath of genius in her soul and
wonderful musical ability in her finger-
tips, otherwise she could not have risen
at her tender age, to a place among the
greatest of contemporary concert pian-
ists, not only on this continent but of
the whole world. Miss Conde’s meteoric
rise to fame within the firmament of
music reads like a “believe it or not”
fairy tale with each chapter glowing
with success and each shining with
more illustriousness and inportance than
the one preceding. Every year has
brought her greater opportunities, wider
audiences and new fame, till now only
fifteen years old she occupies a place
of such prominence that she is regarded
by many authorities to be of all women
concert pianists, the outstanding artist
among them. Ever since Valdine was a
child prodigy of three she has dedicated
her whole interest to furthering her
musical career. With the constant care
and encouragement of her devoted Ice-
landic mother and the ever vigilant and
thorough professional tutoring and coun-
sel of her aunt Mrs. S. Helgason, herself
a pianist of noteworthiness, Valdine
made rapid progress in the elementary
forms of her art. It is more than likely
that with all the public performances
that she has since given, the first, on
Armistice day 1934, when she played
over one of the Winnipeg Broadcasting
stations, will always be to her the most
thrilling, the most exciting. Though
then only four years old and of course
too small to seat herself unassisted on
the ordinary size piano bench, she played
with an adult’s sureness of touch and a
technical mastery far beyond her years.
For the next two years she was a regular
performer with a radio group over this
same station twice each week. By this
time her precocity and unusual musical
talents had gained enheartening re-
sponse and wide recognition. It was not
surprising therefore that her path should
lead to New York, the mecca of the arts.
VALDINE NORDAL CONDE
that same year. Then only six, she
played with the National Broadcasting
Company. The following year she return-
ed to Winnipeg as guest soloist with a
Concert Orchestra, where she played
compositions by Mozart—sixty pages of
musical notations— completely from me-
mory. Such a technical feat would indeed
be the envy of any concert performer.
Next year she was engaged as soloist
for the New York Civic Symphony con-
ducted by Joseph Littan. She was nine
years old when she performed the B flat
minor Concerto by Tschaikowsky with
the Nassau Philharmonic Symphony.
The following year she appeared with
the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, con-
ducted by the brilliant Leon Baxzin.
When twelve, she was guest soloist
with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
in Grant Park, when seventy thousand
people had come to attend the concert.
During these years she has appeared
with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Sir Ernest MacMillan conductor, and the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra in
Carnegie Hall as well as many othei