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9 TREBLES Featured Boy Sopranos | All Trebles | Boy Altos | Soloist Recordings | Chorister of the Year | 78 RPM | Pop Singles

  Lex Macdonald    (b. 29 April 1917) Boy Soprano Soloist 
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Lex Macdonald is from Dunedin, New Zealand. Already well known in New Zealand, he was sponsored to have his voice recorded but had to go to Sydney as the resources were not in New Zealand. The twelve 78rpm sides Lex recorded in Sydney in 1932 at the age of 15 carried his voice to an even wider public.

On his return, Lex undertook a nationwide concert tour, retiring at the end of it when his voice changed. He later continued singing as a baritone in choirs and as a soloist but never took it up as a fulltime occupation. In 1954 he was a soloist with the New Zealand National Symphony Orchestra in a Royal Concert given before Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Lex died on the 11th October 2010 aged 93. His funeral started with his recording of "Hark, Hark the Lark".
Related Sites
Soundarchives NZ
Recordings from the 1930s and a more recent ten-minute interview with Lex (1990s?) are available on CDR.

Search Google for 'Lex Macdonald': Web - Images
 
Featured Recordings Compact | Full
no cover
Blackbird's Song / The Cuckoo (Regal G 21482, 78 RPM) 1932
Featuring Lex Macdonald  
Gil Dech, piano. 10 inch record.
  Side A -   Blackbird's Song (Watson and Scott)  
  Side B -   The Cuckoo (Rands and Lehmann)  
no cover
Duna / A Brown Bird Singing (Regal G 21485, 78 RPM) 1932
Featuring Lex Macdonald  
with orchestra. 10 inch record.
  Side A -   Duna (Pickthall and McGill)  
  Side B -   A Brown Bird Singing (Barrie and Wood)  
Lex Macdonald - Rose Softly Blooming / Solveig's Song
Rose Softly Blooming / Solveig's Song (Regal G 30068, 78 RPM) 1932
Featuring Lex Macdonald  
12 inch record.
  Side A -   Rose Softly Blooming  
  Side B -   Solveig's Song  
no cover
Schubert: Hark, Hark, the Lark / Brahms: Lullaby (Regal G 21486, 78 RPM) 1932
Featuring Lex Macdonald  
Gil Dech, piano. 10-inch record.
  Side A -   Schubert: Hark, Hark, the Lark  
  Side B -   Lullaby (Brahms)  
no cover
Schubert: Who Is Sylvia? / I Attempt From Love's Sickness To Fly (Regal G 21487, 78 RPM) 1932
Featuring Lex Macdonald  
Master Lex Macdonald, boy soprano of Dunedin. Gil Dech at the piano. 10-inch record.
  Side A -   Who Is Sylvia? (Schubert)  
  Side B -   I Attempt From Love's Sickness To Fly (From The Indian Queen)  
Lex Macdonald - To a Wild Rose / The Lass with the Delicate Air
To a Wild Rose / The Lass with the Delicate Air (Regal G21481, 78 RPM) 1932
Featuring Lex Macdonald  
Gil Dech, piano. 10-inch record.
  Side A -   To a wild rose (Elkin and MacDowell)  
  Side B -   The lass with the delicate Air (Arne)  
This page last modified on Sunday, October 17, 2010
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