Commonwealth Festival
am grateful to you for your article 'Com- monwealth Preference' concerning the Common-
wcatth Arts Festival, which is to be held in the autumn between September 16 and October 2.
The article gives an excellent over-all picture of our Festival plans, but it contains one or two in- accuracies which I would like your permission to correct. The reference to the Adelaide Harmony Choir should be to the Christchurch Harmonic Choir, a group of 150 singers whose visit is being assisted by the New Zealand government. With re- tard to the contributions from Nigeria, I am afraid we are still waiting for information and we cannot, therefore, yet announce whether the folk opera and play. mentioned in the article, will, in fact, material- ise. Finally, the total number of artists coming to the Festival is approximately 1,400 and not the 15,000 you mention. For this first event we feel very en- couraged that countries representing all live contin- ents of the world should be so adequately represented at the Festival, and our emphasis throughout has been on quality and not quantity!
IAN HUNTER
Director-General Commonwealth Arts Festival, St. Stephen's House, Victoria Embankment, SW I
[We regret the misprint '15,000' for '1,500:— Editor, Spectator.]
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