International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival

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The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival is held every summer at the Opera House in Buxton, Derbyshire. The Festival attracts thousands of visitors, including performers, supporters, and G&S enthusiasts from all around the world. It was established in 1994 by Ian G. Smith and his son Neil to enhance the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. It also has a goal of reinstating G&S and the performing arts in schools in Britain.

Lithograph from the Mikado
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Lithograph from the Mikado

Contents

[edit] Description of the Festival

Each summer the Festival includes over three weeks of nightly G&S operas and daytime fringe activities.

[edit] The competition

At the core of the Festival is a competition of a dozen or more amateur G&S performing societies who travel to Buxton from all over the world to present their shows. A professional adjudicator scores each amateur performance, and awards are announced at the end of the Festival. At the first Festival in 1994, first prize was awarded to the production of Utopia Limited presented by the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Hancock County, Maine, USA. The Derby Gilbert and Sullivan Company has won the first prize more than any other company (six times); and the South Anglia G&S Company has won three times and placed second three times. Individual awards are also presented for performers, directors and musical directors.

Some groups compete year after year at the Festival, but some companies, especially those travelling from North America, South Africa, Australia and other distant places, may only visit occasionally or once. Some groups meet and rehearse entirely at the Festival, including the internet group Savoynet, which has competed each year since 1998. The Festival organizers also rehearse a Festival Production (for which all rehearsals take place during the Festival itself) and a Youth Production (for performers under 18) during the course of the Festival each year.

[edit] Professional productions

In addition to the amateur productions that are presented and compete at the Festival each year, there are weekend professional performances given by companies such as the Carl Rosa Opera Company, Opera della Luna, the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, and the G&S Opera Company, starring such well-known G&S performers as Richard Suart, Simon Butteris, Bruce Graham, Gillian Knight, Michael Rayner, Patricia Leonard, Donald Maxwell, Jill Pert, Janet Cowley, Gareth Jones, the Opera Babes and Eric Roberts.

[edit] Venues and fringe events

All of the competition performances and the weekend professional performances are given in the Frank Matcham-designed Buxton Opera House (built in 1903), a charming 900 seat house with excellent acoustics. The Festival also has performances and fringe activities in the smaller Paxton Theatre and in other venues.

The numerous daytime "fringe" activities include performances, master classes and lectures by members of the original D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (such as Valerie Masterson, Thomas Round, and John Reed) and other professionals, performances by the Festival's group of handpicked "Young Ambassadors", and a late night Festival Club, where two different "cabaret" performances are given each evening after the opera, or sometimes a G&S singalong is held. There is also a G&S memorabilia fair, providing a chance for collectors and gift hunters to buy and sell G&S books, scores, figurines and other items of interest.

[edit] Effect and allure of the Festival

The Festival serves as a "lightning-rod" of G&S activity worldwide. G&S performers and audiences from one part of the world can see performances by groups from other parts of the world. Performances in the traditional style mix with avant garde ones, and G&S scholars can communicate with a wide audience of enthusiasts.

Buxton, an intimate, yet bustling spa town located about an hour southeast of Manchester, has proved to be an excellent setting for summer opera festivals, with good choices for lodging, dining and local sightseeing (there are nearby castles, stately homes, abbeys and numerous limestone caverns). The small size of the town allows visitors and performers to meet and mingle freely during the course of the Festival.

In addition, the Festival serves to raise awareness and funds for the Festival organizers' efforts to re-introduce G&S into British schools. The Festival has been featured in several British television shows and in the documentary films Oh Mad Delight[1] and A Source of Innocent Merriment.[2].

[edit] External links

[edit] Festival information

(Both of the above websites have lodging and travel information).

[edit] Companies that have performed at the festival

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