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.

Contents

1 Description of the Festival
2 External links

2.1 Festival information
2.2 Companies that have performed at the festival

Description of the Festival

The Festival includes over three weeks of nightly G&S operas and daytime fringe activities. At the core of the Festival is a competition of amateur G&S performing societies who travel to Buxton from all over the world to compete. A professional adjudicator scores each amateur performance. 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, an English company, has won the First Prize more than any other company (five times). Many groups compete year after year at the Festival, but some companies, especially those travelling from North America, South Africa and other distant places, may only visit once.

In addition to the dozen or more amateur productions that are presented and judged in the competition 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, Gillian Knight, Michael Rayner, Janet Cowley, Gareth Jones and Eric Roberts.

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. The numerous daytime "fringe" activities include performances, master classes and lectures by members of the original D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and other professionals, and a late night Festival Club, where two different "cabaret" performances are given each evening after the opera. There is also a G&S memorabilia fair, providing a chance for G&S enthusiasts to buy and sell books, scores, figurines and other collectors' items.

The Festival serves as a "lightning-rod" of G&S activity worldwide. 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 many nearby castles, stately homes, abbeys and limestone caverns). The small size of the town allows visitors 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.

External links

Festival information

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

Companies that have performed at the festival

[The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players]

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