4 minute read
The International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival
A FOUR NIGHT HOLIDAY | 9 AUGUST 2023
The elegant Derbyshire spa town of Buxton will host the 29th edition of its acclaimed festival which celebrates the works of the great English operatic partnership. Productions by international companies of many of Gilbert & Sullivan’s bestloved works are presented in Frank Matcham’s stunning opera house. Our four-night holiday this summer will include four separate productions as part of the Festival, as well as a private talk given by one of the Festival’s trustees, Bernard Lockett, a passionate Gilbert & Sullivan expert who written several books on the subject, and broadcast on BBC Radio and TV. In addition, we will have time to explore Buxton itself and visit some of Derbyshire’s spectacular stately homes.
the itinerary
1
Make your own way to the historic 4* Buxton Crescent in the very centre of Buxton, recently reopened after a lengthy renovation. This evening, before the first performance, will have dinner together in the hotel’s restaurant.
2
Today we will head out of town to Haddon Hall where we find one of the best examples of a Tudor and mediaeval hall together with its delightful Elizabethan garden. After the Dukes of Rutland decided to live at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, Haddon Hall lay empty and abandoned for more than two hundred years. In the 1920s, the 9th Duke of Rutland rediscovered and restored Haddon Hall into a house which is both intimate and stately. The Long Gallery is one of the most impressive rooms and much painstaking restoration has been carried out here in recent years to preserve this very special house.
3
This morning we visit the grandest and best-loved of all English stately homes, Chatsworth. Seat of the Cavendish family for five hundred years and today the home of the 12th Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, Chatsworth enjoys a spectacular setting in the Peak District and its treasures include Old Masters, porcelain, clocks and furniture. Its gardens are equally celebrated and are notable for the 300-year-old water cascade and for the vast rock garden designed by Joseph Paxton in the 19th century. We will visit the house before it opens to the public and afterwards there will be some free time to visit the garden independently and have some lunch at Chatsworth’s café or restaurant.
4
There will be a talk by Trustee of the Gilbert & Sullivan Festival Bernard Lockett, who will explain the enduring appeal of the duo and their place in English musical history. The rest of the day will be free to explore Buxton at your leisure.
DAY
The tour will conclude after breakfast this morning.
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DAY 5
TOUR INFORMATION
DEPARTURE DATE & PRICES
DATE PRICE SINGLE SUPP 9 August £1,488 £396
Our prices are per person, based on the shared occupancy of a twin/double room. Supplement for single occupancy as shown.
WHAT WE INCLUDE
• Four nights’ accommodation with breakfast • Four dinners • Tickets for all performances as described • All sightseeing, entrance fees and gratuities • Services of the Kirker Tour Leader
MUSIC PROGRAMME
9 August, 19.30: The Yeomen of the Guard National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company Composed towards the end of their working partnership, The Yeomen of the Guard opened on 3 October 1888. Set at the Tower of London, the plot marks a slight departure from the G&S farcical comedy format, with a more serious tone – though not without its share of humour. It also features one of Sullivan’s finest scores, including highlights such as: ‘I have a song to sing, O’, ‘When a Wooer goes a-Wooing’, and ‘Free from his fetters grim’.
10 August, 19.30: Ruddigore Savoynet The tenth of fourteen comic operas written together by Gilbert and Sullivan, Ruddigore was first performed by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company at the Savoy Theatre in London on 22 January 1887. It tells the supernatural tale of the Baronets of Ruddigore, cursed to commit a crime every day or perish in agony, and the rightful Baron who is disguised as a young farmer in love with the elusive Rose Maybud. In classic Gilbert style, this parody melodrama turns the stock tropes upside-down: good becomes bad, bad becomes good, and ghosts come back to life.
11 August, 19.30: The Mikado National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company Enduringly popular, The Mikado was the most successful of the Savoy Operas, running for an astonishing 672 performances in London on its first London run, which began on 14 March 1885, and going on to dozens of international productions. The plot pokes fun at English bureaucracy, under the thin veil of a setting in the Japanese town of Titipu, where a decree of the Mikado – or emperor – throws the locals into farcical scenes. Classic musical numbers include: “A wand’ring minstrel”, “Three little maids”, “Tit-willow”, and the Act II finale.
12 August, 19.30: The Pirates of Penzance National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company “Pirates” was premiered at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City in December 1879, before reaching London in April 1880, where it enjoyed no less than 363 performances at the Opéra Comique. It has become one of the most popular Gilbert & Sullivan operas, famous for its brilliant patter song, “I am the very model of a modern Major-General”. The story revolves around Frederic, who, at the age of 21 is released from his pirate apprenticeship before meeting and falling in love with Mabel. The problem, however, arises when he realises that his birthday of 29th of February (during a leap year) means he must serve the pirates for another 63 years…
