Join in

The Festival Youth Production is always a highlight of the Gilbert & Sullivan Festival

The Festival Youth Production – would you like to join in?

The Festival Youth Production is always a highlight of the Gilbert & Sullivan Festival and we are always blown away by the energy and professionalism of the fantastic young people who take part. This year we will present the firm Festival favourite THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE and we are delighted that Rachel Harland will return to direct this year’s production at the Pavilion Arts Centre Buxton on Saturday, 6th August at 2.30pm. We are looking for a cast of young people aged between 9 and 18 years, who love to sing and act, to join the cast. This is a wonderful opportunity for participants to get involved in the Festival and learn how a production is directed and staged in just a week.

The Youth Production offers an amazing opportunity for young people to learn about theatre, opera, singing and acting, and of course to be part of this amazing Festival. Many of our young people have gone on to have outstanding careers in the world of theatre and music and there is no doubt that Gilbert & Sullivan is the ideal introduction to opera and musical theatre.

Auditions for principal roles take place via a video submission either by DVD/YouTube. Chorus members do not need to audition.

Rehearsals will take place in Buxton every day from Saturday morning,29 July. until the matinee performance on Saturday 6th August. A full rehearsal schedule will be available in June.

The Youth Production is sponsored by the Friends of the G&S Festival as part of their youth initiative and outreach programme. We ask parents to consider joining the Friends of the G&S Festival to help further support the cause. Some specific accessories, for example, black shoes, ballet shoes, white pumps, tights etc will need to be provided by participants and information will be distributed well in advance. We also expect participants to provide their own copy of the score. We would recommend the Chappell’s Vocal Score edition (available on Amazon).

Tickets for family and friends are available from the Box Office on 01422 323252 or from our online box office. All tickets cost £15. There are no concessions in the Pavilion Arts Centre. This performance always sells very well so we would urge you to book your tickets as soon as possible.

The performance will be accompanied by our UNIFest orchestra and awards will be given for performers in the following categories: Best Male Performer and Best Female Performer.

We do ask that all principals and chorus know the words of their parts before arriving at the first rehearsal due to the short time we have available.

Participants will be sent MP3 recordings to help with practice and one of our latest PIRATES OF PENZANCE production can be streamed for free on GSOPERA.TV HERE.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY FOR THE 2023 YOUTH PRODUCTION

Bus Pass Opera

The interest in last year’s “Senior Citizens” group, Bus Pass Opera was tremendous and of course everybody was delighted when the company came first in the International Festival Competition! The combined ages of those on the Royal Hall stage exceeded 2500 years and what a fantastic performance they gave us. The voices were simply superb! This year we will present HMS PINAFORE in the Buxton Opera House, on Monday 7th August at 7:30. Bus Pass Opera is a firm favourite at the Festival and great fun too. Alan Borthwick will direct, and David Lyle is the musical director once again.

The concept of Bus Pass Opera was to give “retired” thespians the opportunity to come out of retirement and demonstrate their year’s of experience. We don’t want to start auditioning, but our audience expect that standards will continue to rise.

Demand for places in Buss Pass Opera has grown year on year since 2015. We are now at the point of having too many applicants for the spaces available and therefore we need to put a cap on the number of choristers we can accept for safety reasons. We’ve also been advised by our insurers that we cannot accept anyone aged 90 or above.

Rehearsals will start on Sunday 30th July, through to the performance itself on Monday 7th August at 7:30pm. Rehearsals will be take place from 9:30 – 5:30 daily, leaving you free to see the evening performances!

Although Bus Pass Opera is partly sponsored by the family of the late Andy Criddle and our own charity, costs continue to rise and this year there will be a nominal participating fee of £40 per person. This will go towards the hire of costumes etc… We would also encourage you to consider joining the Friends of the G&S Festival to help further support the cause.

Some specific accessories, for example, black shoes, ballet shoes, white pumps, tights etc will need to be provided by participants and information will be distributed well in advance. We also expect participants to provide their own copy of the score. We would recommend the Chappell’s Vocal Score edition (available on Amazon).

Tickets for family and friends are available from the Box Office on 01422 323252 or from our online box office. This performance always sells very well so we would urge you to book your tickets as soon as possible.

We do ask that all principals and chorus know the words of their parts before arriving at the first rehearsal due to the short time we have available.

So if you may very well pass for 43 (60)in the dusk with the light behind you we will look forward to hearing from you

CLICK HERE TO APPLY FOR THE 2023 BUSS PASS OPERA