The Philadelphia Gilbert & Sullivan Union

The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival is held every summer in the bucolic resort town of Buxton, England. 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.

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 G&S Opera Company.

All of the competition performances and the weekend professional performances are given in the Buxton Opera House, 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 Philadelphia G&S Union produced Iolanthe for the 2007 Festival, and will be presenting The Pirates of Penzance at the 2008 Festival. If you are interested in being part of our cast, chorus, or production staff, click the Mailing List link above.

Visit the Festival's official web site.