International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival was founded in 1994 by Ian Smith and his son Neil and is held every summer in England. The two- or three-week Festival of Gilbert and Sullivan performances and fringe events attracts thousands of visitors, including performers, supporters, and G&S enthusiasts from around the world. Beginning in 2014, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, has hosted the Festival, which was held in Buxton, Derbyshire, from 1994 to 2013. At the Festival, up to a dozen amateur Gilbert and Sullivan performing societies from around the world compete on the Festival's main stage each
International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival of the Festival is a competition among amateur G&S performing troupes from Britain and around the world. Over the course of the Festival, on weeknights, "the best non-professional groups from the UK and overseas compete for the International Champions title." The day of performance for each amateur group is hectic, with move-in to the theatre at 9 a.m., lighting call at 11 a.m., their one and only tech-dress rehearsal (with the Festival orchestra) in the afternoon, the performance in the evening, and move-out immediately afterwards. A professional adjudicator critiques each amateur performance immediately after the curtain falls. The adjudicator then