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 in the 500-seat Harrogate Theatre and others at various venues in and around the town, including at the Festival's purpose-built Savoy theatre. The "fringe" activities have included performances, master classes and lectures by members of the original D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (such as Valerie Masterson, Thomas Round, Gillian Knight, Kenneth Sandford, John Ayldon and John Reed) and other professionals, and a late night Festival Club, where cabaret performances are given each evening after the opera, and sometimes a G&S singalong is conducted. Recent years have included scholarly symposia, and rarely revived works by Gilbert or separately by Sullivan are also