Gilbert and Sullivan Ida" showed signs of flagging, Carte realised that, for the first time in the partnership's history, no new opera would be ready when the old one closed. On 22 March 1884, he gave Gilbert and Sullivan contractual notice that a new opera would be required in six months' time. In the meantime, when "Ida" closed, Carte produced a revival of "The Sorcerer". The most successful of the Savoy Operas was "The Mikado" (1885), which made fun of English bureaucracy, thinly disguised by a Japanese setting. Gilbert initially proposed a story for a new opera about a magic lozenge that would
The Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island Raymond J. Osnato and then several other conductors. The Company had occasionally recruited orchestras for performances in the 1960s and 1970s, but had never had an orchestra of its own. Beginning in 1992, however, the Company made it a priority to develop its own orchestra, beginning with a tiny ensemble of six and slowly growing with the passing years. Many of the orchestra members have returned again and again to the Light Opera Orchestra, which is now in its 12th year. 1992 also saw the launching of “The Savoy Project: or, Gilbert & Sullivan from A to Z.” Spurred by