Welcome to the website of the

Sir Arthur Sullivan Society

The Society aims to promote and generate interest in the music of Sir Arthur Sullivan through recordings, publications, festivals and the Society's magazine. We hope you find everything you need to know about Sullivan and the Society on this website including:

Society membership
up to date news of forthcoming performances and other events
music available for free download or hire
the Society's Shop selling recordings and books

and much more ...

Sir Arthur Sullivan

Born in London in 1842, Arthur Sullivan trained at the Chapel Royal, the Royal Academy of Music and the Leipzig Conservatoire. His incidental music to Shakespeare’s The Tempest made him an overnight celebrity when it was performed at the Crystal Palace in 1862. He went on to compose in practically every musical genre: oratorio, cantata, symphony, concerto, ceremonial works, incidental music for the stage, piano and chamber works, songs, partsongs, hymns and anthems.

His celebrated collaboration with W. S. Gilbert produced fourteen operas, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado, between 1871 and 1896. There were also ten operas with other librettists. Incomparably the greatest British musician of the nineteenth century, Sullivan held honorary doctorates from both Oxford and Cambridge, was knighted in 1883 and died in London in 1900.

News

Unheard Songs by Sir Arthur Sullivan

David Owen Norris accompanies students from the Royal Northern College of Music in performances of thirty-six previously unrecorded songs. Filmed in Mrs. Gaskell’s Drawing Room, the films which will be available to view here, will be posted half a dozen at a time on Sundays between November 22nd (St. Cecilia’s Day, the day on which Sullivan died in 1900) and Christmas.

The Chandos double CD Sir Arthur Sullivan Songs with Mary Bevan,

Forthcoming Events

The Merry Opera Company

The Merry Opera Company presents a new production of The Mikado: 18 March Arts Centre, Armagh; 19 March Portico Arts, Portaferry; 11 April Sarah Thorne Theatre, Broadstairs; 15 April Christ Church, Isle of Dogs; 17 April Parish Church, Mitcham; 22 April Hampstead Free Church, London; 29 April St Phillip’s Kensington, London; 1 May Elgiva Theatre, Chesham; 2 May Astor Theatre, Deal; 13 May Marina Theatre,

Twenty-seventh International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival 2021

The programme for the twenty-seventh International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival 2021 has been announced. The Festival will run in Buxton from 31st July until 7th August and in Harrogate between 8th and 22nd August.

The National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company will present productions of The Mikado (31 July mat & eve, 8 Aug mat, 14 Aug eve, 22 Aug mat); The Pirates of Penzance (1 Aug mat &

Haddon Hall (complete without spoken dialogue) / Mr Jericho / Captain Billy

Arthur Sullivan: HADDON HALL (1892); libretto Sydney Grundy. Complete without spoken dialogue. First professional recording.

Ed Lyon (tenor) – John Manners; Henry Waddington (bass-baritone) – Sir George Vernon; Adrian Thompson (tenor) – Oswald; Ben McAteer (baritone) – Rupert Vernon; Donald Maxwell (baritone) – McCrankie; Sarah Tynan (soprano) – Dorothy Vernon; Fiona Kimm ( mezzo-soprano) – Lady Vernon; Angela Simkin (mezzo-soprano) – Dorcas; BBC Singers (chorus master Matthew Morley); BBC Concert Orchestra; John Andrews (conductor).

Shop