The Society is holding a weekend residential conference from Friday 6 – Sunday 8 October 2023. The venue will be the Alma Lodge Hotel in Stockport, well known to many as home to a number of recent Conventions of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society.

The highlight of the conference will be the launch of our Chairman, Elaine Richardson’s, new book The Untold Story of Herbert Sullivan. Copies will be on sale, and Elaine will give a talk on Herbert. Her researches have revealed Sullivan’s nephew to be an altogether more interesting and important figure than had been thought, and he was a great champion of his uncle’s work.

There will be talks by Stephen Turnbull on Sullivan and Germany; Prof. Ian Bradley on Sullivan’s love of life; and from Martin Yates and Dr. Anne Stanyon (topics to be announced later). There will also be live music, including a recital by the Lydian String Quartet (leader Sally Robinson). Their programme will include Sullivan’s Romance in G and String Quartet in D, as well as the first known performance since the nineteenth century of the First String Quartet in A Major, opus 246,  by Hamilton Clarke. Clarke (1840-1912) was one of Sullivan’s assistants and responsible for preparing the overtures to The Sorcerer, The Mikado and Ruddigore. Apart from this he is a forgotten figure and this will be a very rare chance to hear an original work by this prolific composer.

In addition, there will be a Sullivan-friendly vocal recital by Matthew Siveter (baritone) accompanied by Martin Yates.

We will commence with a welcome dinner on the Friday evening and conclude after lunch on Sunday. The Society’s sales department will be in attendance, and there will be a live auction of better quality Sullivan-related memorabilia.

The cost of the weekend, to include two nights bed and breakfast accommodation in a twin or double room, Friday and Saturday dinner, Saturday and Sunday lunch, admission to all the events and a copy of the Conference brochure, will be £260 per person sharing a twin or double room. Single room packages are £295, and single occupation of a twin or double is £315. Non-residential and partial packages are available – just email with your requirements.

A full booking form with the complete programme will be available shortly. You can reserve your place(s) now for a deposit of £30 per person. Either send a cheque, made payable to Sir Arthur Sullivan Society, to Stephen Turnbull, Crossways, 1 Tremeddan Lane, Liskeard PL14 3DR or send a direct payment to the Society’s bank account 90849987 at sort code 207405. Please quote the reference FEST DEPOSIT and send a confirmatory email to shturnbull@aol.com.

Any questions, please email shturnbull@aol.com or ring 07563-539394.

Following the announcement by Scottish Opera that they have cancelled all performances of The Gondoliers and projects associated with it – which of course includes Utopia, Limited, the Society has no choice but to cancel the Festival.

Friday 23 September

7.30 Dinner

9.30 Cabaret with Russell Painter (tenor), Leon Berger and Bruce Graham (baritones) and Tim Smith (piano)

Bar open until 11pm

Saturday 24 September

8.00 Breakfast

9.00 Auction. A founder-member of the Society has donated his collection, including a Sullivan signature; the published facsimile of the Mikado full score; vocal score and libretto of No Cards; and a number of other rarities. Please note that we are NOT accepting other lots for this special sale.

10.00 Illustrated talk by Martin Yates: 1873 in English Oratorio, covering J.F. Barnett’s The Raising of Lazarus, Macfarren’s St. John the Baptist and, of course, The Light of the World.

11.00 Coffee

11.30 Members’ Favourites: members talk about and play a favourite piece of music.

12.00 Reception and launch of the new Oxford University Press vocal score of The Yeomen of the Guard, edited by Colin Jagger, Director of Music at Portsmouth University. Philip Croydon of OUP will speak, then Colin will discuss his work on the score, with musical illustrations provided by students of Portsmouth University. The new score will be available for sale along with other OUP music publications, including David Russell Hulme’s score of Ruddigore.

1.30 Lunch, then afternoon free to enjoy the campus grounds, pop into Cirencester or have an excursion a little further afield.

5.30 Patience, or The Rival Curates: A presentation by Roger Wild looking at how parts of Patience might have sounded had Gilbert stuck with his original plan to feature clergymen rather than aesthetes.

Patience: Jo Robinson

Angela: Laura Jamie Anstice

Duke: Dave Anstice-Pim

Colonel: Matthew Siveter

Revd. Lawn Tennison: Matthew Siveter

Chorus: Students from Portsmouth University,

Other parts by members of the cast

Narrator: Rosemary Wild

Piano: Martin Yates

Musical Director: Colin Jagger

7.00 Dinner

8.30 Respectful Perversions: Glitter & Twisted Theatre Company present a new revue specially created for the Sullivan Society. Numbers will be drawn from Sullivan’s theatre work, plus material from other Savoy shows of the 1890s. G&T will explore links between the pieces and present some bold new interpretations. Musical Director: Suzanne Barnes; Director: Simon Moss

Sunday 25 September

8.00 Breakfast

9.00 Annual General Meeting of the Sullivan Society (members only)

9.30 Illustrated talk by Stephen Turnbull: The Flip Side. Some unlikely and entertaining discoveries from a lifetime’s collecting Sullivan recordings.

10.30 Coffee

11.00 Illustrated talk by David Hill: The Crystal Palace. A look at the famous venue that played such a key rôle in Sullivan’s career from the première of The Tempest in April 1862.

12.00 Cox and Box: A musically complete, semi-staged performance of the original version to mark the opera’s 150th anniversary.

Box: Russell Painter

Cox: Leon Berger

Bouncer:  Bruce Graham

Piano: Tim Smith

1.15 Lunch

2.30 Talk by J. Donald Smith: Mrs. Ronalds.  A look at the life of Sullivan’s long-term companion.

3.00 Sullivan’s Loves:  A selection of songs by Sullivan and dedicated to, or associated with, the loves in his life. Plus songs by others, including Mrs. Ronalds herself.

Jo Robinson (soprano),

Matthew Siveter (baritone),

J. Donald Smith (narrator),

Martin Yates (piano).

4.30 The Long Day Closes