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COMING SOON

by John Byrne

Uncle Varick

John Byrne relocates Chekhov’s masterpiece Uncle Vanya to 1960s rural Scotland in a play full of comedy, pathos, lust and dodgy chainsaws.

presents

Princess Idaor

Director Alan BorthwickMusical Director David LyleAssistant Musical Director Margaret Donaldson

The Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society is registered as a charity and limited companyin Scotland (company number SC356199) (charity number SC027486)

Registered office: 59/4 Balbirnie Place, Edinburgh EH12 5JL

www.edgas.org

Libretto by Music by W. S. Gilbert Arthur Sullivan

Castle Adamant

WelcomeA s we celebrate our 90th year it is my pleasure

to welcome you to the Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s production of Princess Ida. On 18 December 1924 a group of more than 80 people met in the North British Railway Hotel (now the Balmoral) and from that meeting was born the Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society.

The purpose of the Society was and still is to foster a love for the works of Messrs Gilbert and Sullivan and it is a pleasure to be performing one of their lesser known, yet excellent works.

Coming immediately before The Mikado, Princess Ida was written when they were at their best and has the usual combination of wit and great music. Women’s rights, cross dressing and ladies in armour, what more could you want?

Next year we return to our more familiar March dates and I hope that we can look forward to your support as we head for Cornwall and The Pirates of Penzance. We will be holding auditions for Pirates in May and would be delighted to see you if you would like to join the Society. We are particularly looking for tenors so why not join us and become a pirate?

Before that, November will see us performing our annual concert in the Usher Hall with the band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Scotland. This is always a popular evening and is held in aid of the Seafarers charity.

In October 2015 we are planning to break with tradition and perform a work which has no association with Gilbert or Sullivan. We will be performing that classic musical, South Pacific, a much loved and ever popular choice with theatregoers for many decades.

Meanwhile, sit back and relax as the ladies and gentlemen of the Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society prepare to do battle!

Michael Head

(President)

Synopsis

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Princess Ida, the beautiful daughter of King Gama, was betrothed at the early age of one to Hilarion, the son of a rival monarch,

King Hildebrand. She is now twenty-one and King Gama, who is a rather nasty individual, arrives with his three loutish sons at Castle Hildebrand to announce that the Princess has retired to Castle Adamant where she has established a women’s university.

Hilarion, accompanied by two friends, Cyril and Florian, decides to sneak into the university to attempt to win Ida’s affections. They come across some academic gowns and disguise themselves as girl graduates, but unfortunately Cyril’s alcoholic indiscretions give the game away and the Princess orders their execution. The execution is averted by the arrival of King Hildebrand and his troops, who threaten dire reprisals if the Princess does not yield and release the prisoners.

The Princess decides that her girls will fight Hildebrand’s men but, unfortunately, the girls are not the Amazons she hoped they would be and Ida is left to fight her battle alone. She agrees that the matter shall finally be settled by a combat between Hilarion and his friends on the one hand and the three sons of Gama on the other.

But will the Prince and his friends triumph over the brute strength of the warrior sons? And even if they do, will Princess Ida be prepared to yield to Hilarion?

About The OperaPrincess Ida is not your typical Gilbert and Sullivan opera! When it was

first performed in 1884 the partners were at the height of their fame and it was expected that the new opera would be their crowning achievement. However, in three important aspects Princess Ida proved to be different from all the full-length operas that had preceded it. Firstly, it was in three separate acts rather than two. Secondly, the dialogue was written in blank verse. Thirdly, and most unexpectedly at the time, it was not a success at the box office, running for a distinctly disappointing 246 performances. Iolanthe, the opera that preceded it, had run for 398, and their next opera, The Mikado, would run for 672. So why was Princess Ida so different?

For the first time since the partners had worked together, Gilbert had decided to adapt one of his earlier stage works as the libretto for his new opera with Sullivan – little realising that his humour and stagecraft had matured significantly in the intervening years. The earlier work, The Princess (1870), was based on Tennyson’s famous poem of the same name and had been used by Gilbert to satirise the place of women in society. The only difference between the play and the opera would be that, whereas the earlier work had contained songs set to existing tunes from famous operas of the day, the new opera would have music by Sullivan. In general the critics of the day were quite hard on Gilbert’s contribution, but praised Sullivan’s music – and no wonder, as much of Princess Ida represents his most brilliant writing.

Sullivan’s orchestration (always one of the greatest delights of his skill as a composer) drew special praise from contemporary critics, with Herman Klein of the Sunday Times describing the score as “… the best in every way that Sir Arthur Sullivan has produced” and Beatty-Kingston, in The Theatre, stating, “From beginning to end, the instrumental parts of Princess Ida are fraught with enchanting combinations and joyful surprises.” Many of Sullivan’s other hallmarks are evident, including the creation of evocative scene-painting. Listen, for example, to the great dignity accorded to Ida’s two impressive solos, and the heady chromaticism following the ‘dainty triolet’ music, first heard at the end of the Prologue, and repeated, with greater breadth, at the close of the opera. We can also enjoy Sullivan’s genius in the art of parody in Arac’s Act II song, ‘This helmet, I suppose’, which out-Handels Handel, and the ebullience and infectious gaiety of the central section of Act I, affectionately known to G&S fans throughout the ages as the ‘string of pearls’. The nobility of the totally grand opera finale to Act I, with

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Ida’s voice soaring above the chorus, and the intricate conversations between voices and instruments which take place throughout the opera are worlds away from the conventions and mere accompaniments of comic opera.

It is common knowledge that the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership was a difficult one. It’s an amazing fact that during the twenty-one years that they worked together the partners never addressed each other by their Christian names and, although numerous photographs were taken of each of them separately, not a single photograph was ever taken with the two together. They frequently disagreed with each other over many aspects of their writing and Gilbert was occasionally known to ask Sullivan to rewrite a song if he was unhappy with the musical setting (‘Is life a boon?’ from The Yeomen of the Guard is a prime example). He would even cut musical numbers at the very last minute if he felt that they held up the action. Sullivan in his turn would frequently refuse to make a start on writing the music for an opera until he was quite happy with Gilbert’s plot. The first major disagreement appears to have happened in 1883. Sullivan had just been knighted for his services to serious music and he felt somewhat above what he perceived to be his role as tunesmith (his description!) to the more dominant Gilbert. He wanted a libretto with real human interest, far removed from the frothy satire that Gilbert had produced in their earlier pieces. Gilbert obliged, despite his reputation for being pig-headed, but it is not unlikely that Sullivan’s knighthood and his subsequent demands had somewhat soured Gilbert, thus causing him to resuscitate a work from his own ‘serious’ past when he had been considered to be London’s leading writer for the legitimate theatre. If Sullivan was to be recognised as a great composer then Gilbert was determined to remind people that he was a great dramatist. At any rate, that’s our theory!

Despite its flaws Princess Ida has always been a favourite with those of us who love the Savoy operas. It has a unique romantic flavour and though it may indeed lack the opportunities for high kicks and riotous fun afforded by their more popular pieces, it has a warmth and an atmosphere all of its own.

We hope you will enjoy this rare opportunity to experience this gem of Victorian musical theatre.

Alan Borthwick & David Lyle(Directors)

King Hildebrand Matthew Sielewicz-StanhopeHilarion (his Son) Scott BarronCyril

Hilarion’s FriendsChris Cotter

Florian Farlane WhittyKing Gama Ian LawsonArac

his Sons

Andrew CrawfordGuron Andrew Laing*Scynthius Ross MainPrincess Ida (Gama’s Daughter) Gillian RobertsonLady Blanche (Professor of Abstract Science) Rae LamondLady Psyche (Professor of Humanities) Fiona MainMelissa (Lady Blanche’s Daughter) Susanne HorsburghSacharissa

Girl Graduates

Sarah KimChloe Liz LandsmanAda Caroline Kerr*

PROLOGUE . A Pavilion in King Hildebrand’s Palace ACTS I & II . The Gardens of Castle Adamant

(There will be intervals after the Prologue and Act I.)

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Rachel AllanKatharine Barbour

Judith BullMaggie CormackWendy Crawford

Peggy GibsonAlicia Glasgow

Shirley GlynnDorothy HardingErika Ishimaru

Norma MacdonaldLorraine McBain

Pauline More

Annabel Philips Ana Perez Poza

Susan ReidSusan RossGillian Tait

Hannah TitlestadClaire Wolseley

Callum CasebowPeter Casebow

Gordon ChristieHugh Craig

Adam CuerdenMike Head

Bob MartinDavid McBain

Ben Morse Tom PickeringEuan PeeblesDouglas Reid

Keith StarsmeareNick Temperley*

George ToddBrian Wiley

Gordon Wright*denotes understudy

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Chorus

OrchestraDramatis PersonaeVIOLIN

Alison Galbraith (Leader)

Helen CurtisLawrence DunnJonathan LawAlison LucasKirsty Miller

Fiona MorisonAndrew Rushworth

VIOLAHilary TurbayneSusan Donlevy

’CELLOGeorge Reid

Natalie Poyser

DOUBLE BASSFiona Donaldson

FLUTEDavid MorrowDavid Leslie

OBOEMorven Bell

CLARINETCalum Robertson

Ruaridh Bakke

BASSOONAlison Bardgett

HORNDavid Rimer

William Jamieson

CORNETGraeme WilliamsonAndrew Williamson

TROMBONENeil Short

Daniel Richards

PERCUSSIONJake Perry

Technical StaffProduction Manager Gordon T. Blackburn

Stage Manager G. Murray Bald

Dep. Stage Manager Alan Thomson

Technical Crew John AllanFraser JamiesonKeith Jarrett

Lighting Designer Mike Pendlowski

Set supplied by Paul Lazell Scenery

Wardrobe Jane BorthwickWendy Crawford

Costumes Utopia CostumesJane Borthwick

Properties Mary ScottDenise BoultonMickey York

Publicity Artwork Fiona Main

Photographer Ross Main

Programme Susanne HorsburghFiona Main

Marketing and Andrew CrawfordPublicity Susanne Horsburgh

Mike HeadDavid McBain

Ticket Sales Alan Borthwick

Theatre Liaison Andrew Crawford

Front of House Ritchie TurnbullStewart Coghill

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Andrew has been with the Society for over 20 years and has performed the roles of Mars in Orpheus in the Underworld, Antonio in The Gondoliers, Boatswain in HMS Pinafore, Captain Corcoran in Utopia Limited, 2nd Yeoman in The Yeomen of the Guard and is delighted to be playing the role of Arac this year. He first appeared on the King’s Theatre stage at the age of 12 in the Edinburgh Gang Show, which also saw him tread the boards at the world famous London Palladium, and has performed in the King’s Theatre at least once every year since. Andrew has been the Society’s President for the past three years and is now its Business Manager. When time allows, he is a keen golfer, tuba player, train enthusiast & rugby supporter. Andrew is married to Wendy who is also in the company. They have two young children both of whom are becoming very keen on G&S!

Scott originally trained as a pianist at the Royal College of Music in London before embarking on a number of career changes over the years. He eventually returned to his musical roots three years ago and is now loving teaching piano full time at Fettes College and around Edinburgh.

His first stage role ever was with EDGAS, when he had the time of his life performing Nanki Poo in The Mikado. He then returned as half a fairy the following year playing Strephon in Iolanthe. This year he is, once again, having the most fantastic time discovering the role of Prince Hilarion and enjoying the opportunity to sing with such a fantastic, talented, cast.

Scott can’t help wondering though when the casting committee will realise he is not 22!

Chris is starting to get a complex. After playing the horrible cad Colonel Fairfax in last year’s The Yeomen of the Guard, he now returns to play Cyril, a drunken buffoon, reprising a role he first played with the Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group in 2006. Other G&S roles include Robin Oakapple in Ruddigore, Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore, Pish Tush in The Mikado, Earl Tolloller in Iolanthe, Luiz in The Gondoliers and the Duke of Dunstable in Patience. Chris frequently appears with choirs and theatre companies around Edinburgh, and is a regular feature in the tenor section of the St Andrew Camerata. Originally from Belfast, Chris is a Ph.D. student in Religious Studies at Lancaster University, and a tutor at the University of Edinburgh. In his spare time he hosts a weekly podcast at www.religiousstudiesproject.com, smokes fine cigars, edits academic books, plays squash, drinks IPA, and re-watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

As she gets older Susanne seems to have progressed from playing the old battleaxes Ruth and Lady Jane to young girls. Go figure! Her last outing as a principal with EDGAS was as 14-year-old Princess Kalyba in Utopia Limited. Putting on trousers and a dodgy Russian accent as Prince Orlofsky in Fledermaus, a tutu as Esmeralda in Bartered Bride and a rather green outfit with added fairy lights as Third Lady in Magic Flute with Opera Camerata have kept her busy since.

Having worked out that she’s had a streak of playing an awful lot of heavily flirtatious characters, Susanne fears she’s being typecast as Melissa. She had hoped that it was her acting ability that got her the parts, now she’s not so sure… However, Tennyson in his poem The Princess describes Melissa as a ‘rosy blonde’, which Susanne is distinctly not, so some transformation will still be required.

Prince Hilarion

Scott Barron

Cyril

Chris Cotter

Arac

Andrew Crawford

Melissa

Susanne Horsburgh

Originally from Northern Ireland, Sarah moved to Edinburgh to study for a degree in Japanese, and has been here ever since. She was introduced to the world of Gilbert and Sullivan in high school when she first took to the stage as one of Major General Stanley’s daughters. During her studies, she was involved with the Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group, both as a performer and choreographer.

This is Sarah’s fourth show with EDGAS, having played the role of Constance in last autumn’s production of The Sorcerer, and she is very much looking forward to rending the air with wailing in Princess Ida. When not on stage, she can be found singing with the St Andrew Camerata, fixing people’s knitting problems at McAree Brothers, or teaching dance fitness classes with Fitness Soul.

Born, raised and educated in Edinburgh, Caroline has music in her genes with two uncles who wrote sketches and songs for professional entertainers and also entertained semi-professionally themselves, during and after the war years, a mother who was a pianist, and a father who used the family writings in his own performances and compositions.

Her roles for the company include Hebe in HMS Pinafore, Elsa in The Grand Duke, Phylla in Utopia Limited, Giulia in The Gondoliers, and Juno in Orpheus in the Underworld, where she got to swear on stage! She has also undertaken several understudy roles with the company.

Caroline uses her musical talents for her local church and is trying to find the time to write down the tunes for songs written by her eldest uncle, fifty years after his death.

Ada

Caroline Kerr

Sacharissa

Sarah Kim

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Andrew has been singing for many years now, performing with various Edinburgh choirs including the Edinburgh University Music Society and Jubilo and has recently returned from a successful tour to Rome including singing Mass in St Peter’s Basilica with the St Andrew Camerata. When not singing, Andrew is likely to be found at his workplace, Edinburgh Zoo, in the carnivore and giant panda section – a few of the animals might argue that his workplace is not exempt from his singing...

This is only Andrew’s second outing with EDGAS, after he joined the chorus last year for The Yeomen of the Guard. Having been encouraged to audition for a principal role this year, he has had a super time getting to know the part while also understudying Florian. He has been eagerly looking forward to this week since rehearsals started last year!

Liz’s love of the Savoy Operas began while a student at St Andrews University when she joined the chorus of Ruddigore. Three years with the Angus G&S Society followed. In this her 30th season with EDGAS, Liz was delighted to play Lady Sangazure in The Sorcerer and now looks forward to playing an undergraduate again – along with the challenge of kneeling and getting up nine times in Act I! She has played the title role in Iolanthe, Lady Angela in Patience, Tessa in The Gondoliers, Lady Psyche in Princess Ida, Mad Margaret in Ruddigore, Baroness von Krakenfeldt in The Grand Duke and the blue lion dog in The Mikado! When she isn’t singing, Liz enjoys running her border collie, Towy, in agility competitions.

Lady Blanche was the first role Rae played with Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group when she moved to Edinburgh in 1996. She is thrilled to return to this feisty professor and can’t quite believe that it’s nearly 20 years later. Since 1996 she has performed in almost the full canon of Gilbert & Sullivan shows – The Grand Duke would give her the set.

There are few aspects of G&S that Rae has yet to try her hand at. She has popped up in the back row of many a chorus, taken on the daft girly roles of Tessa in The Gondoliers and Pitti Sing in The Mikado, and used the full capacity of her chest voice as Lady Jane in Patience. She has played double bass in the pit and directed three shows for EUSOG. More recently, Rae was lucky enough to direct two Summer Concerts for Dunfermline G&S, including a semi-staged Princess Ida at the Carnegie Hall in 2012.

It seems the only new G&S role left for Rae is the Lead Tenor. Perhaps she will audition for Frederic in Pirates next year…

Guron

Andrew Laing

Chloe

Liz Landsman

Lady Blanche

Rae Lamond

This is Ian’s fifth Princess Ida. From a backstage role at Durham University, he has progressed via two young and romantic Cyrils to this, his second outing for the Edinburgh Society as the decrepit and disagreeable King Gama.

By day a respectable chartered accountant, after dark Ian has appeared in parts ranging from a mad American presidential assassin to the chairwoman of a townswomen’s guild. But his special interest is G&S, having played 28 roles in their 13 extant collaborations, and a further four in Sullivan’s operas without Gilbert. This summer at the International G&S Festival he’s playing Lutin in Gilbert & German’s Fallen Fairies.

Ian is married (to the great-granddaughter of Gilbert’s next-door neighbour) with two grown up daughters, both of whom have appeared in G&S, and a four-year-old grandson, who hasn’t. Yet.

King Gama

Ian Lawson

Ross has been performing on the stage from the age of 12 when he took part in The Gang Show in Dundee’s Whitehall Theatre. Since then, he has taken part in a multitude of shows from The Boyfriend and The Student Prince, to La Bohème and La Traviata. More recently, he has concentrated more on the technical side of shows, but this year he has been persuaded to return in the role of Scynthius.

Previous roles with the company include Pish-Tush in The Mikado, Ben Hashbaz in The Grand Duke, Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance and Calynx in Utopia Limited.

Ross’s outside interests in computing and photography make him the natural choice to help the company with designing and maintaining their website and taking cast photographs.

Fiona is no stranger to the stage or to EDGAS, 2014 marking her 18th consecutive year with the company. She has performed a wide range of roles from psychopathic killer Sarah-Jane Moore in Sondheim’s Assassins to the title role in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Anna Glavari in Lehar’s Merry Widow and both Yum-Yum and Katisha in The Mikado (although not in the same production).

Last year Fiona turned her hand to something different playing Helen in a translation of Euripides’ Ancient Greek play of the same name. She also reprised her roles of Phoebe in The Yeomen of the Guard and Aline in The Sorcerer with EDGAS. This year she’s looking forward to cavorting with the ladies (or are they gentlemen?) playing Lady Psyche in Princess Ida’s all-female university. As an Edinburgh University graduate, Fiona doesn’t remember learning ever being this much fun!

Lady Psyche

Fiona Main

Scynthius

Ross Main

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Having recently finished a run as the mainly melancholy Princess Pamina in The Magic Flute, Gillian is delighted to further her princess-hood as the almost invincible Ida! Gillian spent many a soprano year portraying maids and school girls, Adele in Die Fledermaus and Yum Yum in The Mikado amongst others. Consequently, this extended stint of royal soprano roles, as well as the tiaras and dresses that come along with them, is very exciting!

Gillian was brought up in Renfrew and moved to Edinburgh to study singing with the late Andrew Doig, who was a wonderful teacher.

Although opera and operetta is Gillian’s first musical love, she has also appeared as a soprano soloist with several Scottish choral societies. Highlights include Handel’s Messiah, Schubert’s Mirjam’s Siegesgesang and Fauré’s Requiem.

According to his dad, Farlane’s grandfather would walk through the Malaysian jungle in the ‘30s humming airs from the Savoy Operas; it’s in his blood! However, Farlane only really discovered G&S when he saw a fellow bass of the Edinburgh University Catholic Student’s Union Choir perform in EDGAS’s Patience and HMS Pinafore. Four years later, and now singing in the St Andrew Camerata with fellow EDGAS cast members, it was with some surprise that Farlane found himself half-naked on the stage of the King’s as the executioner in The Yeomen of the Guard. A keen prop forward for the illustrious Moray House RFC, his next wheelchair-bound role as the Very Deaf Old Man in last year’s The Sorcerer coincided serendipitously with a knee injury. Back on his feet (we hope!) and determined not to be typecast, Princess Ida sees him in his first major role as a cross-dressing courtier… what next?

Alan Borthwick has sung leading tenor roles in operas ranging from Poulenc to Puccini as guest

artiste for companies throughout Scotland. He is the only singer ever to have performed all the tenor roles in Sullivan operas - including those written without Gilbert - and he has recorded many of these roles for leading record companies. For 18 consecutive summer seasons he hosted Hail Caledonia, a highly successful Scottish show designed to offer the best of Scottish entertainment to visiting tourists.

For some years now Alan has been in demand as a professional director and has directed shows annually in the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh. This summer he has been invited to work with the International Gilbert

and Sullivan Festival in Harrogate to celebrate the work of W. S. Gilbert with excerpts from his plays and a performance of his final opera, Fallen Fairies, music by Edward German. In the autumn he will direct a new musical to be premiered in the St Bride’s Centre in the week preceding the Scottish referendum.

Alan holds a first-class honours degree in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy and is an Associate Lecturer and PGDE tutor for the Open University, tutoring prospective Mathematics teachers and lecturing in the subject to degree level. He has recorded a series of mathematical videos with the BBC. Future plans may also involve some singing – who knows?

Matthew is delighted to be back for his fourth show with EDGAS. After sneering as Pooh-Bah in The Mikado, marching as Private Willis in Iolanthe and mincing as the Counsel for the Plaintiff in Trial by Jury he is now striding into the role of a despot.

Whilst not warbling melodiously, he can often be found spinning fire, drumming in a samba band or occasionally attempting serious drama.

Princess Ida

Gillian Robertson

Florian

Farlane Whitty

King Hildebrand

Matthew Sielewicz-Stanhope

David Lyle was born and educated in Edinburgh and is prominent in the musical life of the city,

being well known as a conductor, accompanist, arranger and orchestral timpanist. His services are constantly in demand and this year will be his 37th as Musical Director of EDGAS. He has led them in concerts in and outwith Scotland, including gala evenings with The Band of H.M. Royal Marines in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall and invitation concerts at the Buxton, Stranraer and Dunkeld festivals. His specialist field is the music of Sullivan and he has now conducted commercial recordings of all the composer’s non-Gilbert works, including the first ever of Sullivan’s only grand opera, Ivanhoe. His performance, in Edinburgh, of Sullivan’s cantata, The Golden Legend, won first prize in the Choral Music for the Millennium Competition, organized by the British Music Association. He recently conducted a concert including Sullivan’s Symphony in E (the ‘Irish’) and a rare performance of his comic opera, The Zoo, in Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Kirk. Future plans include an orchestral and choral concert featuring Sullivan’s ‘Cello Concerto, which has never been performed in Edinburgh, and his ‘Boer War’ Te Deum.

Alan Borthwick

Director

David Lyle

Musical Director

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AcknowledgementsThe Society would like to offer its sincere thanks to the Kirk Sessions

of Murrayfield Parish Church, Inverleith St. Serf’s Parish Church and Pilrig St. Paul’s Church of Scotland, to MCL (Edinburgh) for supplying the projector, Edinburgh Gang Show Productions Ltd. for loan of white gauzes, Camera Obscura, Bill Hume, Chris Allan, and to the many others who have helped, in some way, to make this production possible. Finally, we are also very grateful to Duncan Hendry, his management team and the staff of the King’s Theatre who do so much to make a visit to their theatre so enjoyable for both audience and performers alike.

EDGAS DirectorsPresident Michael Head Company Secretary Ritchie Turnbull

Vice President David McBain Membership Secretary Maggie CormackTreasurer Hugh Craig Director Kath Barbour

Business Manager Andrew Crawford

The Edinburgh Gilbert & Sullivan Society is affiliated to the National Operatic and Dramatic Association

The Concert PartyAs you can see tonight, we simply love singing Gilbert and Sullivan! Not just

on the King’s Theatre stage but throughout Edinburgh and the Lothians. In fact, we’ll go anywhere within a reasonable distance of Edinburgh. The EDGAS Concert Party, which can consist of anything from a small group of soloists right up to a full chorus, is available to sing at all sorts of functions for churches, community groups, retirement homes and even private parties. How about inviting us to perform at your next fund-raising event?

Your audience will be treated to an enjoyable romp through Gilbert and Sullivan’s Savoy Operas featuring many favourite songs as well as some lesser-known gems, all presented by our entertaining compères and accompanied by our Musical Director, David Lyle. We can even bring our own piano.

For booking enquiries and further information please contact our Concert Party Convener, Susanne Horsburgh Phone: 07590 540 477 Email: susanne.horsburgh@edgas.org

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The SocietyF ounded in 1924 to foster the love and appreciation of the works of

W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, EDGAS is well-known in Edinburgh, Scotland and beyond as one of the UK’s finest amateur operatic societies. It strives for high performance standards and manages to keep the well-loved works of Gilbert and Sullivan fresh and entertaining, with its fabulously lavish productions in top Edinburgh theatres.

The Society is regularly invited to perform in the Usher Hall with the Band of H.M. Royal Marines and in past years has also toured its productions of The Yeomen of the Guard, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado to Buxton as part of the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival.

Join us!

We are always happy to welcome new members to the Society, and if you are interested in joining us, please contact our secretary, Maggie Cormack:

The Secretary The Edinburgh Gilbert & Sullivan Society 32/2 Rankeillor Street Edinburgh EH8 9HZ

Email: secretary@edgas.org – Phone: 07811 505 953

Find out more onlineO ur website www.edgas.org has lots of information about past shows

and current projects. If you would like to take part in one of our shows, you’ll find dates and all you need to prepare in plenty of time for principal auditions. New chorus members can join at any time during the beginning of the rehearsal process (usually late September to early October).

And finally, keep in touch with our latest news by finding and liking us on Facebook www.facebook.com/EdinburghGilbertSullivan

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He’s got ‘em on the listand they’ll none of ‘em be missed