Best of British - featuring The Contrabandista

Our April concert will be a delightful celebration of the music of Sullivan and his contemporaries, including Edward German, Lionel Monckton and Alfred Cellier. There will be a performance of Sullivan’s first two-act comic opera THE CONTRABANDISTA, offering a rare chance to hear this charming early work.

THE CONTRABANDISTA is set in the mountains of Spain and the typically absurd plot concerns a gang of bandits and smugglers who are arguing over who should be their new leader. When an English tourist wanders into the camp he is forced at gunpoint to become their captain and will have to marry the recently widowed queen of the gang.

To give you some idea of the characters, imagine that the Penzance pirates have become the smugglers in Act 3 of Carmen and that the Major General has arrived and found he has to marry Katisha. Add to this a disguised hero trying to rescue his abducted sweetheart, a sacred hat, a large case of dynamite and the compulsory dancing of the bolero
and you have a fun-filled rarity with Sullivan’s masterful music.

Amongst the other items in the concert will be the Brindisi from THE ROSE OF PERSIA, “Charming weather” from THE ARCADIANS and “The Yeomen of England” from MERRIE ENGLAND.

Book now to join us for a joyful evening celebrating the very best of British music from the Victorian and Edwardian eras.