Viva Voce, Latin for “With living voice”, is a division of G&S focused on providing a platform for the shorter productions of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Over many years, an initiative was taken by one of our G&S members to arrange and present concert performances of G&S repertoire excerpts with choir, ensembles and soloists, usually linked to a narrative on the background of Gilbert and Sullivan’s collaborations. These concerts were generally presented to various retirement complexes with great success.
More recently, the G&S Committee decided to formalise this type of activity which was done over and above the major annual productions of musicals and Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. Thus, G & S Viva Voce was born.
The aim of the Viva Voce arm of G&S is to give opportunities for those members and other ad hoc performers, who would not generally be involved in the major large-scale G&S productions, to participate in smaller scale projects and concerts. Thus, such performers and/or production team members receive exposure and are developed into the “business“ of theatre.
Viva Voce projects include choir and ensemble performances of the Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire, as well as the presentation of small scale, semi-staged productions of Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. These include The Pirates of Penzance which was toured to Mossel Bay a few years ago, and the recent production of Trial by Jury, presented in the Artscape Arena.
Included in the concert project concept was the hugely successful presentation of our 70th Anniversary Gala Concert in 2017, presented in the Cape Town City Hall with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, and a choir of 70 as well as 12 vocal soloists.