THE NEW LONDON OPERA GROUP 
 

present 
 

The Yeomen of the Guard 
 

or 
 

The Merryman and his Maid 
 

by 
 

WS Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan 
 
 
 

Semi-staged concert performances

13th and 14th November 2009 
 
 
 

First performed at the Savoy Theatre on 3rd October 1888 
 
 

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The New London Opera Group 

Welcome to this evening’s semi-staged concert performance of that most “operatic” collaboration of WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, The Yeomen of the Guard. This is the fifth annual autumn concert by The New London Opera Group (newLOG).  

newLOG is an amateur company dedicated to producing high-quality musical theatre in London and on tour around the country. It was founded in October 2003 by members of the disbanded University of London Opera Group who sought to preserve the heritage and ethos of the society, whilst expanding both the membership base and repertoire.  

In London, the group is based at the beautiful Holy Trinity Church in South Kensington, but we also enjoy a very happy home at Louth Playgoers’ Riverhead Theatre in Lincolnshire. In June 2003, the University of London Opera Group took its final production (Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe) on a very successful tour to Louth, playing to capacity audiences. A positive relationship was formed with the theatre, and when newLOG was founded, the annual visit to Louth naturally became the cornerstone of the Group’s year. Since then, The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, Cox and Box, Ruddigore, Patience, The Sorcerer and The Gondoliers have been given in Louth, together with concerts of G&S, Viennese and French operetta. In addition, newLOG gives an annual autumn concert in London. London productions have included concert performances of Rutland Boughton’s Nativity opera, Bethlehem, Michael Balfe’s The Bohemian Girl, Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury and Sullivan’s The Zoo.

 
We hope you enjoy this evening’s performance. For more information about newLOG, or to join our FREE mailing list, do e-mail us at info@newlog.org.uk or log onto our website:  

www.newlog.org.uk 
 
 
 
 
 
 

New London Opera Group - Performance history 

2004

Here’s a how-de-do! (A concert celebration of the operas of Gilbert & Sullivan)

The Mikado or The Town of Titipu by WS Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan

 
2005

A Viennese Soirée (A celebration of Viennese operetta)

The Pirates of Penzance or The Slave of Duty by WS Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan

Bethlehem (A Choral Drama) by Rutland Boughton (Concert performance) 

2006

Cox & Box or The Long-Lost Brothers by Arthur Sullivan & FC Burnand

A Night at the Savoy (A celebration of the operas of Sir Arthur Sullivan)

Ruddigore or The Witch’s Curse by WS Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan

The Bohemian Girl by Michael Balfe & Alfred Bunn (Concert Performance) 

2007

La vie Parisienne (A celebration of French operetta)

Patience or Bunthorne’s Bride by WS Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan

Trial by Jury and Scenes from the Savoy (Gilbert & Sullivan) 

2008

Never mind the why or wherefore! (A celebration of Gilbert & Sullivan)

The Sorcerer by WS Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan

The Zoo and Scenes from the Savoy by Bolton Rowe, WS Gilbert 

& Arthur Sullivan 

2009

Around the world in eighty minutes (An operatic circumnavigation)

The Gondoliers or The King of Barataria by WS Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan

The Yeomen of the Guard or The Merryman and his Maid by WS Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan (Concert Performance) 
 
 
 

Cast 

Sir Richard Cholmondeley      David Pim

(the Lieutenant of the Tower) 

Colonel Fairfax        Philip Hayes

(under sentence of death) 

Sergeant Meryll        Benjamin Gray

(of the Yeomen of the Guard) 

Leonard Meryll       Seb Junemann

(his son) 

Jack Point        Philip W Errington

(a strolling jester) 

Wilfred Shadbolt        Chris Cann

(Head Jailer and Assistant Tormentor) 

The Headsman       Bob Vaughan 

First Yeoman       Jeremy Longley 

Second Yeoman       Alan Doherty 

Elsie Maynard        Rebekah Engeler

(a strolling singer) 

Phoebe Meryll        Kirsti Whitlocke

(Sergeant Meryll’s daughter) 

Dame Carruthers       Charlotte Collier

(Housekeeper to the Tower) 

Kate          Nicola Pulford

(her niece) 
 

Chorus of Yeomen and Citizens 

Ayesha Als-Murchie, Tony Bannister, Kirsty Bennett, Amy Bird, Fay Carradine,

Juliet Crissell, Sophie Dand, Anne Duncan, Ruth Elleson, Paul Garver, Julia Kim,

Joseph Malcomson, Fiona Nash, Roger Nicholls,Wendy Norman,

Jamie Patterson, Claire Pooley, Rachel Stack

Orchestra 

Conductor    Graham Rogers 

Violin     David Bignell (Leader)

Viola     Maria Niedbala  

Cello     Solene Cheval

Double Bass   Bruno Carneiro

Bassoon    Luke Tucker

Clarinet    Antoine Cambruzzi   

                        Chris Goodman  

Oboe     Sarah Ashworth 

Flute     Peter Reynolds

Horn     Amy Innes

                              Matthew Sackman 

Trumpet    Robin Avery

Percussion    Richard Souper (Friday)

                              Steve Fawbert (Saturday) 
 

Production Credits 

Musical Director     Graham Rogers 

Semi-Staging     Bob Vaughan 

Production Manager    Chris Cann 

Technical Support    Steve Greenwood 

Music Librarian     Philip W Errington 

Repetiteur      Anna Tetsuya 

Costumes      The Haslemere Wardrobe 

Props      Bob Vaughan 

Marketing and Box Office   Chris Cann 

Poster      Tony Bannister 

Programme     Chris Cann

 
 
  

With thanks to

 
  

The Reverend Liz Russell and Tim Roe at Holy Trinity Church, for their kind support and assistance in the preparation of these performances

 
  

Jill Witham for the loan of her spinning wheel

 
  

The Royal College and the Royal Academy of Music

 
 
  

Board of Directors

 
  

Artistic Director     Chris Cann

 
  

Musical Director     Graham Rogers

 
  

Financial Director    Steve Greenwood

Synopsis of Musical Numbers

 
  

Overture

 
Act I

“When maiden loves, she sits and sighs” (Phoebe)

 
  

“Tower warders, under orders” (Chorus and Lieutenant)

 
  

“When our gallant Norman foes” (Dame Carruthers and Chorus)

 
  

“Alas! I waver to and fro” (Phoebe, Leonard and Sergeant Meryll)

 

“Is life a boon” (Colonel Fairfax)

 
  

“Here’s a man of jollity” (Chorus)

 
  

“I have a song to sing, O!” (Point and Elsie with Chorus)

 
  

“How say you, maiden” (Lieutenant, Elsie and Point)

 
  

“I’ve jibe and joke” (Point)

 
  

“’Tis done! I am a bride” (Elsie)

 
  

“Were I thy Bride” (Phoebe)

 
  

“O Sergeant Meryll, is it true?” - Act I Finale (Company)

 
  

Act II

“Night has spread her pall once more” (Chorus and Dame Carruthers)

 
  

“Oh! A private buffoon is a light-hearted loon” (Point)

 
  

“Hereupon we’re both agreed” (Point and Shadbolt)

 
  

“Free from his fetters grim” (Fairfax)

 
  

“Strange adventure” (Kate, Dame Carruthers, Fairfax and Sergeant Meryll)

 
  

“Hark what was that, sir?” (Company)

 
  

“A man who would woo a fair maid” (Elsie, Phoebe and Fairfax)

 
  

“When a wooer goes a a-wooing” (Elsie, Phoebe, Fairfax and Point)

 
  

“Rapture, rapture” (Dame Carruthers and Sergeant Meryll)

 
  

“Comes the pretty young bride” - Act II Finale (Company)

A Tale of the Tower

 
  

Once upon a time, many years ago when Bluff King Hal was still in his first marriage – in the Tower of London, which was ancient even then, a daring plot was hatched. Sergeant Meryll of the Yeomen of the Guard, and his daughter Phoebe aimed to spring Colonel Fairfax, who was awaiting execution for sorcery, from his imprisonment. Meryll’s motive for this rash action was based on Fairfax having rescued the old soldier from death in battle - whereas Phoebe was simply besotted with the romantically handsome young officer. Their plot involved disguising Fairfax as Phoebe's brother, Leonard, who was about to become a yeoman. Unaware of the Merylls’ family scheme, Fairfax made a last request of the prison governor – Sir Richard Cholmondeley, the Lieutenant of the Tower – Fairfax wanted to marry before he died. The reason behind this extraordinary proposal was to prevent his considerable wealth and vast estates from being inherited by his cousin, a highly placed Tudor civil servant, who duplicitously got Fairfax sentenced to an untimely beheading for “Dealings with the Devil” (as the Medievals referred to all unintelligible science). As the Lieutenant went off to find a potential wife for the Colonel, two strolling players, Elsie Maynard and Jack Point, arrived and transformed the grim Tower Green into one of the world’s least likely busking venues. Rather than expel the mummers, the Lieutenant used the persuasive influence of money to convince Elsie to marry Fairfax and made Jack his new jester.

 
  

Meanwhile, the Merylls’ plot progressed rapidly. The jailer Wilfred Shadbolt was enamoured with Phoebe, and so she had no difficulty distracting him while she plucked the key to Fairfax’s dungeon off his belt. The released Fairfax disguised himself as Leonard Meryll with such relish that he actually led the search for the escaped prisoner – himself – himself.

 
  

Jack Point had hoped that, after being paid for the brief marriage, Elsie would be widowed, courtesy of the skills of the headsman. She would then be free to marry him at some future date. However, Fairfax had vanished and Elsie remained in wedlock, and was not to be thought of as the future Mrs Point. The frustrated jester persuaded Wilfred to invent a cock and bull story saying how he shot the escapee in the Thames. Elsie, who was blindfolded during the wedding, from respect for operatic tradition, found herself falling in love with the supposed “Leonard”, not realising he was her actual husband.

 
  

A shot disturbed the night air and Jack and Wilfred told their tale to the Lieutenant. With Fairfax “dead” Jack attempted to propose to Elsie, but he was a worse lover than he was a jester, which is saying something. Fairfax tried to help the heart-broken fool, but only managed to get Elsie head over heels in love with himself. Enraged by the Colonel’s lack of gratitude for her deeds Phoebe was so indiscrete that even Wilfred realised “Leonard” was a fraud. To silence him, Phoebe consented to marry the jailer. Sergeant Meryll ruminated, aloud, how stupid Phoebe had been to disclose the family’s secret. His unnecessary soliloquy got overheard by the hatchet-faced housekeeper Dame Carruthers, who put two and two together and forced the sergeant into a tactical marriage.

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A royal reprieve arrived for Fairfax (the medieval postal service used to mark such reprieves with a gallows symbol so that they were transmitted as fast as possible – but I digress.) A wedding was announced between Leonard Meryll and Elsie Maynard but it was interrupted by the arrival of Fairfax to reclaim the bride he had married when confined in his cell. Once Elsie had realised that her husband (Fairfax) was the man of her heart (“Leonard”), her happiness knew no bounds. As the couple rejoiced, the heartbroken Jack Point collapsed – his tragedy complete.

“La Commedia è finita!” (I Pagliacci, Act II)

 
  

Bob Vaughan discusses The Yeomen of the Guard.

 
  

The Yeomen of the Guard is very singular; no other stage work has the same scope and atmosphere. It falls within the sequence of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Savoy Operas but is an awkward bedfellow with the rest of the canon, being distinctly different in character from the others.

 
  

What is the reason for this distinctiveness? It isn’t because Yeomen can be regarded as a tragedy that it stands apart; there are numerous tragic elements throughout the other operas. Death comes for J W Wells at the end of The Sorcerer and the marriage between Ko-Ko and Katisha in The Mikado will be just as stormy as the weddings in Yeomen. The difference lies in a radical shift in styles from their usual methods by both Gilbert and Sullivan.

 
  

After the not-overwhelming success of Ruddigore, Sullivan wanted to compose a show involving believable, realistic and essentially human characters. Gilbert obliged by dispensing with his usual Bab Ballad approach, where stylised slightly surreal characters are involved in a tightly constructed plot with not a loose end or unnecessary line of dialogue. Instead Gilbert returns to his “realistic” viewpoint, which is essentially the same as that created in his earlier straight dramas such as Dan’l Druce, and Gretchen.

 
  

Gilbert’s view of the human condition is grim; Yeomen is imbued with a bleak autumnal feel, an air of decay permeates the work. The major characters are living out frustrated and unfulfilled lives dominated by the claustrophobic Tower of London. (The legend on its brow ought to be “Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch’entrate” “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here”.) The narrative is propelled by characters making quick decisions that backfire causing misery alongside the expected “Gilbertian” plot twists. The widowed Sir Richard Cholmondeley is intent on getting himself a jester – whether just to cheer himself up or as a Tudor status symbol is not clear. As with almost all the choices made in Yeomen, he chooses badly and is lumbered with Jack Point, who tries his best, but hardly ever raises even a half-smile with his original humour. The tendency to laugh at the characters rather than with them is more pronounced than anywhere else in the G&S canon.

 
  

The character of Phoebe illustrates Gilbert’s view of the real world. She is discovered alone at her spinning wheel at the start of the work and her sighing for the handsome prisoner means that the audience would need to have a heart of stone not to root for her. We accept her view of Colonel Fairfax’s worth and empathise with her in hoping he evades the impending execution that casts its baleful shadow over the first act. However once Fairfax has escaped, we see the shallowness of his true character and realise how the ungrateful libertine, hoodwinked Phoebe and through her, the audience. At least by settling down with Wilfred Shadbolt, Phoebe will not be under any delusions between fantasy and reality.

 
  

If we were to listen only to Gilbert’s description of the inconvenient and messy events in mediaeval London we would come away with a very jaundiced view of humanity. It is this austerity that has consigned the vast majority of Gilbert’s straight dramas to dusty library shelves.           

 
  

In Yeomen Sullivan’s music transforms Gilbert’s essentially pessimistic view of life into a robust and invigorating pageant of a realm governed by preordained fate.

 
  

Many of the characters are given their own leitmotivs and Sullivan’s representation of the Tower itself recurs throughout the work, the brass reminding us forcefully where we are. There are many instances of snippets of Wagner emerging from the music and The Yeomen of the Guard has sometimes been called, “the English Meistersinger”. Even in jest this is wide of the mark. With ordinary believable characters reacting to extraordinary situations and with a score that demonstrates the innate nobility of humanity, Yeomen sits far more comfortably amongst the verismo works of the period. It might be better to regard The Yeomen of the Guard as the English Pagliacci.

Biographies

 
  

Chris Cann (Wilfred Shadbolt / Producer)

Chris first came to London as a student in 1992, throwing himself into the activities of the University of London Opera Group (ULOG), both on and off stage. Since then, he has directed productions for ULOG, the Centenary Company and the New London Opera Group, of which he is the founding Artistic Director. Productions include The Sorcerer (twice), HMS Pinafore, Iolanthe (twice), Princess Ida, The Mikado and Ruddigore (twice), together with semi-staged concerts of Gilbert and Sullivan (2004), Viennese (2005) and French (2007) operetta. 

 
  

Your browser may not support display of this image. In December 2005, Chris produced a highly successful concert performance of Rutland Boughton’s beautiful Christmas opera, Bethlehem, in which he also sang the dual roles of Jem the Shepherd and Zarathustra the Wise Man. He followed this in 2006 with a concert performance of Balfe’s romantic opera The Bohemian Girl.

 
  

As a performer, Chris has appeared in all the extant Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Roles include the Judge and Defendant (Trial by Jury), Alexis Pointdextre (The Sorcerer), Major-General Stanley (The Pirates of Penzance), Bunthorne (Patience), all the male principal roles in Iolanthe, Cyril (Princess Ida), Pooh-Bah (The Mikado), Dick Dauntless and Sir Despard Murgatroyd (Ruddigore), The Duke of Plaza-Toro and Grand Inquisitor (The Gondoliers), King Paramount (Utopia Limited) and Ludwig (The Grand Duke).

 
  

Charlotte Collier (Dame Carruthers)

Charlotte read law at Birmingham University, qualifying as a solicitor. After private study with Ameral Gunson she decided to pursue a musical career and studied at Trinity College of Music and University of London (Birkbeck College). Roles include Oreste (La Belle Hélène) for Guildford Opera; Little Buttercup (HMS Pinafore) and the Duchess of Plaza–Toro (The Gondoliers) for Opera Options; Lady Blanche (Princess Ida) and Dame Carruthers (The Yeomen of the Guard) for Epsom Light Opera Company. Charlotte made her newLOG debut in June 2007, as Lady Jane in the summer tour of Patience.

 
  

Concert work includes Rossini (Petite Messe Solennelle) with the London Lawyers Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; The Messiah with Guildford Opera and Colwyn Bay Choral Society; Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the English Arts Chorale and the St. Cecilia Chorus; Mozart’s Requiem with the Haslemere and Carshalton Choral Societies, and Bach’s St John Passion with Peterborough Choral Society.

 
  

Charlotte sang with Scottish Opera in 2006 in Der Rosenkavalier and Carmen. In 2007 she toured extensively in the UK with Carl Rosa Opera. In 2008 she sang for Opera Holland Park in their acclaimed productions of Tosca, La Gioconda and The Magic Flute. She returned to Holland Park this year for Roberto Devereux, Un ballo in maschera and Katya Kabanova.

 
  

Alan Doherty (Second Yeoman)

Alan cut his teeth on the stage as Joseph in The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and has been seeking another audience of young ladies to impress ever since. In the North East he performed and directed regularly including learning how to take a custard pie in the face without flinching throughout many a panto season. Since coming South he has performed with Imperial Opera, joined the glamorous ranks of the Imperial Male Voice Choir, newLOG and Skolia.  Alan is currently part of the Southbank’s Voicelab which sang at the opening of the Bernstein Project in the Royal Festival Hall in October of this year.

 
  

Rebekah Engeler (Elsie Maynard)

This is Rebekah's third production with the New London Opera Group, having performed most recently as Casilda in this year’s summer tour of The Gondoliers, and as Aline in last year’s production of The Sorcerer. Rebekah repeated the role of Aline in the Imperial College Gilbert and Sullivan Marathon, as well as singing the role of Angelina in Trial! A Footballer’s Tale (an updated version of Trial by Jury) with the Minotaur Musical Theatre.  Rebekah was a finalist in the MacDonald’s Performing Arts Challenge in 2007 before leaving Australia and moving to Britain, where she trained at the Royal College of Music. She has performed at the National Portrait Gallery and in Jerusalem, singing in Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem in association with the Jerusalem Academy of Music. Rebekah loves good coffee, dark chocolate and any and all things musical. Rebekah is currently under the tuition of Jeffery Stewart.

 
 
  

Your browser may not support display of this image. Philip W Errington (Jack Point)

Phil has sung in all the G&S operas and this is his second Yeomen. Previous roles include Counsel and Usher (Trial by Jury), Dr Daly (The Sorcerer), Dick Deadeye (HMS Pinafore), Pirate King (The Pirates of Penzance), Colonel Calverly and Archibald Grosvenor (Patience), Strephon (Iolanthe), King Gama (Princess Ida), Ko-Ko (The Mikado), Robin Oakapple (Ruddigore), Jack Point (The Yeomen of the Guard), The Duke of Plaza-Toro  (The Gondoliers) and Ludwig (The Grand Duke). Over many years he has sung with the University of London Opera Group, Imperial College Operatic Society, Imperial Opera, the Philharmonia Chorus, the Minotaur Music Theatre, Grosvenor Light Opera Group, and, for one night only, stars of the old D’Oyly Carte Opera Company! By day he is a Deputy Director within the Department of Printed Books and Manuscripts at Sotheby’s. He is also somewhat of an authority on the works of the former Poet Laureate John Masefield (copies of his edition of Selected Poems available at all good bookshops)!

 
 
  

Benjamin Gray (Sergeant Meryll)  

Although coming from a musical theatre and drama background, Ben chose to focus on Gilbert and Sullivan while at university.  He has been in a large number of shows, ranging from Fiddler on the Roof (Tevye) to The Gondoliers (The Grand Inquisitor). This is his fourth production with newLOG, having made his debut as Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre in The Sorcerer in June 2008.  Having completed a War Studies degree earlier this year, he is now a postgraduate law student, learning how to keep the Colonel Fairfaxes of the world away from the latter day Towers of London.  

 
 
  

Philip Hayes (Colonel Fairfax)      

Philip has sung in choirs and opera groups since childhood.  He has been involved in many G&S productions, chiefly with the University of London Opera Group. Philip has also taken part in several newLOG performances, both in London and Louth. Roles with the company include Sym the Shepherd and Nubar the Wise Man in Rutland Boughton’s Bethlehem and the Duke of Dunstable in Patience. This year he has sung tenor leads in amateur productions of Così fan tutte, Romeo and Juliet (Gounod), Carmen and Princess Ida, all in or around London.  Philip has recently started training as a primary school teacher, a fairly all-consuming pursuit, so this is likely to be his last operatic venture for some time!

 
 
  

Seb Junemann (Leonard Meryll)

Seb returns for his second newLOG show after playing Luiz in The Gondoliers earlier this year. As a veteran of Imperial College’s Musical Theatre Society, Seb’s acting credits include: Personals, The Grand Duke (Ben Hashbaz), Little Shop of Horrors (Orin), Anything Goes (Henry T. Dobson and Sailors Quartet), Chess, A Slice of Saturday Night, Batboy (Doctor Parker), West Side Story (Bernardo), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (J. Pierrepont Finch), Showboat (Stephen Baker) and On the Town (Ozzie).

 
  

Seb has also dabbled in directing and is pleased to have directed a very successful production of Stephen Sondheim’s first musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum earlier this year. Having been bitten by the directing bug, he is considering his next project… once he has recovered from the last one, of course.

 
  

When not exercising his creative streak on the stage, Seb works as the Sustainability Officer for a major UK social housing organisation, helping people to live greener, more sustainable lifestyles and helping improving the homes they live in.

 
  

Jeremy Longley (First Yeoman)

Jeremy's gradual progress from the orchestra pit to the stage continues unabated this year, with a proper costume and everything this time round!  He hopes his other hobby (playing hockey for the Bank of England) will have some transferable skills in the waving around of a large wooden stick!

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David Pim (Sir Richard Cholmondeley)

Dave is delighted to be back for his fourth show with newLOG, having joined the company last year. Since graduating with a music degree from King’s College London last summer, Dave has completed his teacher training and now works as a music teacher at Tiffin Girls’ School in Kingston. Dave loves G&S, enough to study them for his undergraduate dissertation, and has performed many roles, including Alexis  (The Sorcerer),   Bunthorne  and Major Murgatroyd (Patience),

 
  

Ko-Ko (The Mikado), Robin Oakapple (Ruddigore), Luiz and Giuseppe (The Gondoliers). Away from G&S, Dave has also performed in many other operettas and musicals, and has just finished a run as Pluto in Jacques Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld with the Windsor and Eton Operatic Society. In his spare time, Dave is studying for a Masters degree in Musical Performance Studies at City University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

 
  

Nicola Pulford (Kate)

Nicola Pulford was brought up in Lincolnshire and trained at Trinity College of Music, under private tutor Sophie Grimmer. There she won two scholarships and gained a First Class Honours Degree and Diploma with Distinction. She also attended Dartington International Summer School, Benslow Music Trust and British Youth Opera.

 
  

Stage credits include Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance) with Charles Court Opera and Kent Opera, Yum Yum (The Mikado) and Musetta (La Bohème) with Kentish Opera, Yum Yum and Kate (The Yeomen of the Guard) with Carl Rosa Opera, Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Sylvia (The Merry Widow) and Shepherd boy (Tosca) with Opera UK and Carmella in Menotti’s The Saint of Bleecker Street when at Trinity College of Music. Concerts and recitals include opera galas in Dubai, prize-winning performances in Spain and premiering a work in Paris. She has worked with Sir Charles Mackerras and Sir David Willcocks and was a Young Concert Artist’s Trust semi-finalist in 2005.

 
  

Nicola recently completed her training with English National Opera, having been accepted to their Opera Works Programme. There she worked extensively with Jane Robinson and took consultations from John McMurray. She also continues her private study with Philip Doghan. Current engagements include a tour of Ireland in concert.

 
  

Graham Rogers (Musical Director)  

Graham read music at the University of York, where he also became ensnared by the magic of Gilbert and Sullivan. A passionate G&S devotee, Graham has conducted performances at York and Cambridge universities, and has been Music Director of newLOG since the group’s foundation in 2003. Most recently he conducted newLOG’s highly successful production of The Gondoliers at the Riverhead Theatre in Louth. Other newLOG productions he has conducted include The Sorcerer and The Zoo (2008), Ruddigore (2006) and The Pirates of Penzance (2005). Earlier this year he conducted Trial by Jury, The Pirates of Penzance and Utopia Limited at a 30-hour non-stop charity “G&S Marathon” of all 13 extant Savoy Operas with Imperial College Musical Theatre Society, London. Next June he will conduct newLOG performances of Princess Ida in Louth.

 
  

Graham is also an experienced choral singer and stage performer. Recent roles include the Sergeant of Police (The Pirates of Penzance, Imperial Opera), Colonel Calverly (Patience, King’s College G&S), Archibald Grosvenor (Patience, newLOG), Mr Cox (Cox and Box, newLOG), Count Arnheim (Balfe’s The Bohemian Girl, newLOG), Dick Deadeye (HMS Pinafore, Centenary Company, Greenwich), Strephon (Iolanthe) and the eponymous Mikado of Japan. He has sung roles in newLOG concerts including La Vie Parisiènne and A Viennese Soirée, and regularly sings with chamber choir Pegasus.

 
  

Graham works for BBC Radio 3, and also writes on music: he contributed to the recently published book 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die, has written programme notes for the BBC Proms and record label Music Preserved LIVE, and regularly reviews concerts and CDs for the BBC Classical website and www.classicalsource.com.

 
  

Bob Vaughan (Semi-staging / The Headsman)

Bob Vaughan is delighted to be making his newLOG London directorial debut, having previously directed both Cox & Box and Patience for the Company’s visits to Louth – in the process garnering rave reviews from the Grimsby Telegraph. Shows that Bob directed for the now defunct University of London Opera Group included: The Sorcerer, HMS Pinafore, Iolanthe (twice), The Mikado, Ruddigore, Utopia Limited, The Grand Duke; the centenary production of Gilbert and Cellier’s The Mountebanks; Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène and Orpheus in the Underworld and Gilbert’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern.

 
  

Bob has performed on stage in all the G&S operas and made notable appearances as WS Gilbert in the revue Sin with Sullivan at the Edinburgh and Buxton Festivals. Bob’s West End debut was as the villainous Urk Starkadder in Cold Comfort Farm – The Musical at the Player’s Theatre.

 
  

In real life Bob is a Chartered Physicist working on Radar systems. For relaxation he vanishes into a shed at the bottom of the garden and fiddles around with his latest train set “Gas Lane” which features in the November 2009 issue of Hornby Magazine.

 
  

Kirsti Whitlocke (Phoebe Meryll)      

Kirsti is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She has performed principal roles in conjunction with Opera Australia, Opera Queensland and The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. With the latter, Kirsti performed the roles of Hebe, (HMS Pinafore), Fleta (Iolanthe) and Pitti-Sing (The Mikado) at the Savoy Theatre in London.  Other roles include Olga (The Merry Widow) with the Queensland Philharmonic, Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus) and Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) for the 4MBS Festival of Fine Music.  In conjunction with Opera Australia Kirsti sang the role of Giacinta in the Australian première of Mozart’s La finta semplice in 1996 and the role of Penelope in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria.  For Opera Queensland Kirsti was a touring principal in the Australian opera The Serpent. As a concert artist Kirsti has appeared with The Sydney Symphony Orchestra at The Sydney Opera House Concert Hall and in recital for the Bach, Mozart and Schubert Societies of Australia. Kirsti’s first appearance with newLOG was in the concert A Night at the Savoy at the Riverhead Theatre in March 2006. She has subsequently appeared as Mad Margaret in Ruddigore and in the spring concerts of French operetta (2007) and G&S (2008) and this year’s Around the world in 80 minutes in Louth. In London, Kirsti sang the villainous Queen of the Gypsies in Balfe’s The Bohemian Girl with newLOG in 2006.     

 
 
  

Previously with newLOG

 
  

Although these are the first complete performances of The Yeomen of the Guard by the New London Opera Group, several excerpts have featured in concerts. The moving quartet “When a wooer goes a-wooing” was featured in the very first newLOG concert Here’s a how-de-do! in 2004, with tonight’s conductor, Graham Rogers as Jack Point, Catrine Kirkman as Phoebe and Nick and Heather Watts as Fairfax and Elsie. The next G&S concert in Louth, A Night at the Savoy (2006) featured three excerpts from the opera: Catrine Kirkman sang Elsie’s aria “’Tis done, I am a bride”. Philip Errington performed the deleted song for Sergeant Meryll, “A laughing boy but yesterday” and Kirsti Whitlocke sang “Were I thy bride”. Kirsti returned to the role of Phoebe in the 2008 concert Never mind the why or wherefore! in which she sang “When maiden loves”. In the same concert, Samir Savant sang “Is life a boon”; Chris Cann and Graham Rogers performed the comical “Cock and Bull” duet, and the ensembles “Strange adventure” and “A man who would woo a fair maid” also featured. In addition, the dramatic act I finale was a highlight of the 2007 autumn concert in London.