Saturday 26th October 2024 1:45 – 2:30
The Three Towns
Gilbert and Sullivan Principals:
Ken Rees – Bass Baritone, Victoria Goulden – Soprano,
Barbara Mayers – Alto, David Griffiths – Tenor, David Kay – Tenor
Programme
“Opening chorus” – Trial by Jury (All)
“Time was..” – The Sorcerer (Ken Rees)
“Sing Hoity Toity” – Princess Ida (Victoria Goulden & Barbara Mayers)
“The World Is but a Broken Toy” – Princess Ida (Victoria Goulden, David Griffiths, David Kay, Ken Rees)
“Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes” – The Gondoliers (David Griffiths)
“When I was a Lad” – HMS Pinafore (David Kay)
“The Hours Creep on a Pace” – HMS Pinafore (Victoria Goulden)
“Never Mind the Why and Wherefore” – HMS Pinafore (Victoria Goulden, David Kay, Ken Rees)
“Is Life a Boon?” – Yeoman of the Guard (David Griffiths)
“Long Years Ago” – Patience (Victoria Goulden & Barbara Mayers)
“Tit-Willow” – The Mikado (David Kay)
“The Mikado’s Song” – The Mikado (Ken Rees)
“Finale Act II” – The Mikado (All)
Background
The Three Towns is an amateur Operatic Society based in Leigh, Atherton & Tyldesley. It was founded in 1968 by Neville Parry, a Music Teacher at Tyldesley Boys’ Secondary School. We perform an operetta every May at St Joseph’s Hall Leigh, with a full orchestra, for which they have received many awards. Originally staging only Gilbert & Sullivan, on alternate years we now choose a production with good 4-part harmony such as Die Fledermaus & The Merry Widow. Every autumn, we also perform a series of Concerts with a wide range of music for all tastes.
The Principals:
Victoria Goulden, Soprano, began singing at an early age. She comes from a musical family, her father being a music and singing Teacher and her eldest sister a professional Opera Singer. After first venturing into the world of musical theatre, she shifted her focus to classical singing and has been taught by well-respected teachers in the opera world for the past 14 years.
Victoria’s mum and auntie followed the Doyle Carte Opera Company, taking every opportunity to see their live productions, and so it is little surprise that she has a real love for the Gilbert and Sullivan Operas.
As a member of The Three Towns for 14 years she has regularly taken on the lead Soprano role in that time.
Victoria has sung in several festival competitions across the country and has won categories as varied as Opera, Light Opera and British Composers.
Victoria is also in great demand at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. Most recently, this summer, she performed the role of Yum Yum in Savoynet’s “Mikado”; a role for which she auditioned in a pool of worldwide talent from as far as Australia and the USA .
In the New Year, Victoria will be singing a programme of light opera for a concert in New York.”
Barbara Mayers, Alto, has been a member of The Three Towns since 1976, regularly taking part in G&S Operettas until 1994, when she joined St Joseph’s Players, the Leigh Drama Group celebrating their centenary in 2025. Although Barbara had vocal coaching, she took exams in Acting, attaining a LAMDA gold medal with honours. Barbara has been the regular Prompt for The Three Towns shows since 1995, but occasionally takes character roles with the Society. Some of her highlights have been Leila (Iolanthe), Vittoria, Tessa and the Duchess of Plaza Toro (The Gondoliers), Dame Carruthers (Yeomen of the Guard), Little Buttercup (HMS Pinafore) and Juno (Orpheus in the Underworld). She has been nominated for and won many awards with both The Three Towns and St Joseph’s Players, with whom she is both actor & director. She has sung at many weddings and funerals and has also entered several music & drama festivals. For a few years, Barbara and friends also did Christmas afternoon concerts for Opera 74 and various WI groups.
David Kay, Tenor, one of the original founder-members of The Three Towns, who has taken the “patter” roles in all our G&S Operettas, performing in every Production since the society’s inception. He has performed every G&S operetta except “Utopia Limited” which we have never done. He has been invited to perform at the International G&S Festival, Buxton, four times: King Gama (Princess Ida) for which he was awarded Best Character Actor; Sir Joseph Porter (HMS Pinafore); Lord Chancellor (Iolanthe); and finally The Judge (Trial by Jury) and Grinder (The Zoo) which were on the same bill. David has been Treasurer of the Society, then 17 years as Chairman, and is now Vice Chair. He has been nominated and given awards for many of his roles. He is also the principal Stage Director for The Three Towns.
David Griffiths, Tenor, is a long-standing member of the Three Towns, who regularly takes leading roles in our productions. David has played many of the G&S tenor leads with the Three Towns and with New Rosemere in Bolton, recent roles including Frederic in Three Towns’ Pirates of Penzance in 2024 and Alexis in New Rosemere’s Sorcerer in 2023. He has performed as a soloist many times in the Bolton area and the North West in opera, operetta and musical theatre, taking roles with Opera 74, Preston Opera, and other societies, and also in oratorio, including Messiah with the Brixi Singers in Bolton, Exsultate in Wigan and the Nidderdale Messiah”.
Ken Rees, Bass Baritone, is a proud Welshman who has lived in Standish (Wigan) for 50 years. He has played all the Bass-Baritone Roles in the Gilbert & Sullivan Operettas with various societies as well as The Three Towns, as well as non-G&S such as Waltzes from Vienna, Orpheus in the Underworld and The Merry Widow. His first love in G&S, but he has also performed roles in other musicals such as Oklahoma! with Wigan Musical Group. His favourite roles have been The King in “The King and I” and Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof” for which he was awarded Best Character Actor in a Musical by NODA. He also loved playing Emile de Becque in “South Pacific”. Ken is also the Chairman & Musical Director of Wigan Voices in Harmony, who perform concerts in around Wigan and the North West. Following his retirement he had singing lessons with David Usher, and gained an Associate Diploma of the London College of Music in Stage Performance. He also gives talks/recitals on the History of Gilbert & Sullivan and the History of Musical Theatre.
Next week’s concert: Lewis Kingsley-Peart, piano