&Piano 2026 Event 1 | A Night at the Light Opera

Join us for the opening event of &Piano Music Festival 2026 with a night of fizz and frivolity as we whisk you away to the world of Light Opera!

Music by Gilbert & Sullivan, Franz Léhar, Jacques Offenbach, Rodgers & Hammerstein & Lerner & Loewe.

Soprano - Juliet Montgomery (Opera Holland Park, Scottish Opera)
Tenor - Kamil Bień (Opera North)
Mezzo-Soprano - Claire Pascoe (Opera North).
Baritone - Jeremy Peaker (Opera North, New D'Oyle Carte Opera Company)
Piano - Robin Humphreys

Every year since we started &Piano we've usually included Musical Theatre into the mix - it's an increasingly popular genre with musicals like Six, Hamilton, Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera taking the world by storm...but ever wonder what came before them and how we got to the modern musicals we know and love today?

This year we kick our 2026 Festival off by celebrating the origins of musical theatre - the wonderful world of Operetta, or Light Opera as it's often referred to in English, performed by an exceptional quartet of professional singers from across the region. Evolved out of the more serious, dramatic (and often much longer) Opera, 'Light Opera' paved the way for the development of the modern musical.

With catchy songs, memorable melodies, witty lyrics and ridiculous plot-lines, join us to celebrate, discover and enjoy some of the most iconic songs from some of Operetta's most famous composers and shows, including Johann Strauss (The Flying Bat), Franz Léhar' (The Merry Widow), Jacques Offenbach & Gilbert & Sullivan, who's Comic Opera's continue to attract a huge following (most notably over the hill at the annual Gilbert & Sullivan International Festival in Buxton), before coming to the beginnings of musical theatre as we know it today, with songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein (The Sound of Music), Jerome Kern (Show Boat) & Lerner & Loewe (My Fair Lady).