D'Oyly Carte Music will preserve the islands musical heritage with a limited number of intimate performances in the grand ballroom by a few of the world’s top performing artists and attended by 50 of their friends and celebrity guests.
Summer Concerts 2025
Highlights
Gilbert & Sullivan Day
D’Oyly Carte Island will host a fantastic day of quality Gilbert & Sullivan performances from a stage on the house patio and viewed by guests from the east gardens.
During the day there will be an opportunity to wander around this magical island, once owned and occupied by Richard, Helen and Rupert D’Oyly Carte, and to view the Melvyn Tarran collection of Gilbert & Sullivan memorabilia which will be displayed in the house.
Guest will be welcome to D’OYLY’S, the islands café, bar, creperie, and other food and beverage stalls located throughout the island, which will including a Pimm’s tent and Hog Roast!
Schedule
11am - Island Opens
12pm – 3pm – Isabel Jay Trophy
D’Oyly Carte Island are honoured to host the Isabel Jay Trophy which, with a £1,000 prize, will be awarded to recognise the most outstanding Gilbert & Sullivan performance, by participating amateur societies, performed on D’Oyly Carte Island on Friday 4th July 2025.
The performances will be assessed, and the trophy and £1,000 prize presented, by eminent judges including members of the D’Oyly Carte Island Opera Company.
3pm – 4pm – Godalming Operatic Society
The day will be concluded as D’Oyly Carte Island welcomes back the GodalmingOperatic Society (GOS), after their outstanding performances in 2024, who will close the day with some of the most treasured Gilbert & Sullivan songs performed from the very same spot as many of the Gilbert & Sullivan rehearsals. This year GOS will present 30-minute selections from each of their 3 most recent full productions: The Pirates Of Penzance, Patience and The Yeomen Of The Guard.
11am – 4pm - Melvyn Tarran -Collection
During the day there will be opportunities to view large parts of the Melvyn Tarrancollection that will be displayed in the ballroom, dining room and entrance hall of the house.
4pm - Island Closes
Isabel Jay Trophy – History
Born into a musical family, Isabel Jay was giving musical recitals by the age of twelve and in 1895 entered the Royal Academy of Music, where in July 1897, she became the first winner of the Betjemann medal for operatic singing. That same month, after accepting a three-year contract with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, she made her first stage appearance at the Savoy singing Elsie Maynard in a one-week try-out during the first London revival of The Yeomen of the Guard.
She then went on tour, joining D'Oyly Carte Opera Company "B" in August 1897 as principal soprano, singing Phyllis in Iolanthe, Yum-Yum in The Mikado and Elsie in Yeomen. Company "B" was disbanded in June 1898, but by August Miss Jay had joined the main Company at the Savoy covering both Gianetta and Casilda in a revival of The Gondoliers. She appeared as the Plaintiff in Trial by Jury when it was revived in September 1898 and in 1899 she filled in for Ruth Vincent as Josephine in HMS Pinafore.
Her big break came with Sullivan and Hood's The Rose of Persia when she was promoted to the role of the Sultana. She would go on to be the leading soprano at the Savoy until she left the Company in March 1902. After The Rose of Persiashe appeared as Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, was Patience in the first London revival of Patience, created a number of non-G&S roles and took Phyllis (her favourite role) in the first London revival of Iolanthe in 1901.
Miss Jay made a number of recordings between 1900 and 1906, mostly from her early musical comedies but she also recorded "Poor Wand'ring One".
Miss Jay suffered from ill health during her later years due to the effects of scarlet fever as a child. She was just 47 when she died in Monte Carlo in 1927.
Her daughter, Celia, was a prominent member of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society in Brighton. In 1961, the Society introduced an Isabel Jay Trophy to be awarded annually by competition and a rose bowl was presented by Celia as the award.
D’Oyly Carte Island are thrilled to host this competition in 2025
Additional Information
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Please bring rugs and folding chairs for your comfort.
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There will be a good range of drinks/food and we thank visitors for not bring their own food or drink onto the island.
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Drink will include beer, larger, wine, Pimm's and cocktails.
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Food will include hog roast, crepes, burgers, chips, sandwiches, baguettes and some specials.
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Visitors to D'Oyly Carte Island do so at their own risk.
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Sorry, no dogs during the Summer Concerts.
D'Oyly Carte Music Festival
14th, 15th & 16 June 2024
In 1890 Richard & Helen D’Oyly Carte built a 13-bedroom boutique hotel on their private island on the Thames near Weybridge for guests of the Savoy Hotel and the Savoy Theatre to visit for weekends of food, drink and entertainment.
The likes of Sir Arthur Sullivan, WS Gilbert, Oscar Wilde, JM Barrie (Peter Pan) and many others visited the island. So popular were these music events that locals sat on the mainland riverbanks to enjoy the music being performed on the island.
In June 2024 D’Oyly Carte Island will embrace the islands history with a festival of food drink and entertainment.
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Open D’Oyly Carte Island on14th, 15th & 16th June between 10am and 10pm limited to 1,000 people a day.
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Every day will include two live music concerts a day (lunch and evening).
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Food and drink including hog roast, Pimm’s bar, strawberries and cream, cocktails, wines and beers.
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Island guests will relax on the lawns and enjoy the music, food and drink.
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Live performances from the east garden terrace with speakers on the west garden and at D’Oyly’s.
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On the island will be 50 talented arts and crafts creatives displaying their products from stalls around the island.