What says summer and seaside like modern major generals, gallant crews, humble sailors, and poor little Buttercup?

This year’s Opera & Arias event at Bard on the Beach features the music of Gilbert & Sullivan, with all the well-loved classics from The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado, and more. The songs are performed by the UBC Opera Ensemble and members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, with Nancy Hermiston directing the in-concert staging and conductor Leslie Dala leading the musicians.

Bard artistic director Christopher Gaze hosts the popular event in Vanier Park at the atmospheric main-stage tent on Monday (August 24) at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and August 31 at the same times.

As the Pinafore crew might say, “Oh joy, oh rapture unforeseen.”