SIR MALCOLM SARGENT
Conductor and Musical Director

Sir Malcolm Sargent, knighted in the Birthday Honours of 1947, is considered the greatest ambassador of British music abroad and is therefore the ideal choice as Director of Music for Gilbert and Sullivan.

For many months before the film went into production, Sir Malcolm Sargent and his associate music director, Muir Mathieson, worked with director Sidney Gilliat on the operatic side of Gilbert and Sullivan. The musical sound track which features a host of famous singers and the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent, was recorded in advance of the filming to ensure that the cream of British choral and orchestral talent would be available to do full justice to the many delightful numbers from the operas, which occupy half of the picture's two hours running time. In this way filmgoers all over the world will hear a magnificent rendering of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas which first put the British musical theatre on the map.

Sir Malcolm, born at Stamford, Lincolnshire, founded the Leicester Symphony Orchestra. In 1926, and since then, he conducted the London Season of Gilbert and Sullivan operas. In 1950 Sir Malcolm was appointed Conductor-in-Chief of the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra, which he conducted at the three Inaugural Festival Concerts in 1951. He had the honour, with Sir Adrian Boult, of conducting at the Opening Ceremony of the Royal Festival Hall. In 1952 he made his second extensive tour of South America.

Page modified 16 April 2009