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Singing Pirates

Sails and Songs: UMD Brings Pirates of Penzance to Duluth's Tall Ship Festival

UMD’s School of Fine Arts has partnered with Visit Duluth to bring a wide range of family-friendly and affordable attractions to Duluth’s tall ship celebration this summer at Bayfront Festival Park. Eight tall ships will dock at Duluth’s waterfront from July 28 – August 3, as part of the Great Lakes United Tall Ship Challenge 2010, where visitors can see, tour, and even sail aboard some of the ships.
Eight tall ships will visit Duluth this summer as part of the Great Lakes United Tall Ships Challenge 2010.
S/V Denis Sullivan
S/V Denis Sullivan (photo courtesy S/V Denis Sullivan)
HMS Bounty
HMS Bounty (photo courtesy of HMS Bounty Organization, LLC)

Among the exciting events offered at Bayfront Festival Park will be performances of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operetta Pirates of Penzance. The production is co-produced by UMD's School of Fine Arts and the Duluth Playhouse. The cast and orchestra will be made up of UMD and community professionals. Performances of Pirates of Penzance run Thursday, July 29 - Sunday, August 1, and will be included in the price of admission to Bayfront Festival Park. A second stage will offer musical performances during the festival.

“The School of Fine Arts is proud to be a part of Duluth’s tall ship festival. We’re especially thrilled to work with the Duluth Playhouse to present Pirates of Penzance. It’s a chance for families to enjoy a lighthearted operetta at a very affordable price. People, who otherwise might not think of going to see an opera, are going to be delighted with this entertaining production,” said Jack Bowman, dean of UMD’s School of Fine Arts.

The Great Lakes United Green Village will offer children’s activities and education for all ages. Topics will include freshwater conservation, water quality issues, and invasive species.

On Wednesday, July 28, the ships will begin arriving. On Thursday, July 29, the eight tall ships will participate in a Parade of Sail through the canal. This will be followed by an exciting opening ceremony at Bayfront Festival Park and the first performance of Pirates of Penzance that evening. Friday, July 30 – Sunday, August 1 there will be tall ship tours, two-hour sail-aways aboard the Roseway and the S/V Denis Sullivan, and festival events throughout the weekend. Monday, August 2 will feature the last two-hour sail-aways aboard the Roseway and the S/V Denis Sullivan before the ships depart on Tuesday, August 3 for the next leg of the Great Lakes United Tall Ship Challenge.

The ships that will visit Duluth are Barque Europa from the Netherlands; Roald Amundsen from Germany; HMS Bounty, which appeared in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest; Freedom Schooner Amistad, whose mission is to teach the history of the slave trade; Pride of Baltimore II, a reproduction of an 1812-era clipper privateer; US Brig Niagara, a reconstruction of the ship that Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry led to victory during the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813; Roseway, a Grand Banks fishing schooner built in 1925; and S/V Denis Sullivan, Wisconsin’s flagship.

For more information, click on http://visitduluth.com/tall-ships/index.php.


Written by Kathleen McQuillan-Hofmann, kmcquill@d.umn.edu

UMD home page editor, Cheryl Reitan, creitan@d.umn.edu
NEW RELEASES, UMD media contact, Susan Latto, slatto@d.umn.edu, 218-726-8830

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Last modified on 04/22/11 02:37 PM
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