Holder's Festival
Founded in 1993 by Wendy Madeleine Kidd, this Caribbean arts festival is now held annually in Barbados during March and April at Holder's House, an old plantation mansion set in extensive grounds, just inland from Sandy Lane Bay, Barbados.
Classical concerts and opera are performed in period costumes in the open air under the mahogany and palm trees and quality actors, singers and musicians are flown in.
1997 saw the re-staging after 170 years of Inkle and Yarico - an eighteenth-century opera about a traditional Barbadian legend that was once all the rage in London's West End - as well as a concert by Luciano Pavarotti and a festival of calypso music with contributions by top performers from Trinidad and Barbados.
Other unique or one-off performances have included the world première of a new opera by Stewart Copeland.
2009 saw actor David Suchet host a mixture of music and comedy with Patrick Kielty.
