Including Buxton, Vale of Glamorgan, Sheffield Chamber Music, York Early Music, Ryedale, Presteigne, Swaledale, English Haydn
When: 6-22 July
Where: Buxton, Derbyshire
Tel: +44 (0)1298 72190
Web: www.buxtonfestival.co.uk
Music-making in Buxton runs deep, its roots struck in Georgian times and nourished during the spa resort’s Victorian heyday. Live performances slowly withered last century to leave Buxton Opera House in business as a bingo hall. Launched in 1979, the Buxton Festival restored the Derbyshire town’s status as a destination for musical tourists. It also brought Frank Matcham’s fabulous theatre back to life as a lyric stage. This year’s Buxton Festival remains true to the spirit of the original event with rare Verdi and a concert performance of the even rarer Tisbe by Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello, first staged in 1718 while its composer was in service to the Württemberg court in Stuttgart.
Verdi’s Alzira takes to the Buxton stage in a new festival production directed by Elijah Moshinsky, one of the most experienced and perceptive Verdians in the opera business. The work, originally written for the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and first performed there in the summer of 1845, fell short of audience expectations and vanished almost without trace. Occasional revivals in recent times have received mixed notices, although if anyone can make a success of Alzira, director Elijah Moshinsky can. He’ll be helped in Buxton by an impressive cast, headed by Australian soprano Kate Ladner in the title-role, baritone James Cleverton as Peruvian governor Gusmano, the great British bass Graeme Danby as Alvaro and Jung Soo Yon in the testing tenor role of Zamoro.
Opera della Luna’s way with La fille du Régiment, relocated from France during the July Monarchy to California, triggered rave reviews at its first run four years ago. ‘ Exhilarating, hilarious, and gloriously sung,’ wrote Bel Mooney in the Daily Mail. The sparky company has revamped its Hell’s Angels-inspired vision of Donizetti’s equally sparky comic opera for Buxton, creating space for topical takes on Trump’s America. HIGHLIGHTS:
7-20 July Verdi Alzira; Kate Ladner (Alzira), Festival Chorus, Northern Chamber Orchestra/stephen Barlow 8-21 July Mozart Idomeneo; Paul Nilon (Idomeneo), Festival Chorus, Northern Chamber Orchestra/nicholas Kok
9 & 15 July Donizetti La fille du régiment; Jesús Álvarez (Tonio),
Opera della Luna
11 July Martin La revue de cuisine, Takemitsu; The Fibonacci Sequence
14 July Schubert Sonata in B flat, Bach, Beethoven; Stephen Kovacevich (piano)