TOP PICKS FOR 2023

With the countdown to the Festival underway, we asked a few of our friends and supporters what they’re looking forward to this July and why.

THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE

“The combination of Julian Glover and Isabella Tree makes this a must attend event. Her writing has already opened many eyes, and mine, to new and better ways of looking at our countryside and I am sure her new book will continue this crucial story.”

WYN DAVIES

Patron of the Friends of BIF

“I’m looking forward to Orlando because it’s Handel, and Adrian Butterfield (the conductor) has style. Also, Il re Pastore because it’s Mozart and there’s a lovely bunch of young singers. You can’t go wrong with Handel and Mozart.

The Four Seasons recitals with top singers are a great idea. And, I fancy most of the books talks but especially Lady Ashton because of the fine job she did in Europe and because I hope she’ll spill a few inside stories.”

ANTONY MCKEOWN

Leader of High Peak Borough Council

“I don’t want to miss Alastair Campbell’s book talk. He’s my kind of guy and he’s going to have some fascinating stories.”

SALLY POTTER

Vision Buxton & No 6

The Square Tearooms

“The Land of MightHave-Been is my mustsee. I love that it’s set in Buxton, and it’s exciting to learn about Vera Brittain’s extraordinary life through music. I’m also really looking forward to Nicky Spence, because he’s just fabulous!”

CHRISTOPHER AND MORGANE SHOULTS

La Gaby, Festival Circle

And of course, we have some bona fide superstars for you. John Helliwell, Supertramp's well known saxophonist, brings his Super Big Tramp Band project to Buxton, an 18-piece rearrangement of all those hits. We have Madeline Bell, Dusty Springfield's backing singer, and a star in her own right with Blue Mink, singing the music of Bacharach and Dusty. And the most famous trumpeter of them all, Wynton Marsalis graces us with a late-night show.

I look forward to welcoming you to Buxton very soon for the best in jazz. Thank you for your continued support.

NEIL HUGHES Jazz Director

ROS WESTWOOD

Derbyshire Museums Manager

“I am so excited that Nicola Benedetti is coming to Buxton. She is a great ambassador for the violin, and for young people playing classical music, thrilling with familiar repertoire but so open to extraordinary new works – I loved her collaboration with Wynton Marsalis. To see her perform live in the Buxton Opera House acoustic will be a thrill.”

“At La Gaby we are very exited for BIF to start as it always brings such life and atmosphere to the town!

We are particularly looking forward to seeing the Mozart piece Il Re Pastore! It’s great to see Buxton putting on such big and beautiful productions.”

In an interview with The Buxtonian, published by Buxton Civic Association, CEO Michael Williams outlines the importance of music in shaping the architecture of the Derbyshire spa resort.

“It’s obvious to say that Buxton International Festival wouldn’t exist without Buxton Opera House,” said Michael. “Festival founder Malcolm Fraser was inspired to bring opera back to life here nearly five decades ago when he saw it being used as a cinema. However, it’s not courting controversy to say that Buxton Opera House wouldn’t be an opera house without opera in it.”

The July edition of The Buxtonian concentrates on the built environment, and BIF is a good example of an organisation which has brought the past full circle to give Buxton’s buildings a future.

“I am very interested in what I call ‘opera of place,’ creating new works which are linked thematically to the area where they are performed. The first was about Buddha when I was in Nepal, then a work about Tiger Bay in Cardiff and Nelson Mandela in South Africa.

“So, it seemed logical to do something similar in Buxton, and the figure of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, the 18th century beauty with an eventful and tragic life, was the focus for BIF’s critically acclaimed 2019 pasticcio in which music of the period told her story.”

And this year, BIF is putting one of Buxton’s most important historical figures centre stage in another opera of place with the world premiere of The Land of Might-Have-Been, the story of Vera Brittain’s doomed love.

The Festival has grown so much over the years that it now needs more venues, and Buxton’s architectural treasure trove has provided excellent settings for its literary talks and concerts: The Pavilion Arts Centre, The Octagon and St John’s Church.

St John’s is an obvious case of using a building pretty much as it was intended: music was always central to its existence.

When The Octagon was being planned live music was seen then - and now, if the success of BIF in bringing visitors each year is any indication - as vital to keeping tourists happy.

The Pavilion Arts Centre has played many roles. It opened in 1889 and is the oldest theatre still standing in Buxton, though it was put in the shade when Buxton Opera House opened in 1903, becoming a cinema showing silent movies.

Live drama returned in 1932, when it became The Playhouse, used as a satellite of London’s theatreland from 1937 to 1942 when the Old Vic Theatre ran an annual festival of plays there, with a repertory company which included Sir Nigel Hawthorne.

As The Paxton Suite it took on a variety of roles including as a conference hall and home to book, record and craft fairs until it closed in 2010 to allow for work on today’s multi-purpose theatre and cinema complex to get underway.

The full interview will be in The Buxtonian, an e-publication available to BCA members.

Written by John Phillips