Buxton International Festival Brochure 7-24 July 2022

7 – 24 ¬uly 2022

BOX O FFI C E 01298 72190 B U X TO N F E S T I VA L .CO.U K

E V ENT S DIARY 6pm

Our Future In Your Hands

p.24

p.29

8pm

Clare Teal and her Sextet

p.40

7.15pm Gypsy: A Musical Fable

p.22

10.30pm Kirk McElhinney Trio

8pm

p.30

T H U R S DAY 7 J U LY 6pm

Opera (Musical) Talk

Jay Phelps Quartet

10am

Julia Hobsbawm

p.31

11.30am Women of Note

p.31

12pm

Jamal Aliyev

p.31

3pm

Charles Owen

p.32

3pm

Ian Shaw and Guy Baker

p.32

4pm

Simon Jenkins

p.33

6pm

Opera Talk

p.29

Tom Nancollas

11.30am Common People

p.43

3pm

The English Concert

p.43

4pm

Angela Harnett

p.44

8pm

Strictly Musical Concert

p.44

T U E S DAY 12 J U LY

p.16

10am

7.15pm Swingtime Big Band

p.33

11.15am Delphine Trio

10.30pm Graham Clark Quartet

p.34

10am

12pm

Karen Lloyd, Tim Birkhead, and Mark Cocker

p.35

Solus Trumpet Ensemble

p.35

12.30pm Rory Stewart

p.36

3pm

p.36

The Impossible Gentlemen

3.30pm Wildlife Walk with Mark Cocker p.37 7.15pm

Gypsy: A Musical Fable

10.30pm Fabled Trio feat. Laura Jurd

p.22 p.37

S U N DAY 10 J U LY

p.42

11.15am Williams-Howard

Prize Winners Concert p.42

7.15pm La donna del lago

S AT U R DAY 9 J U LY

2

M O N DAY 11 J U LY 10am

F R I DAY 8 J U LY

p.41

Damon Galgut

p.45 p.45

11.30am Vera Brittain at

the Devonshire Dome

p.46

12.30pm George Monbiot

p.46

2pm

Spotlight on Chetham’s

p.47

2pm

Opera Talk

p.29

3pm

Mansfield Park

p.26

Mark Bostridge and Kathryn Eccleston

p.47

4pm

7.15pm La donna del lago

p.16

W E D N E S DAY 13 J U LY 10am

Rebecca Williams

p.48

11.30am Wildlife Walk with Mark Cocker p.48

11am

Festival Mass

p.29

12pm

12pm

AMC Gospel Choir

p.38

12.30pm Marcus Du Sautoy

p.49

1pm

Opera Talk

p.29

3pm

p.49

2pm

Viva la Diva

p.18

3pm

Xhosa Cole Quartet

p.38

Mithras Trio

Joanna MacGregor

3.30pm Vera Brittain at

the Devonshire Dome

3.30pm Women of Note

p.39

7.15pm

4pm

p.39

7.30pm Antonio e Cleopatra

Sarah Gerrard-Jones

Gypsy: A Musical Fable

p.48

p.49 p.22 p.20

Opera

David Kynaston

Jazz

Books

7.15pm BIF Dance Band

T H U R S DAY 14 J U LY 10am

Music

p.50

Walks

p.58

M O N DAY 18 J U LY

11.15am Ryan Corbett

p.50

10am

11.30am All Ale and Higher Buxton

p.51

11.30am Wildlife Walk with Mark Cocker p.61

12.30pm Chris Patten

p.51

2pm

Chroma Harp Duo

p.51

3pm

Mansfield Park

p.26

12.30pm Kitty and Al Tait

p.60

4pm

James Runcie

p.52

3pm

Mansfield Park

p.26

p.18

4pm

Gill Hornby

p.61

6pm

Opera Talk

p.29

7.15pm Viva la Diva 7.30pm The National Youth

Jazz Orchestra

p.52

F R I DAY 15 J U LY

12pm

Zoë Playdon

Louise Alder and Joseph Middleton

7.15pm Violet 8pm

Piccadilly: Film with live musical accompaniment

p.59

p.59

p.27 p.61

10am

Jenny Uglow

p.53

12pm

Christopher Stokes

p.53

3pm

Fretwork

p.54

10am

4pm

Tristram Hunt

p.55

11.15am Remembering Malcolm Fraser p.63

7.15pm La donna del lago

p.16

12.30pm Philippa Forrester

p.62

7.30pm Ben Crosland

p.55

2pm

p.18

3pm

S AT U R DAY 16 J U LY 10am

Sarah Langford and Jake Fiennes

T U E S DAY 19 J U LY

p.56

11.30am Women of Note

p.56

12pm

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason

p.56

2pm

Gypsy: A Musical Fable

p.22

3pm

Solem Quartet

p.57

4pm

Sebastian Payne

p.57

Frances Spalding

Viva la Diva

p.62

Manchester Camerata with the Brodsky Quartet and Jess Gillam p.63

5.30pm Christina Lamb

p.64

8pm

p.64

Jess Gillam

W E D N E S DAY 2 0 J U LY 10am

Robert Sackville-West

p.65

11.30am Vera Brittain at

the Devonshire Dome

p.65

12pm

Christopher Maltman and Audrey Saint-Gil

p.65

7.15pm Gypsy: A Musical Fable

p.22

7.15pm Antonio e Cleopatra

p.20

2pm

Gypsy: A Musical Fable

p.22

3pm

Brodsky Quartet

p.66

3.30pm Our Future In Your Hands

p.24

4pm

p.66

S U N DAY 17 J U LY 11am

Festival Mass

p.29

2pm

La donna del lago

p.16

4pm

Jeremy Sassoon’s MOJO

p.58

6pm

Our Future In Your Hands

p.24

Anna Keay

7.15pm Gypsy: A Musical Fable

p.22 3

E V ENT S DIARY 7.30pm Antonio e Cleopatra

p.20

T H U R S DAY 21 J U LY 10am 12pm

Simon Thurley

p.67

Iestyn Davies and Thomas Dunford

p.67

3pm

Gould Piano Trio

p.71

4pm

Andrew Mitchell MP

p.72

7.15pm La donna del lago

p.16

7.30pm Nigel Price Organ Trio

p.72

S AT U R DAY 23 J U LY

12.30pm Lady Hale

p.68

3pm

10am

p.26

12pm

Iain Dale, Colleen Graffy, Justin Webb and Sir Christopher Meyer p.73

2pm

The BIF Chamber Ensemble: The Corran Quartet

p.73

Lindsey Fitzharris

p.74

Mansfield Park

3.30pm Common People

p.68

4pm

Giles Milton

p.69

7.15pm

Viva la Diva

p.18

Dominic Halpin and the Honey B’s

p.69

12pm

F R I DAY 22 J U LY 10am

Toby Wilkinson

p.70

11.15am Eleanor Corr and Emil Duncumb p.70

4pm

Katherine MacInnes

p.74

7.15pm Viva la Diva

p.18

7.30pm The Creation

p.75

7.30pm Ian Shaw Quartet

p.75

S U N DAY 24 J U LY

12.30pm Justin Webb

p.71

11am

Festival Mass

p.29

1pm

p.20

2pm

Gypsy: A Musical Fable

p.22

Antonio e Cleopatra

ROADSHOW Monday, 25 April Macclesfield Library 6-7pm Tuesday, 26 April Tideswell Church Centre 7-8pm Wednesday, 27 April Bamford Institute 7-8pm Thursday, 28 April Mellor Parish Centre 7-8pm

Tuesday, 3 May DDC County Hall, Matlock (member’s room 7-8pm Wednesday, 4 May Octagon Lounge, Buxton 6-7pm Thursday, 5 May Partington Theatre, Glossop 7-8pm

Bringing you fun and laughter!

A concert with world class music, opera, books and jazz right on your doorstep.

ONLY £1

When in Buxton, be sure to make the Buxton Visitor Centre your first point of call.

Browse our range of unique gifts and souvenirs, and taste the famous thermal mineral water direct from the historic St Ann's Well.

Tickets are also available for the innovative new Buxton Crescent Visitor Experience just next door to the hotel.

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

CEO’s WELCOME

It’s time to emerge from our cocoon, spread our wings, fly over the green hills and dales of the Peak District and revel in a summer of arts in Buxton.

B

uxton in July has always been a place of extraordinary creativity. Following on from our Covid-impacted festival in 2021, this year we offer a full programme of opera, books, classical music, a musical and a new jazz series to celebrate our return to business as normal. We had so many learnings from last year, which informed our plans for 2022, but the standout lesson was this: our supporters are great lovers of opera, books, and music, and will not be deterred from backing their Festival!

Amongst these pages we hope to surprise and delight you with a rich programme that attracts not only local audiences, but visitors from all over the United Kingdom, to escape to the hills of the Peak District where a Festival wonderland awaits.

This year the Buxton Festival is all about participation. We invite you to dance the foxtrot and tango, to sing Haydn’s Creation, to tap your toes to an exciting new Jazz programme, to participate in our debates and book talks, to engage with our Lifestyle event offerings, to stride out on a Festival Walk, to consider with your heart and mind new music, and finally, to attend an event that you would never normally consider. After all, a festival is a space to discover something new, where audacious, thought-provoking theatre, critical reflection, engaging debate allow for a complete immersion in all things artistic.

An international collaboration gives a dynamic impetus this year with our joint production of Salzburg State Theatre’s Viva la Diva, composed

by Donizetti and directed by Stephen Medcalf.

After the success of last year’s musical, we continue our Buxton Opera House partnership with a new production of Styne’s Gypsy: A Musical Fable, the mother of all musicals, directed by Paul Kerryson.

The long-awaited Rossini opera, La donna del lago, directed by Jacopo Spirei and conducted by Adrian Kelly, will finally have its premier in the opera house. Rounding off our eclectic opera offering is the wonderful serenata by Johann Hasse, Antonio e Cleopatra, directed by Evangeline Cullingworth.

6

Adrian and I believe that Buxton International Festival should inspire new works and grow newer audiences. The energy of our festival attracts funders, grantors, philanthropists, and sponsors for the arts because we can offer an opportunity where artists, audiences and funders can together create new works that reflect our society. We want our festival to be an incubator of new talent and a preserver of legends and legacies. This year we are proud to finally bring you the climate change oratorio we commissioned in 2019, from Kate Whitley, Our Future In Your Hands. Music theatre Wales returns to the festival with Violet, a new opera written by Tom Coult, with a libretto by Alice Birch. We welcome, for the very first time, the Waterperry Opera Festival company with their innovative production of Jonathon Dove’s Mansfield Park.

Thanks to the initiative of our board member Michael Harper, we are remembering Malcolm Fraser and others who created the Buxton Festival in 1979. It seemed the perfect time to celebrate the spirit and energy of the people who founded the Festival.

Welcome back! I can’t wait to see you on the forecourt.

Michael Williams Chief Executive Officer

AT A GL ANCE: OPE R A T H U R S DAY 7 J U LY

M O N DAY 18 J U LY

GYPSY: A MUSICAL FABLE

7.15pm p.22

F R I DAY 8 J U LY

LA DONNA DEL LAGO

7.15pm p.16

S AT U R DAY 9 J U LY

MANSFIELD PARK

3pm p.26

VIOLET

7.15pm p.27

T U E S DAY 19 J U LY

VIVA LA DIVA

2pm p.18

W E D N E S DAY 2 0 J U LY

GYPSY: A MUSICAL FABLE

7.15pm p.22

S U N DAY 10 J U LY

VIVA LA DIVA

2pm p.18

T U E S DAY 12 J U LY

MANSFIELD PARK

3pm p.26

LA DONNA DEL LAGO

7.15pm p.16

W E D N E S DAY 13 J U LY

GYPSY: A MUSICAL FABLE

7.15pm p.22

ANTONIO E CLEOPATRA 7.30pm p.20 T H U R S DAY 14 J U LY

MANSFIELD PARK

3pm p.26

VIVA LA DIVA

7.15pm p.18

GYPSY: A MUSICAL FABLE

2pm, 7.15pm p.22

ANTONIO E CLEOPATRA 7.30pm p.20 T H U R S DAY 21 J U LY

MANSFIELD PARK VIVA LA DIVA

3pm p.26 7.15pm p.18

F R I DAY 22 J U LY

ANTONIO E CLEOPATRA

1pm p.20

LA DONNA DEL LAGO

7.15pm p.16

S AT U R DAY 23 J U LY

VIVA LA DIVA

7.15pm p.18

S U N DAY 24 J U LY

GYPSY: A MUSICAL FABLE

2pm p.22

F R I DAY 15 J U LY

LA DONNA DEL LAGO

7.15pm p.16

S AT U R DAY 16 J U LY

GYPSY: A MUSICAL FABLE

2pm, 7.15pm p.22

ANTONIO E CLEOPATRA 7.30pm p.20 S U N DAY 17 J U LY

LA DONNA DEL LAGO

TICKET OFFER Book all 3 operas and receive 10% off.

Applies to La donna del lago, Viva la Diva and Antonio e Cleopatra

2pm p.16 7

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

Artistic Director’s WELCOME

Buxton International Festival is unique. The town and the surrounding countryside are picture perfect in the summer months, and with the sheer variety of events on offer, it’s a cultural experience that is hard to beat.

I

t was early 2019 when we decided that Rossini’s astonishing opera seria, La donna del lago, should be the opening title for the 2020 Festival.

One year later, in February 2020, I conducted the premiere of Stephen Medcalf’s hugely entertaining version of Donizetti’s parody of opera seria, Viva la diva, at the Salzburg State Theatre. This new production had been conceived from the very beginning as a collaboration between Buxton and Salzburg, and I was looking forward to finishing the run of performances and bringing the production to Buxton in 2021.

Even though none of the above worked out as planned, there is something undoubtedly serendipitous about the combination of Rossini and Donizetti that is now at the core of our operatic offering in 2022. Both are operas of extremes, but for very different reasons. If you see one, I really think you have to see both.

We also explore the work of the 18th-century’s superstar composer of opera seria, now largely forgotten, Johann Hasse. Performances of Antonio e Cleopatra will take place in the Pavilion Arts Centre. The beautiful Georgian church of St John’s provides a fitting setting for Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park, and Music Theatre Wales return to Buxton for a performance of Tom Coult and Alice Birch’s new opera, Violet.

This year’s musical, in collaboration with Paul Kerryson and the Buxton Opera House, is the 50’s classic Gypsy: A Musical Fable. There is a thread which connects Gypsy and Viva la diva - both shows are wonderful vehicles for archetypal stage mothers.

For the music series, we have decided to give extra emphasis this year to our jazz programme. Neil Hughes has assembled a dizzying array of talent, and the opening weekend’s Festival-within-aFestival promises to be an unforgettable immersive experience for jazz aficionados.

8

Elsewhere in the music programme we celebrate two great ensembles, both founded in Manchester, both celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2022 - the Manchester Camerata and the Brodsky Quartet.

The next generation of artists is equally well represented in this year’s Festival. We are delighted that saxophonist Jess Gillam will perform in two concerts. Louise Alder, a soprano at the beginning of a burgeoning international career, gives a first recital in Buxton. Other highlights include the young pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, the Mithras Trio (BBC New Generation Artists) and cellist Jamal Aliyev, whose recital in 2021 left a deep impression on all those who were lucky enough to attend.

As always, we have endeavoured to assemble a high-quality programme of opera, music book and jazz events. I hope that this brochure will inspire you to come to Buxton in July, and to experience the special atmosphere that the Festival creates.

Adrian Kelly Artistic Director

AT A GL ANCE: MUSI C F R I DAY 8 J U LY

JAMAL ALIYEV CHARLES OWEN

F R I DAY 15 J U LY 12pm p.31 3pm p.32

S AT U R DAY 9 J U LY

SOLUS TRUMPET ENSEMBLE

CHRISTOPHER STOKES FRETWORK

12pm p.35

FESTIVAL MASS

11am p.29

OUR FUTURE IN YOUR HANDS

6pm p.24

M O N DAY 11 J U LY

WILLIAMS-HOWARD PRIZE WINNERS CONCERT 12pm p.42

JENEBA K ANNEH-MASON

12pm p.56

SOLEM QUARTET

3pm p.57

S U N DAY 17 J U LY

FESTIVAL MASS

11am p.29

OUR FUTURE IN YOUR HANDS

6pm p.24

M O N DAY 18 J U LY

THE ENGLISH CONCERT

3pm p.43

LOUISE ALDER AND JOSEPH MIDDLETON

STRICTLY MUSICAL

8pm p.44

PICCADILLY: 1929

T U E S DAY 12 J U LY

DELPHINE TRIO

11.15am p.45

SPOTLIGHT ON CHETHAMS

2pm p.47

W E D N E S DAY 13 J U LY

MITHRAS TRIO JOANNA MACGREGOR

3pm p.54

S AT U R DAY 16 J U LY

S U N DAY 10 J U LY

A Charity Gala Concert

12pm p.53

12pm p.48 3pm p.49

Film with live musical accompaniment

by Ashley Thompson

12pm p.59 8pm p.61

T U E S DAY 19 J U LY

REMEMBERING MALCOLM FRASER

12pm p.63

MANCHESTER CAMERATA WITH THE BRODSK Y QUARTET 3pm p.63 AND JESS GILLAM THE JESS GILLAM ENSEMBLE

8pm p.64

T H U R S DAY 14 J U LY

RYAN CORBETT CHROMA HARP DUO

11.15am p.50 2pm p.51 9

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

AT A GL ANCE: MUSI C

W E D N E S DAY 2 0 J U LY

S AT U R DAY 23 J U LY

CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN AND AUDREY SAINT GIL 12pm p.65

BIF CHAMBER ENSEMBLE 2pm p.73

BRODSK Y QUARTET

3pm p.66

S U N DAY 24 J U LY

T H U R S DAY 21 J U LY

IEST YN DAVIES AND THOMAS DUNFORD

FESTIVAL MASS 12pm p.67

Join the Friends of BIF for early booking

F R I DAY 22 J U LY

ELEANOR CORR AND EMIL DUNCUMB GOULD PIANO TRIO

HAYDN’S THE CREATION 7.30pm p.75

11.15am p.70 3pm p.71

Annual Membership starts from just £33 See p.77

11am p.29

¬azz Director’s WELCOME I am delighted to welcome you to the 2022 Buxton International Festival ¬azz programme. Since 1979 many great artists have appeared at the festival, but in 2022 we are bringing all the jazz gigs into a distinct programme called BIF ¬azz.

W

e will be creating our own intimate jazz club at the Palace Hotel, situated in the heart of the town. Over the first weekend we will have 11 gigs, including a musical, an 18-piece big band, a gospel choir, plenty of jazz and everything in between. You can buy a Weekender pass that covers all 11 gigs at a discounted price. Some of the performances will be at the Pavilion Arts Centre, the Octagon, and the famous Buxton Opera House, all within walking distance of the Palace Hotel.

There are many high notes in the first weekend.

We welcome Canadian trumpeter Jay Phelps to open BIF Jazz on Thursday night and on Friday Ian Shaw and Guy Barker launch a brand-new show telling tales from the city. Later that evening we cross the lawns of the Palace Hotel to the Pavilion Arts Centre and welcome Swingtime Big Band featuring Emma Holcroft with 18 musicians led by Jez Murphy. The band will play your favourite big band tunes and are joined by two very special guests - Ian Shaw and Guy Barker. Before we close out the day, we head back to the Palace Hotel for a late night gig featuring Buxton violinist Graham Clark and his quartet.

In the following two weeks, we offer seven more jazz gigs alongside opera performances, classical music concerts and literary events.

NYJO return for a fabulous classic jazz programme, Basie and Beyond. We have the music of Ray Davies, a direct transfer from Edinburgh of Jeremy Sassoon’s critically acclaimed MOJO, and a full Buxton Festival Dance Band performance with a ten-piece ensemble, singers and ballroom dances in the historic Octagon. In the final week, we host the swing band Dominic Halpin and the Honey B’s, the amazing Hammond Organ Trio led by Nigel Price. We close with Ian Shaw and his powerhouse quartet playing the music of David Bowie and Joni Mitchell.

I am so proud to be programming my first BIF Jazz season in Buxton, bringing you some the UK’s finest musicians. I hope you enjoy the programme.

Please come and say hello.

Neil Hughes Jazz Director

On Saturday, we move to the ballroom at the Palace Hotel, and for the first time in many years, The Impossible Gentleman, founded by Gwilym Simcock and Mike Walker, appear with new bass and drum superstars, Laurence Cottle and Ian Thomas. This is a jazz gig not to be missed.

On Sunday, we feature the AMC Gospel Choir, the Xhosa Cole Quartet, Clare Teal headlining a brand new show at the Buxton Opera House with her sextet, and the Kirk McElhinney Trio end the first weekend with some mellow urban folk.

11

AT A GL ANCE: JA Z Z

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

T H U R S DAY 7 J U LY

JAY PHELPS QUARTET

8pm p.30

F R I DAY 8 J U LY

BUXTON FESTIVAL DANCE BAND Music to Dance to

T H U R S DAY 21 J U LY

IAN SHAW AND GUY BARKER

3pm p.32 City to City

DOMINIC HALPIN AND THE HONEY B’S

SWINGTIME BIG BAND 7.30pm p.33

F R I DAY 22 J U LY

Featuring Emma Holcroft plus special guests Ian Shaw and Guy Barker

GRAHAM CLARK QUARTET

10.30pm p.34

S AT U R DAY 9 J U LY

THE IMPOSSIBLE GENTLEMEN FABLED TRIO with Laura Jurd

8pm p.58

3pm p.36

NIGEL PRICE ORGAN TRIO

with Vasilis Xenopoulos

8pm p.69

8pm p.72

S AT U R DAY 23 J U LY

IAN SHAW AND HIS QUARTET When Joni met Bowie

8pm p.75

10.30pm p.37

S U N DAY 10 J U LY

AMC GOSPEL CHOIR

12.30pm p.38

XHOSA COLE QUARTET 3.30pm p.38 CLAIRE TEAL

8pm p.40

and her sextet

KIRK MCELHINNEY TRIO

10.30pm p.41

T H U R S DAY 14 J U LY

THE NATIONAL YOUTH JAZZ ORCHESTRA

8pm p.52

F R I DAY 15 J U LY

BEN CROSLAND

The Ray Davies Songbook

8pm p.55

S U N DAY 17 J U LY

JEREMY SASSOON’S MOJO

4pm p.58

PLAY A LEADING PART IN KEEPING OPERA ALIVE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS Become a syndicate member and play an important role in supporting an opera from the start of the creative process right through to the opening night.

To find out more email joanne.williams@buxtonfestival.co.uk

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Book Festival Director’s WELCOME As usual, we mash up music and books as no other festival can do, bringing you musical interludes within events and showcasing the talents of the BIF company.

B

IF is renowned for discovering new talent amongst young singers and musicians alongside bringing exceptional established performers to the stage. Not to be outdone, this year’s BIF Book Festival also offers speakers across all ages with our youngest speaker, Kitty Tait (Breadsong) still in her second decade. We also affirm the ‘international’ within Buxton international Festival with a live feed from Cape Town and a conversation with 2021 Booker Prize winning novelist Dalmon Galgut. As usual we mash up music and books as no other festival can do bringing you musical interludes within events and showcasing the talents of the BIF company.

If it is the gravitas of fine historical knowledge you are looking for, our programme features many current or former heritage champions. Sir Simon Jenkins, Simon Thurley, Anna Keay and Tristram Hunt have headed institutions from the National Trust to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Across a broad chronological sweep, the Buxton stage will also see Toby Wilkinson analysing the objects within Tutankhamun’s Tomb; Tom Nancollas discussing Britain’s maritime legacy; Robert Sackville-West and Lindsey Fitzharris offering a very different perspective of the immediate aftermath of the First World War; Giles Milton returning with a look at another aftermath, that of Berlin in 1945; and David Kynaston looking at the watershed moment of 1962 as part of his monumental Tales of a New Jerusalem series.

Dale once again displays his enlightened editorship with ‘The Presidents’. His fellow essayists surely have the accreditation to contribute - Colleen Graffy with a view from within the Whitehouse, Sir Christopher Meyer participating within the British Embassy in Washington, and Justin Webb reporting for the BBC. Climate Crisis and environmental impact may trounce the Pandemic as the defining issue of the modern age. George Monbiot asks, ‘what if there were a way to halt climate change and end global hunger at the same time?’ Sarah Langford and Jake Fiennes both look to a hopeful future for food, nature and British farming. Karen Lloyd, in her new book Abundance: Nature in Recovery, looks to restoration and repair, while Tim Birkhead looks at our cultural need for the natural world. Across the BIF 2022 Books programme, from history to mathematics, the law to personal biography and much more besides, you can contrast and compare ideas and solutions, research and perspectives. All ages are welcome to join us on this year’s ‘opinion forming’ journey.

Victoria Dawson Book Festival Director

Many of our speakers have personally taken part in the history that will be written of our own age. Lord Patten returns to Buxton 25 years after he negotiated the handover of Hong Kong to the Chinese; Rory Stewart is a polymath and diplomat whose knowledge of the world genuinely transcends political allegiance; Lady Hale was president of the Supreme Court that delivered the judgment that the Prime Minister was wrong to suspend Parliament at a critical time for Brexit. Following on from 2021’s enjoyable and provoking ‘Prime Ministers’ panel, Iain 13

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

F R I DAY 8 J U LY

J U L I A H O B S BAW M The Nowhere Office

WOMEN OF NOTE Festival Walk SIMON JENKINS

Europe’s 100 Best Cathedrals

10am

p.31

11.30am p.31

4pm

p.33

10am p.35

In conversation with Julian Glover

WILDLIFE WALK WITH MARK COCKER

12.30pm p.36

3.30pm p.37

S U N DAY 10 J U LY

WOMEN OF NOTE Festival Walk SAR AH GERR ARD - JONES The Plant Rescuer

3.30pm p.39

4pm p.39

M O N DAY 11 J U LY

TOM NANCOLLAS

The Ship Asunder: A Maritime History in Eleven Vessels

10am

p.42

COMMON PEOPLE Festival Walk

11.30am

ANGELA HARNETT

4pm

The Weekend Cook: Good Food for Real Life

12.30pm p.46

MARK BOSTRIDGE AND K ATHRYN ECCLESTONE

4pm p.47

Vera Brittain: Buxton’s Daughter?

W E D N E S DAY 13 J U LY

p.43

p.44

10am

in conversation with Lennie Goodings Climbing the Bookshelves A tribute to Shirley Williams

MARCUS DU SAUTOY

The Place of Nature in our World

RORY STEWART

Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet

REBECCA WILLIAMS

S AT U R DAY 9 J U LY

K A R E N L LOY D, T I M B I R K H E A D A N D M A R K CO C K E R

GEORGE MONBIOT

p.48

12.30pm

Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut

p.49

VERA BRITTAIN AT THE DEVONSHIRE DOME

p.49

3.30pm

Festival Walk

T H U R S DAY 14 J U LY

DAV I D K Y N A S TO N

10am

On the Cusp Days of ‘62

p.50

ALL ALE AND HIGHER BUXTON

11.30am

C H R I S PAT T E N

12.30pm

p.51

Festival Walk

The Hong Kong Diaries

p.51

JA M E S R U N C I E

4pm

The Great Passion

F R I DAY 15 J U LY

J E N N Y U G LOW

DA M O N G A LG U T The Promise

VERA BRITTAIN AT THE DEVONSHIRE DOME

Festival Walk 14

10am

p.45

11.30am p.46

10am

Sybil & Cecil: Cutting Through Time

p.53

TRISTR AM HUNT

4pm

The Radical Potter

T U E S DAY 12 J U LY

p.52

p.55

S AT U R DAY 16 J U LY

SARAH LANGFORD AND JAKE FIENNES

In conversation with Julian Glover For the Love of the Land and Land Healer

10am p.56

AT A GL ANCE: BOOK S WOMEN OF NOTE Festival Walk

11.30am

SEBASTIAN PAYNE

4pm

Broken Heartlands: A Journey Through Labour’s Lost England

p.56

p.57

The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes: The Transgender Trial that Threatened to Upend the British

10am

p.59

WILDLIFE WALK WITH MARK COCKER

11.30am

KITT Y TAIT AND AL TAIT

12.30pm

Breadsong: How Baking Changed Our Lives

GILL HORNBY Godmersham Park

p.61 p.60

4pm

p.61

T U E S DAY 19 J U LY

FRANCES SPALDING

10am

PHIIPPA FORRESTER

12.30pm

The Real and the Romantic: English Art Between Two World Wars In conversation with Mark Cocker On the Trail of Wolves: A British Adventure in the Wild West

CHRISTINA LAMB

The Prince Rupert Hotel for the Homeless: A True Story of Love and Compassion Amid a Pandemic

p.62

p.62

5.30pm

The Searchers: The Quest for the Lost of the First World War

VERA BRITTAIN AT THE DEVONSHIRE DOME Festival Walk

CHURCH MATTERS

Festival Walk

4pm

p.66

T H U R S DAY 21 J U LY Palaces of Revolution: Life, Death and Art at the Stuart Court

L A DY H A L E

Spider Woman: A Life

COMMON PEOPLE Festival Walk G I L E S M I LTO N

10am

p.67

12.30pm p.68

3.30pm p.68

4pm

A Checkpoint in Berlin: The Cold War p.69 Showdown that Shaped the Modern World

F R I DAY 22 J U LY

TO BY W I L K I N S O N Tutankhamun’s Trumpet

JUSTIN WEBB

The Gift of Radio: My Life and Other Trainwrecks

ANDREW MITCHELL MP

In conversation with Iain Dale Beyond a Fringe: Tales from a Reformed Establishment Lackey

10am

p.70

12.30pm p.71

4pm p.72

S AT U R DAY 23 J U LY

p.64

K AT H E R I N E M AC I N N E S

10am

12pm

10am

IAIN DALE, COLLEEN GRAFFY, JUSTIN WEBB AND SIR CHRISTOPHER MEYER

W E D N E S DAY 2 0 J U LY

ROBERT SACKVILLE-WEST

The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown

SIMON THURLEY

M O N DAY 18 J U LY

ZOË PLAYDON

ANNA KEAY

p.65

11.30am p.65

3.30pm

Snow Widows

p.74

p.73

The Presidents: 250 Years of American Political Leadership

LYNDSEY FITZHARRIS

The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon’s Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War One

4pm

p.74

p.66

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

L A DONNA DEL L AGO Gioachino Antonio Rossini (1792–1868) A Buxton International Festival Production, with the Northern Chamber Orchestra Set in the 16th-century Scottish Highlands, La donna del lago is an opera of love, loyalty and lochs with expansive ensembles and sparkling orchestration.

Based on the epic poem The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott, the title heroine Elena is being pursued by not one but two tenors: King James V, disguised as the humble Uberto, and his enemy and rival in love, Rodrigo. Complicating matters further, Elena herself loves Malcom (a trouser role) the son of one of the king’s political adversaries.

Political alliances are stretched to their limit as all three vie for Elena’s attention against a backdrop of escalating war and deception. Will love make or break a divided Scotland?

La donna del lago, one of the most lyrical of Gioachino Rossini’s operas, will be conducted by the Festival’s Artistic Director, Adrian Kelly, and directed by internationally renowned Jacopo Spirei. Jacopo Spirei has directed several of Rossini’s lesser-known operas, including most recently Ermione at Naples’ Teatro San Carlo.

The dynamic cast of singers is lead by Irish soprano Maire Flavin, who makes her debut at the Festival.

Also singing in Buxton for the first time are tenors Nico Darmanin and John Irvin, both seasoned performers of Rossini, and ENO Harewood Artist, bass baritone David Ireland. Completing the cast is mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby, known to Buxton audiences for her performances in La finta giardiniera and The Dancing Master.

DAT E S & T I M E S Fri 8 July Tue 12 July Fri 15 July Sun 17 July Fri 22 July

7.15pm 7.15pm 7.15pm 2pm 7.15pm

VENUE Buxton Opera House TICKETS £25 – £79 £10 for Next Gen BIF Friends under 35s See website for details C R E AT I V E T E A M Adrian Kelly Conductor Jacopo Spirei Director Madeleine Boyd Designer Jake Wiltshire Lighting Designer CAST

Sung in Italian with English side-titles.

Maire Flavin Elena Catherine Carby Malcom Nico Darmanin Uberto David Ireland Duglas John Irvin Rodrigo Fiona Finsbury Albina

Thanks to the members of the La donna del lago syndicate for their support.

Duration: 2 hours and 44 minutes, including an interval

The libretto by Andrea Leone Tortola is based on the French translation of ‘The Lady of the Lake’.

Sponsored by

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Supported by

10% OFF WHEN YOU BOOK ALL 3 BIF OPERAS La donna del lago, Viva la Diva, Antonio e Cleopatra.

Rossini’s La donna del lago is a thrilling opera - a tour de force of vocal virtuosity.

Adrian Kelly Artistic Director of Buxton International Festival

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

V I VA L A DI VA Gaetano Donizetti (1797 –1848) A Salzburg State Theatre production in association with Buxton International Festival Donizetti‘s opera is a delightful parody which follows a regional opera company’s preparation for a performance of an opera seria. Funding is in short supply, the singers are continually fighting over who has the most important role, and the whole undertaking seems to be descending into chaos. Enter Agatha, the aging diva upon whom the plot is centred. In the company’s moment of crisis, she announces that she is taking over.

The role is written for a baritone and George Humphreys (who also sang the title role in the BIF production of Eugene Onegin (2019) slips into the character of the indestructible Agatha as if born to it.

The opera was first performed in Naples, and Donizetti makes witty musical references to two of Rossini’s operas written for the city, Otello and La donna del lago. The score is a delightful combination of fresh, energetic ensembles and virtuosic arias. Stephen Medcalf directs the production, teaming up with Kit Hesketh-Harvey to create a new English version for Buxton which take a look behind the scenes of an entirely fictional provincial opera company. Iwan Davies conducts the Northern Chamber Orchestra Adapted from plays by Simeone Antonio Sografi; new English version by Kit HeskethHarvey Sung in English and Italian with English side-titles

DAT E S & T I M E S Sun 10 July Thur 14 July Tue 19 July Thur 21 July Sat 23 July

2pm 7.15pm 2pm 7.15pm 7.15pm

VENUE Buxton Opera House TICKETS £25 – £79 £10 for Next Gen BIF Friends under 35s See website for details C R E AT I V E T E A M Iwan Davies Conductor Stephen Medcalf Director Yannis Thavoris Designer Kate Watson Choreographer Jake Wiltshire Lighting Designer CAST George Humphreys Agatha Jenny Stafford Prima Donna Richard Burkhard Theatre Director Elliot Carlton Hines Stage Director Raimundas Juzuitis Prima Donna’s Husband Joseph Doody Italian Tenor Olivia Carrell Seconda Donna Duration: 2 hours and 15 minutes, including an interval

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10% OFF WHEN YOU BOOK ALL 3 BIF OPERAS La donna del lago, Viva la Diva, Antonio e Cleopatra.

Delicious parody of contemporary opera life … George Humphreys, in the leading role of Agatha, delivers a comedic performance that never failed to get the audience laughing.

Udo Pacolt Online Merker

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

ANTONIO E CLEOPATR A Johann Hasse (1699 –1783) A Buxton International Festival Production Johann Hasse was one of the most prominent and revered composers of his lifetime and was hailed as ‘superior to all other lyric composers’ by the 18th-century music critic Charles Burney. His music, characterised by its melodic beauty and formal balance, was performed across Europe with his operas and oratorios filling theatres in Dresden, Naples, Venice, Vienna and Warsaw. Following his death, his reputation receded, and his work has been largely forgotten by modern audiences. This production provides a rare opportunity to enjoy the splendour of Hasse’s music, which so captivated listeners nearly three centuries ago.

Antonio e Cleopatra was one of Hasse’s earliest Italian works and was first staged in 1725 to an elite audience near Naples. The melodic score and deft characterisation made it an instant hit. The historical tale is relayed as a serenata, through an emotional conversation between Mark Anthony and Cleopatra.

The two characters deliberate their future in the wake of their defeat by Rome, with Mark Antony declaring that his love for the Egyptian Queen means more to him than the throne. Whilst Cleopatra reciprocates his feelings, she fears she will lose her freedom because of the Roman victory. She would rather die than be a slave, and so the pair agree a suicide pact.

Soprano Ellie Neate sings the role of Cleopatra.

Recent highlights include Gretel in Hansel and Gretel with the British Youth Opera/Silent Opera and La Fée at the Guildhall School. Mezzo-soprano Thalie Knights’ most recent highlights include the title roles in Handel´s Agrippina at Dartington Arts Festival, and in Tamerlano for the Cambridge Handel Opera Company.

Musical director Satoko Doi-Luck is a founding member of the baroque ensemble Ceruleo, and most recently visited Buxton with Burying the Dead, a concert play about the life and music of Henry Purcell in 2018.

Libretto by Francesco Ricciardi. Sung in Italian with English side-titles.

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DAT E S & T I M E S Wed 13 July Sat 16 July Wed 20 July Fri 22 July

7.30pm 7.30pm 7.30pm 1pm

VENUE Pavilion Arts Centre TICKETS £35 £10 for Next Gen BIF Friends under 35s See website for details C R E AT I V E T E A M Satoko Doi-Luck Musical Director and Harpsichord Evangeline Cullingworth Director Buxton Festival Baroque Orchestra CAST Thalie Knights Antonio Ellie Neate Cleopatra Duration: 75 minutes; with no interval

10% OFF WHEN YOU BOOK ALL 3 BIF OPERAS La donna del lago, Viva la Diva, Antonio e Cleopatra.

Hasse’s beguiling serenata promises to be a treat for baroque music enthusiasts and an intriguing rarity for opera lovers.

Adrian Kelly Artistic Director of Buxton International Festival

21

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

GY P S Y: A M USIC AL FABLE Jule Styne (1905–1994) A Buxton Opera House and Buxton International Festival Production, with the Festival Orchestra Curtain Up, Light the Lights!

Buxton Opera House and Buxton International Festival are delighted to present their second joint production, the legendary musical Gypsy, after the huge success of A Little Night Music.

With bitingly witty lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and iconic music by Jule Styne this is the perfect summer treat, directed by Paul Kerryson. Gypsy tells the true, humorous and powerful story of the rise to fame of Gypsy Rose Lee, star of 1930s burlesque and her tempestuous relationship with her ambitious mother Rose. Perhaps the best role in any musical, Rose is a force to be reckoned with as she throws all love interest aside, pushing her daughters June and Louise to stardom. Truly memorable songs include ‘Let Me Entertain You’, ‘Everything’s Coming Up Roses’, ‘You Gotta Have a Gimmick’ and ‘Some People’. Not to be missed!

Double Olivier Award winning actress Joanna Riding stars as Madame Rose.

GYPSY: A MUSICAL FABLE Book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Suggested by memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee Original Production by David Merrick and Leland Hayward Entire production originally directed and choreographed

by Jerome Robbins GYPSY is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. On behalf of TamsWitmark LLC. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk

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DAT E S & T I M E S Thurs 7 July Sat 9 July Wed 13 July Sat 16 July Wed 20 July Sun 24 July

7.15pm 7.15pm 7.15pm 2pm & 7.15pm 2pm & 7.15pm 2pm

VENUE Buxton Opera House TICKETS £25 - £71 C R E AT I V E T E A M Ben Atkinson Conductor Paul Kerryson Director Phil R Daniels Set Designer Charles Cusick Smith Costume Designer Jake Wiltshire Lighting Designer CAST Joanna Riding Madame Rose Duration: 3 hours; including an interval

STRICTLY MUSICAL ¬oin us for our Charity Gala tribute to the music of the West End and Broadway on Monday 11 ¬uly, 8pm.

See p.44

Gypsy is without doubt a landmark musical - an enduring Broadway success. Show stopping numbers by ¬ule Styne and biting lyrics from Stephen Sondheim combine to tell the astonishing story of Gypsy Rose Lee the world famous star of burlesque.

Paul Kerryson Director 23

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

OUR FU TURE IN YOUR HAN DS Composed by Kate Whitley and written by Laura Attridge A Buxton International Festival concert, in collaboration with the Royal Overseas League, with members from the Northern Chamber Orchestra and our Young Instrumentalist Programme

Young musicians from the RNCM, led by mentors from the Northern Chamber Orchestra will make up the orchestra for the project. The choirs will be drawn from local schools and will be joined by soloists from the Buxton Festival Company.

Buxton International Festival is proud to present a specially commissioned oratorio, Our Future In Your Hands, composed by Kate Whitley and written

by Laura Attridge.

Thanks to the PRS Foundation, Granada Foundation, Golden Jubilee Trust (via ROSL), The D’Oyly Care Charitable Trust, Ida Carroll Trust, Borletti-Buitoni Trust, Samuel Gardner Memorial Trust, Andre Bernheim Trust, RVW Trust, Bingham Trust, Orchestra Live.

Over the last twenty years the global scientific community has been raising the alarm about climate change. Government action has been stuck in red tape and endless debate. The process of change has stalled. This inaction was too much for young people who have decided to go on a strike to protest the lack of action in the face of climate change. Our Future In Your Hands uses the oratorio to give voice to the hopes and fears of the young people who will one day inherit our world.

Kate Whitley, a winner of the British Composers Award, was commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra to write Sky Dances which was conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. She runs the Multi-Story Orchestra with conductor Christopher Stark and creates works for young people. Kate is committed to organising music as a powerful tool for social change and the common good. She is an important composer of her generation, in particular in her word settings in opera, songs or choral music.

Laura Attridge is a dynamic maker of opera and theatre with a passion for collaborative creative work. She directed the critically acclaimed Cendrillon for Buxton International Festival in 2021 and her song cycles have been premiered at Glyndebourne, the Royal College of Music (RCM), the National Gallery and Bard College. Notably, her ongoing creative partnership with composer Lewis Murphy has produced numerous works for the stage produced by Scottish Opera, Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera and Sound Festival. Laura is also a director and facilitator, working regularly with young people and communities.

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In partnership with ROSL

DAT E S & T I M E S Sun 10 July Sun 17 July

6pm 6pm

VENUE St John’s Church TICKETS £20 – £25 £10 for Next Gen BIF Friends under 35s See website for details C R E AT I V E T E A M Tom Newall Conductor S O LO I S T S Fiona Finsbury Soprano Rhiannon Doogan Mezzo-soprano Edward Robinson Baritone Duration: 1 hour; with no interval

Young people all around the world have declared climate change to be a global emergency that requires extraordinary efforts from all of us.

Michael Williams CEO, Buxton International Festival

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

M ANSFIEL D PARK Jonathan Dove (b.1959)

DAT E S & T I M E S Tues 12 July Thurs 14 July Sat 18 July Thurs 21 July

3pm 3pm 3pm 3pm

VENUE St John’s Church A Waterperry Opera Festival production Waterperry Opera Festival’s period-perfect production of Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park brings Jane Austen’s world to life with delicious wit and beautiful music.

Mansfield Park tells the story of Fanny Price, who is sent at the age of ten to live with her rich uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, at his family estate. Jonathan Dove’s operatic treatment of the superb comic novel

by Austen was commissioned by Heritage Opera in 2011. Since then, it has become a contemporary operatic gem.

Directed by Rebecca Meltzer, this production received widespread critical-acclaim and and had sold-out runs at Waterperry in 2018 and 2019.

Accompanied on the piano, 10 singers perform as an ensemble of loveable characters pulling at our heartstrings and making us laugh-out-loud. Packed full of humour and intimate charm, this opera does not shy away from risqué themes of seduction, love, and scandal.

This production brings audiences right into the centre of the action. Perfect for Austen and music lovers alike, be prepared to be whisked away.

Libretto by Alasdair Middleton based on Jane Austen’s novel of the same title. Sung in English Licensed by arrangement with Peters Edition Limited, London

TICKETS £25 – £35 £10 for Next Gen BIF Friends under 35s See website for details C R E AT I V E T E A M Rebecca Meltzer Director Bradley Wood Music Director George Ireland Repetiteur Ashley Beauchamp Head of Music Eleanor Burke Staff Director Jane Black Costume Designer CAST Sian Griffiths Fanny Price Milo Harries Edmund Bertram Ellie Neate Maria Bertram Sarah Champion Julia Bertram Emily Gray Lady Bertram Phil Wilcox Sir Thomas Robin Bailey Henry Crawford Eleanor Sanderson-Nash Mary Crawford Lawrence Thackeray Mr Rushworth Eleanor Garside Aunt Norris Duration: 2 hours; with a 20-minute interval

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V IOLE T Tom Coult (b.1988) Co-commissioned and co-produced by Music Theatre Wales and Britten Pears Arts, presented in association with the London Sinfonietta In a muddied nightdress, in a country kitchen, Violet finally smiles. For years, her tired daily routine has been dictated by the inescapable chime of the Clock Tower, until one night she feels time quicken. Suddenly an hour is lost – every day. As the hours disappear, long-held certainties evaporate and ordered society falls into disarray.

While the men in charge lose control, Violet begins to imagine a different future. Trapped and stifled in an unhappy marriage, she senses there is a new life to be discovered and sets out to find it.

Known for her powerful female-centred writing, Alice Birch’s credits include Normal People (BBC), Anatomy of a Suicide (Royal Court) and story editing for Succession (HBO). She is joined by composer Tom Coult (commissioned by First Night of the Proms: currently resident composer at the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra).

Founded in 1988 Music Theatre Wales is the UK’s leading producer of new opera and music theatre. Creating bold and adventurous work, the company collaborates with the most acclaimed

composers of our time, including Peter Maxwell Davies and Philip Glass. Music Theatre Wales has a long association with BIF, and its celebrated original productions include Greek in 2011, The Killing Flower in 2013, The Golden Dragon in 2016 and Y Tŵr in 2017.

Libretto by Alice Birch, sung in English

DAT E S & T I M E S Mon 18 July

7.15pm

VENUE Buxton Opera House TICKETS £25 – £55 £10 for Next Gen BIF Friends under 35s See website for details C R E AT I V E T E A M Andrew Gourlay Conductor Jude Christian Director Rosie Elnile Designer Cécile Trémolières Costume Designer London Sinfonietta Orchestra CAST Anna Dennis Violet Richard Burkhard Felix Frances Gregory Laura Andrew Mackenzie Wicks Clock keeper Duration: 85 minutes; no interval

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The Manchester Lit and Phil Discussion for Lively Minds Since 1781

Dr Rob Drummond - Tuesday 15th March Manchester Voices - exploring the accents, dialects and identities of people in Greater Manchester

Professor Jess Edwards - Tuesday 26th April The Manchester Poetry Library

Professor Bashabi Fraser CBE - Monday 13th June Tagore and his Works

FOR OUR FULL PROGRAMME AND TO BOOK ONLINE:

manlitphil.ac.uk/events

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

SONG AT SI X

Fri 8, Sun 10, Thur 14, Fri 15, Thur 21, Wed 20, Fri 22, Sat 23 July Bandstand at Pavilion Gardens FREE Come and enjoy live, al fresco music at the bandstand at Pavilion Gardens for free. Song at Six is a long-standing BIF tradition, where members of our Young Artists Programme perform 15 minutes of song. It’s a chance to relax, take a breath of fresh air and have your spirits lifted by these talented, bright young singers.

FE S TI VAL M A SSE S

St John’s Church FREE donations welcome Buxton Music Society and the Buxton Madrigal Singers present three special services, under the direction of Michael Williams MBE. They all take place in the atmospheric setting of St John’s Church.

Sun 10 July 11am – 12.10pm Buxton Madrigal Singers and Orchestra F Schubert Mass in G

Sun 17 July 11am – 12.30pm Buxton Music Society Choir and Orchestra L van Beethoven Mass in C

Sun 24 July 11am – 12.10pm Buxton Madrigal Singers and organ H Howells Collegium Regale

OPER A TALK S Buxton Opera House £2 and online

You may also enjoy the AMC Gospel Choir, Sunday 10 ¬uly 12.30pm See p.38

Join our creative teams before the opening performances only for each of our operas and musical for insights into the history, music and vision behind this year’s productions. These talks will be recorded and made available via our YouTube channel.

Please visit buxtonfestival.co.uk for details

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

THUR S DAY 7 J ULY

JAY PHELP S QUAR TE T Thursday 7 July 8pm - 10pm Jazz at the Palace Hotel £15 Jay Phelps Trumpet Rick Simpson Piano Will Glaser Drums

Ferg Ireland Bass

GYPSY Thursday 7 July 7.15pm

See p.22

Vancouver-born trumpeter Jay Phelps has been a prominent and distinguished figure on the international jazz circuit. He is best known for his co-leading role with his jazz quartet ‘Empirical’, which spent years touring major festivals with their self-titled debut album, while garnering the type of worldwide media attention that UK jazz musicians hadn’t enjoyed for years. ‘Empirical’ is considered one of the major influences in kickstarting the current young British jazz movement.

Jay is viewed as an enabler for many of the scene’s top artists and groups, from Shabaka Hutchings, Moses Boyd, Femi Koleoso (Ezra Collective), to Nubya Garcia, Ashley Henry, Reuben James, and many more.

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Opera

Music

Jazz

Books

Walks

FRI DAY 8 J ULY

J ULIA HOBSBAW M Friday 8 July 10am – 11am Pavilion Arts Centre £12 The Nowhere Office Julia Hobsbawm OBE is an entrepreneur, public speaker, and Chair of The Workshift Commission.

In The Nowhere Office, Julia proposes a radical new way of thinking about work. Taking a strategic view of issues such as endemic stagnant productivity; the crisis of stress; repurposing offices for more creative interaction; and satisfying the demand for more purposeful work with greater work/life balance. Julia Hobsbawm argues persuasively that now is the time to develop something better, more meaningful, and crucially, more workable.

JA M AL ALI Y E V C E L LO

Friday 8 July 12pm – 1pm St John’s Church £25 F Chopin Cello Sonata in G minor A Piazzolla The Seasons – Spring

F Schubert (arr. F Liszt) Ständchen

P Tchaikovsky Pezzo Capriccioso Op. 62 After his Buxton debut in 2021, we welcome back aspiring young cellist Jamal Aliyev who will be performing a wonderful programme of Chopin, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Piazzolla. In 2017 Jamal made his BBC Proms debut and released his CD Russian Masters to critical acclaim. Solo highlights since then include appearances at St. Magnus Festival and with CBSO at the Royal Albert Hall. In 2021 he was listed as one of Classic FM’s top 30 most brilliant young classical musicians playing today.

WOMEN OF NOTE FE S T I VA L WA L K

Friday 8 July 11.30am – 1pm Meet outside the Old Hall Hotel £12

Mary Queen of Scots, Anne Lister and Ottoline Morrell’s correspondence reveals the changing habits of ‘taking the waters’. Join Netta Christie as she explores different periods of Buxton’s past through the letters of three notable women.

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

CHARLE S OWEN PIANO

Friday 8 July 3pm – 5pm, with interval St John’s Church £30 Felix Mendelssohn Five Songs Without Words

C Schumann Romance in E Flat minor, Op. 11 No. 1 R Schumann Carnaval Op. 9

F Chopin 24 Preludes Op. 28 Following his last-minute step-in last summer, we are excited to invite back the outstanding pianist, Charles Owen. Charles Owen enjoys an extensive international career performing a wide-ranging repertoire to consistent critical acclaim. For this concert, Charles Owen brings together four iconic, interconnected 19th-century musicians to create a programme of enormous emotional range, creativity, and invention. Piano music was forever changed by the genius of Mendelssohn, Chopin and the Schumanns, taking the instrument and its repertoire to the greatest of imaginative heights.

Ian Shaw and Guy Barker are an internationally celebrated musical pairing. Ian is a multi awardwinning singer, pianist and broadcaster, and Guy is one of the world’s leading trumpeters and a sought-after conductor. Between them, they’ve collaborated with the likes of Quincy Jones, Sting, Kurt Elling, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Abdullah Ibrahim, Cleo Laine and John Dankworth.

In this exciting new show, the charismatic duo of Barker and Shaw - through newly arranged, stunning songs and anecdotes - explore the buzz, thrill and stories of The City. From a canon of a century of show songs, cinema and radio, this onstage adventure is not to be missed.

IAN SHAW AND GU Y BARK ER C I T Y TO C I T Y

Friday 8 July 3pm – 5pm Jazz at the Palace Hotel £20 32

‘A masterly vocalist ... one of the finest singers in contemporary music interprets some of the greatest songs of the last 50 years.’

Bruce Lindsay, All About Jazz

Opera

Music

Jazz

Books

FRI DAY 8 J ULY

Walks

SIMON JENK INS Friday 8 July 4pm – 5pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12 Europe’s 100 Best Cathedrals

THIS IS AN ILLUSTRATED TALK

S WINGTIME BIG BAND FE AT U R I N G E M M A H O LC R O F T A N D S P EC I A L G U E S T S I A N S H AW AND GUY BARKER

Europe’s cathedrals are magnificent. They outstrip palaces and castles. They are the most sensational group of structures anywhere in the world, which everyone should ‘see before they die’. Guardian columnist, former Chair of the National Trust and BIF favourite, Sir Simon Jenkins has travelled the continent – from Chartres to York, Cologne to Florence, Toledo to Moscow and Stockholm to Seville – to illuminate old favourites and highlight new discoveries. He suggests, cathedrals are humankind’s greatest creations.

LA DONNA DEL LAGO Friday 8 July 7.15pm

See p.16

Friday 8 July 7.30pm - 10pm Pavilion Arts Centre £25 This 18-piece big band was formed in 2013 by musical director Jez Murphy and quickly established a reputation as a dynamic and highly skilled outfit with fine musicianship and entertaining performances. They are complimented by Emma Holcroft, one of the UK’s leading vocalists, who sings a wide repertoire of classic jazz standards.

The band will perform your favourite songs from the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee and more. They will also be swinging their way through classic big band favourites from the libraries of Count Basie, Woody Herman, Ted Heath, to name just a few.

As a treat for Buxton, Ian Shaw and Guy Barker will guest with the band.

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

GR AHA M CL ARK QUAR TE T Friday 8 July 10.30pm – late Jazz at the Palace Hotel £15 Graham Clark Violin

Richard Wetherall Piano Paul Baxter Bass

Johnny Hunter Drums

LA DONNA DEL LAGO Friday 8 July 7.15pm

See p.16

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FRI DAY 8 J ULY With his strongly personal approach to playing violin, Graham Clark has played in many jazz, rock, and experimental contexts, including a long partnership with Daevid Allen of Gong, several improvising groups, and numerous recordings.

Since 2005, Graham has been putting on a weekly jazz duo gig in Buxton. By playing with the cream of the North West’s pianists, he has built a loyal and enthusiastic audience.

His quartet will perform an original work written especially for this concert, inspired by living in Buxton for over twenty-five years. The new body of work will be played alongside Graham’s favourite jazz standards.

Opera

Music

Jazz

Books

Walks

SAT UR DAY 9 J ULY

K AREN LLOY D, TIM BIRK HE A D AND M ARK COCK ER This would make a great companion event with Philippa Forrester p.62

Saturday 9 July 10am – 11am Pavilion Arts Centre £15 Three of Britain’s foremost thinkers on nature join in conversation. Karen Lloyd’s timely book Abundance: Recovery in Nature is an upbeat examination of habitat renewal, wildlife restoration and repair. In Birds & Us, Tim Birkhead looks at how birds have stirred our imagination for almost the entirety of our species’ history, inspiring and challenging our ideas about science, faith, art and philosophy.

Both will be in conversation with naturalist and writer Mark Cocker, discussing the place of nature in our world, and especially reflecting on whether there is a disconnect between modern society and the rest of life.

SOLUS TRU MPE T ENSEMBLE Saturday 9 July 12pm – 1pm St John’s Church £25 S Friedman Solus: Introduction B Britten Fanfare for St. Edmundsbury G Gabrieli Canzon II a 4, Ch. 187 H Tomasi Suite pour Trois Trompettes M Ravel (arr. Will Foster) Sonatine C Nielsen (arr. Will Foster) 5 Klaverstykker, Op. 3 W Brandt Country Pictures (Trad arr. J F Michel) Three Spirituals

Formed by international trumpet soloist Matilda Lloyd, the Solus Trumpet Ensemble presents a varied programme that celebrates all things trumpet! Including works by revered composers

of brass music: Gabrieli, Tomasi and Brandt, the programme also celebrates new arrangements of works not usually heard on brass. Highlights include their very own arrangement of Ravel’s monumental piano sonatine.

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

Sponsored by

THE IMP OSSIBLE GENTLEMEN Saturday 9 July 3pm – 5pm Jazz at the Palace Hotel £20 Gwilym Simcock Piano Mike Walker Guitar

Laurence Cottle Bass Ian Thomas Drums

The Impossible Gentlemen were founded over a decade ago by internationally acclaimed piano sensation Gwilym Simcock and Salford guitarist and UK treasure Mike Walker. The 2022 version welcomes new UK bass and drums superstars Laurence Cottle and Ian Thomas. Three albums on from their original line-up, the new unit promises to be nothing less than remarkable with four unique talents, all superb players, coming together to create something new and powerful.

‘Crazy name, crazy group, but crazy like foxes’ The Evening Standard ***** ‘World-class jazz – nothing short of sensational’ The Guardian ****

RORY S TE WAR T I N CO N V E R S AT I O N W I T H J U L I A N G LOV E R

Saturday 9 July 12.30pm – 1.30pm Buxton Opera House £15 Author, adventurer, academic and former Cabinet Minister Rory Stewart is one of the most fascinating figures of our times. He joins Julian Glover in conversation to discuss what he learned whilst trying to shape a different way of doing politics. What is Britain’s place in an unsettled world, in which democracy is in retreat? And how can we find new ways of energising institutions, so that trust and honesty replace spin and false simplicity?

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Opera

Music

Jazz

Books

FABLED TRIO

FE AT U R I N G L AU R A J U R D Saturday 9 July 10.30pm – late Jazz at the Palace Hotel £15

Walks

SAT UR DAY 9 J ULY

Sam Rapley Sax and clarinet Laura Jurd Trumpet

Matt Robinson Piano Alex Munk Guitar

Following the success of their eponymous EP in 2015, Fabled Trio released their debut album, Short Stories, to widespread critical acclaim in 2018.

Drawing inspiration from Debussy, Tom Jobim, Tigran Hamasyan and Bon Iver, the music of Fabled explores the wealth of textures, harmonies and grooves available in the traditional jazz quintet setting. Heavily influenced by music for film and the relationship between music and storytelling, they are always searching for their own new ways to tell the classic, age-old stories.

Fabled Trio are joined by special guest Laura Jurd, who has developed a formidable reputation as one of the most distinctive and creative composerperformers to emerge from the UK in recent years.

‘Fabled’s every piece has its own melodic twists and turns, creating a series of real musical pageturners.’ All About Jazz ‘Rapley proves to be a sensitive and adaptable composer, his ability to craft calming melodies and rich textures brings an emotional weight and modernity to the majority of these recordings.’

Mojo Magazine

GYPSY Saturday 9 July 7.15pm

See p.22

WIL DLIFE WALK WITH M ARK COCK ER FE S T I VA L WA L K

Saturday 9 July 3.30pm – 5pm Meet at the junction of Corbar Road and Lightwood Road £20

Buxton in high summer is a wonderful place for wildlife and is surrounded by local woods and fields of flowers. Buxton-born author and naturalist Mark Cocker will take advantage of these seasonal riches to show visitors an array of plants, birds, insects as well as the local conditions. Perhaps bring boots, binoculars and a brolly but, above all, bring a sense of wonder.

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

A MC GOSPEL CHOIR Sunday 10 July 12.30pm – 2.30pm Jazz at the Palace Hotel £20 AMC Gospel Choir offer a full-on Sunday gospel performance with a live band. AMC have toured with Hacienda Classical, have featured on Songs of Praise and have performed with Manchester Camerata. This punchy band, with mesmerising singers, make foot-stomping, on-your-feet music that combines gospel, sass and Motown. Expect rich, vibrant and joyful sounds guaranteed to make you move.

XHOSA COLE QUAR TE T Sunday 10 July 3.30pm – 5.30pm Jazz at the Palace Hotel £20 Xhosa Cole Saxophone

Nathan England Jones Drums Steve Saunders Guitar

Josh Vadiveloo Double Bass

The BBC Young Musician of the Year 2018 and his hard-hitting quartet play inspired tunes from Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown, Dexter Gordon and Ornette Coleman. No longer a ‘rising star’, Xhosa Cole is now firmly established on the scene thanks to many festival appearances and his debut album K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us with featured guest artists, saxophonist Soweto Kinch and pianist 38

Reuben James. He has performed twice at the BBC Proms and has completed a 22-date UK tour. Xhosa also received the Parliamentary Jazz Award for ‘Best Newcomer’ in 2019 and Jazz FM ‘Breakthrough Act of the Year’.

‘The 24-year-old tenor saxophonist/composer is a British sensation’ Downbeat ‘One of the most exciting releases of the year…’

Jazzwise

Opera

Music

Jazz

Books

WOMEN OF NOTE FE S T I VA L WA L K

SUN DAY 10 J ULY

Walks

FESTIVAL MASS

Sunday 10 July 3.30pm – 5pm Meet outside the Old Hall Hotel £12

Sunday 10 July 11am

See p.31 for information about this event

See p.29

A BIF LIFESTYLE CIRCLE A EVENT

IN YELLOW BIF Lifestyle Event

SAR AH GERR AR D - J ONE S Sunday 10 July 4pm- 5pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12 The Plant Rescuer Sarah, aka @theplantrescuer, firmly believes that every house plant deserves a happy life. Sarah has helped thousands of people understand how to make their plants happy and what to do if something goes wrong. Her broadcast and print appearances range from BBC Gardener’s

World to The Times. Whether you have just one or many houseplants, this special BIF Lifestyle Event, will provide tips from how to choose a plant, how to help it with everyday care, and how to help your plants not just survive, but thrive.

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

VIVA LA DIVA

CL ARE TE AL AND HER SE X TE T

Sunday 10 July 2pm

See p.18

Sunday 10 July 8pm – 10.15pm Buxton Opera House £20 - £30 Clare Teal

Jason Rebello Piano

Giacomo Smith Clarinet & Sax Pete Horsfall Trumpet Dave Archer Guitar Simon Little Bass

Ed Richardson Drums

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Expect exhilarating swing as award-winning jazz vocalist and Radio 2 presenter Clare Teal, and a 6-piece band, celebrate 100 years of popular music.

Their programme features some of the greatest songs from the American and British Songbooks, as well as contemporary writers. The song list will include gems made famous by the first giants of the jazz age that still sound fresh and relevant today.

Clare is always an entertaining and humorous host, and the evening will be packed with anecdotes and rich jazz infused repertoire. This promises to be full of joyous, uplifting and inspirational music performed by the very best.

Opera

Music

Jazz

K IRK MCELHINNE Y TRIO Sunday 10 July 10.30pm – late Jazz at the Palace Hotel £15 Kirk McElhinney Guitars/Vocals John Ellis Piano/Vocals Andy Hay Drums

OUR FUTURE IN YOUR HANDS

Books

Walks

SUN DAY 10 J ULY

The Kirk McElhinney Trio, with their Urban Folk music, provides a very cool and mellow gig to end the first weekend. Kirk McElhinney’s sound has been described as ‘a melting pot of sonic bliss’ by Nitin Sawney. He’s joined by Andy Hay on drums, who recently released his second album after the acclaimed Many Rivers made its mark on the British music scene. Long-time collaborator John Ellis has worked with The Cinematic Orchestra, Corinne Bailey Rae, Lily Allen, Tom Jones and so many more.

All three blend together vocally and musically with real fire and soul.

Kirk is a national treasure, and to see him with the trio is to see him truly in his element. His songs and his delivery have an uncanny ability to capture people’s hearts and move minds and bodies.

Sunday 10 July 6pm

See p.24

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

TOM NANCOLL A S Monday 11 July 10am – 11am Pavilion Arts Centre £12 The Ship Asunder: A Maritime History in Eleven Vessels From the swallowtail prow of a Bronze Age vessel to a stone ship moored at a Baroque quayside, Tom Nancollas, author of the bestselling Seashaken Houses, goes in search of eleven relics that together tell the story of Britain at sea. Weaving together stories of great naval architects and unsung shipwrights, fishermen and merchants, shipwrecks and superstition, pilgrimage, trade and war, The Ship Asunder celebrates the richness of Britain’s seafaring tradition and asks how we might best memorialise it as it vanishes from our shores.

COLOUR M Y SONG W I L L I A M S - H O WA R D P R I Z E W I N N E R S CO N C E R T

Monday 11 July 11.15am – 12.15pm The Assembly Rooms £15 The Williams-Howard Prize is a new competition at the Royal Northern College of Music for singers and pianists for 3rd and 4th year undergraduates, graduates and post-graduates.

It was established by Michael Harper, Vocal Tutor at RNCM, to promote the study and performance of art songs by Africa- heritage composers.

These often-neglected songs display lyricism, drama, history, and legacy of civilisations. Some of the great composers who may be included in the concert are Florence Price, Undine Smith Moore, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, George Walker, Margaret Bonds, and Errollyn Wallen.

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This concert will showcase the exceptional talents of the winners of the inaugural competition and give the audiences of the Buxton International Festival a rare chance to experience this glorious music. Winners will be announced on the website in late March.

Opera

Music

Jazz

Books

COMMON PEOPLE FE S T I VA L WA L K

Monday 11 July 11.30am – 1pm Meet at Buxton Opera House £12

THE ENGLISH CO N C E R T A N D ANNA DENNIS BAROQUE ORCHESTR A AND SOPR ANO

Monday 11 July 3pm – 5pm, with interval St John’s Church £30

Walks

MON DAY 11 J ULY

We often hear the stories of the wealthy that came to Buxton over the years but what of the people that served them? Join Stephen Phillips, a local history tour guide, as he tells the story of the town through the perspective of working people.

“Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee” Works by G F Handel and G Bononcini

G F Handel Concerto in A minor, Op. 6 No. 4 HWV 322 G Bononcini Sinfonia in F major, Op. 3 No. 1, Cantata Ecco Dorinda il giorno G F Handel Sonata a 5, HWV 288, Cantata Crudel tiranno Amor, HWV 97, Concerto in B flat major, Op. 6 No.7, HWV 325 Selected arias by G Bononcini and G F Handel During the 1720s in London, Georg Friedrich Handel was as popular as a composer could be.

But the arrival of Giovanni Bononcini in London sparked a public rivalry between the two composers, so much so that it inspired an epigram by the poet John Byrom that brought the phrase ‘Tweedledum and Tweedledee’ into popular usage.

The English Concert is directed from the harpsichord by Tom Foster. Anna Dennis, who was radiant in the role of Galatea at the 2021 Festival, is the soprano soloist.

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

MON DAY 11 J ULY

ANGEL A HAR TNE T T Monday 11 July 4pm – 5pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12 The Weekend Cook: Good Food for Real Life Angela Hartnett MBE is one of Britain’s best loved chefs. Currently, she is Chef Patron for Murano restaurant, Cucina Angelina in Courchevel (France) and joint owner of Merchant’s Tavern in Shoreditch.

Angela knows the secrets to throwing the most relaxed and enjoyable dinners for friends and family. In this BIF Lifestyle Event Angela will share some of her favourite recipes, each one a joy to cook and eat, from satisfying one-pot dishes and comforting risottos, to perfect party food and bakes to feed a hungry crowd.

S TRIC TLY MUSIC AL A C H A R I T Y G A L A CO N C E R T

Monday 11 July 8pm – 10pm, with interval Buxton Opera House £15 – £35 After the huge success of the inaugural Strictly Musical concert last year, Buxton Opera House and Buxton International Festival will once again bring you all the great show tunes from the West End to Broadway. Join us for an unforgettable night of song performed by the stars from the cast of Gypsy and the BIF Company. The show will be directed by Paul Kerryson and his creative team will be standing by to add all the bells and whistles to make this another night to remember.

Proceeds will support the ongoing work of Buxton Opera House and Buxton International Festival.

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Opera

Music

Jazz

Books

Walks

T UE S DAY 12 J ULY

DA MON GALGUT L I V E FR O M C A P E TO W N

Tuesday 12 July 10am – 11am Live Stream into the Pavilion Arts Centre £12 The Promise Damon Galgut is an internationally recognised multi award winning writer. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2003 and 2010, he won the prize in 2021 with The Promise. The novel charts the crash and burn of a white South African family, living on a farm outside Pretoria. The Swarts are gathering for Ma’s funeral. The younger generation, Anton and Amor, detest everything the family stand for, not least the failed promise of land and a house to the Black woman who has worked for them her whole life... yet somehow, as each decade passes, that promise remains unfulfilled. This will be a live stream event in the Pavilion Arts Centre.

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021

DELPHINE TRIO

C L A R I N E T, C E L LO A N D P I A N O Tuesday 12 July 11.15am – 12.15pm The Assembly Rooms £15 L van Beethoven Trio, Op. 11

K Leighton Fantasy on an American Hymn Tune A Piazzola Oblivion

R Muczynski Fantasy Trio The Delphine Trio brings together three passionate young musicians from opposite ends of the globe: Australia, the Netherlands and South Africa. Founded at the Royal College of Music, they combine intelligent and curious music-making with a passion for diverse repertoire. The concert begins with an early work

by Beethoven, written when repertoire for the clarinet was still something of a novelty. The rest of the programme showcases twentieth-century repertoire by the Yorkshire-born composer Kenneth Leighton, Astor Piazzolla and PolishAmerican composer Robert Muczynski.

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

VERA BRITTAIN AT THE DEVONSHIRE DOME FE S T I VA L WA L K

Tuesday 12 July 11.30am – 1pm Meet at the Reception of the Devonshire Dome £12

GEORGE MONBIOT Tuesday 12 July 12.30pm – 1.30pm Buxton Opera House £15 Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet Around the world, farming has been wiping out vast habitats, depleting fresh water, polluting oceans, and accelerating global heating, while leaving millions undernourished and unfed. Increasingly, there are signs that the system itself is beginning to flicker. George Monbiot suggests there is another way and shows how the hidden biological universe beneath our feet could transform what we eat and how we grow it - from the fruit and vegetable growers who cultivate pests as well as potatoes; through producers of perennial grains who are liberating their fields from ploughs; and much, much more.

Sponsored by

MANSFIELD PARK Tuesday 12 July 3pm

See p.26

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Join our costumed guide, Vera Brittain, a young, intelligent, Edwardian woman trapped between the expectations of her gender and class and the expectations of the politics of the Empire. In the place where Vera Brittain worked as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse in the summer of 1915, we tell a powerful and moving story: her testament to a lost youth.

Opera

Music

Jazz

Books

Walks

T UE S DAY 12 J ULY

SP OTLIGHT ON CHE THA M’S Tuesday 12 July 2pm – 3pm The Assembly Rooms £15 C Nielsen Wind Quintet, Op. 43 Buxton International Festival is proud to continue its relationship with Chetham’s School of Music, the largest specialist music school in the UK. Former students from Chetham’s famous woodwind department now populate the world’s leading orchestras. Discover the stars of the future in this concert from Chetham’s Wind Quintet.

LA DONNA DEL LAGO

The programme will include pieces for Oboe and Piano by York Bowen and Robert Schumann as well as pieces for Bassoon and Piano. These little gems will be performed alongside the genial and entertaining Wind Quintet by Carl Nielsen, one of his most popular works.

Tuesday 12 July 7.15pm

See p.16

MARK BOSTRIDGE AND KATHRYN ECCLESTONE Tuesday 12 July 4pm – 5pm Pavilion Arts Centre £15 Vera Brittain: Buxton’s Daughter?

This would make a great companion event with Vera Brittain at the Devonshire Dome walk and Shirley Williams p.46 / p.48

Vera Brittain biographer and literary executor Mark Bostridge and author Dr Kathryn Ecclestone present a discussion, illustrated with unpublished photographs, about the part played by Buxton in Vera Brittain’s early life. They argue that despite her dislike of the ‘provincial young ladyhood’ of her upbringing, Vera Brittain deserves to be celebrated as the most significant writer produced by the town, famous throughout the world for her bestselling memoir Testament of Youth. They also consider the remarkable growth of Brittain’s reputation as a writer, pacifist, and feminist in the half-century since her death.

Sponsored by

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FR I E N D S DAY BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

WIL DLIFE WALK WITH M ARK COCK ER FE S T I VA L WA L K

Wednesday 13 July 10am – 11am Meet at the junction of Corbar Road and Lightwood Road £20 See p.37 for information about this event

MITHR A S TRIO Wednesday 13 July 12pm – 1pm St John’s Church £25 W Mozart Piano Trio in E major, K. 542 C McDowall Cavatina at Midnight

R Schumann Piano Trio No. 2 in F major, Op. 80 Praised for their ‘exquisite phrasing’, ‘full-blooded commitment’ and ‘bold, passionate colours’, the Mithras Trio is fast growing a reputation as one of the next generation’s most exciting piano trios.

Formed in 2017 at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Mithras Trio are currently BBC New Generation Artists and were winners of the 2019 Royal Over-Seas League String Ensembles Prize.

This concert starts with the almost concerto-like Mozart piano trio, followed by the spellbindingly evocative Cavatina at Midnight ending with the piano-dominated second piano trio by Robert Schumann.

REBECC A WILLIA MS I N CO N V E R S AT I O N WITH LENNIE GOODINGS

Wednesday 13 July 10am – 11am Pavilion Arts Centre £15 Climbing the Bookshelves A Tribute to Shirley Williams ‘That politics was the most exciting of all the exciting things in the world I never doubted’ Join us for a celebration of the life of Shirley, Baroness Williams of Crosby - politician, cabinet minister, Peer, academic, daughter, mother and longtime BIF supporter, who died in April 2021 at the age of 90, after a long and exciting life. As the child of writer and activist Vera Brittain, who grew up in Buxton, and political scientist George Catlin, Shirley was born into politics. Both her parents encouraged her to have high ambitions in what was still, overwhelmingly, a man’s world. Shirley’s daughter Rebecca Williams will be in conversation with Virago Chair Lennie Goodings as Virago reissue Shirley’s acclaimed biography Climbing the Bookshelves, which includes a new preface by Rebecca.

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GYPSY Wednesday 13 July 7.15pm

See p.22

Opera

Music

Jazz

Books

ANTONIO E CLEOPATRA Wednesday 13 July 7.30pm

See p.20

Walks

WEDNE S DAY 13 J ULY

VERA BRITTAIN AT THE DEVONSHIRE DOME FE S T I VA L WA L K

This walk is a

Wednesday 13 July complement to our event 3.30pm – 5pm Vera Brittain: Buxton’s Meet at the Daughter?

Reception of the p.47 Devonshire Dome £12 See p.46 for information about this event

JOANNA MACGREGOR PIANO

M A R C U S D U S A U T OY Wednesday 13 July 12.30pm – 1.30pm Buxton Opera House £15 Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut How do you remember more and forget less? How can you earn more and become more creative just by moving house? And how do you pack a car boot most efficiently?

Mathematics is full of better ways of thinking, and with over 2,000 years of knowledge to draw on, TV favourite and Oxford mathematician Marcus du Sautoy interrogates his passion for shortcuts. After all, shortcuts have enabled so much of human progress, whether in constructing the first cities around the Euphrates 5,000 years ago, using calculus to determine the scale of the universe or in writing today’s algorithms that help us find a new life partner.

Wednesday 13 July 3pm – 5pm, with interval St John’s Church £30 G Ligeti Musica ricercata, Op. 1 No. 1-8 F Liszt Funérailles

R Wagner (arr. Z Kocsis) Prelude from Tristan und Isolde R Wagner (arr. F Liszt) Isolde’s Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde F Schubert Sonata in B flat major, D. 960 Joanna MacGregor CBE is one of the world’s most innovative musicians. She has appeared as a soloist with the world’s leading orchestras, performing in over eighty countries. Joanna has premiered many landmark works - from Harrison Birtwistle to John Adams and James MacMillan – and is a regular broadcaster, appearing regularly at the BBC Proms.

At the heart of her programme are transcriptions of the Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner’s seminal music drama Tristan und Isolde.

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

On The Cusp Days of ‘62 The ‘real’ Sixties began on 5 October 1962. On that remarkable Friday, the Beatles hit the world with their first single, Love Me Do, and the first James Bond film, Dr No, had its world premiere in London: two icons of the future heralding a social and cultural revolution. On the Cusp continues David Kynaston’s ground-breaking history of post-war Britain and takes place during the summer and early autumn of 1962. These were charged months, thick with incident, including The Rolling Stones’ debut at the Marquee Club, the last Gentlemen versus Players match at Lord’s, and the issue of Britain’s relationship with Europe starting to divide the country.

DAV I D K Y N A S TON Thursday 14 July 10am – 11am Pavilion Arts Centre £12

Britain would never be the same again after these months. Sometimes indignant, sometimes admiring, always empathetic, On the Cusp evokes a world of seaside holidays, of church fetes, of Steptoe and Son – a world still of seemingly settled social and economic certainties, but in fact on the edge of fundamental change.

RYAN CORBE T T ACCO R D I O N

Thursday 14 July 11.15am – 12.15pm The Assembly Rooms £15 J S Bach Prelude and Fugue in A minor ‘The Great’ BWV 543 D Scarlatti Sonata in F Major, K 107 A Nagaev Sonata

P Tchaikovsky Romance in F minor, Op. 5 F Angelis Etude

J Feld Konzertstuck

D Heath Take To The Sky

F Mendelssohn Rondo Capriccioso Currently in his final year at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, rising star Ryan Corbett is the 2021 Royal Over-Seas League Gold Medal winner – the first time an accordionist has reached the final since 1997. In this programme, Ryan performs works ranging from mainstream classical to virtuoso accordion, including the Scarlatti Sonata in F Major, K 107, originally written for keyboard and which formed part of his award-winning programme for ROSL. 50

Opera

Music

Jazz

Books

MANSFIELD PARK Thursday 14 July 3pm

See p.26

Walks

THUR S DAY 14 J ULY

ALL ALE AND HIGHER BUX TON FE S T I VA L WA L K

Thursday 14 July 11.30am – 1pm Meet outside the Old Hall Hotel £12 Medieval crofts to coaching inns and possibly the oldest building in the town, are revealed on this journey through the history and development of Higher Buxton. Join Ali Quas Cohen, a local tour guide, and discover more of Buxton.

CHROM A HARP DUO Thursday 14 July 2pm – 3pm Assembly Rooms £15

LOR D PAT TEN Thursday 14 July 12.30pm – 1.30pm Buxton Opera House £15 The Hong Kong Diaries In June 1992 Chris Patten went to Hong Kong as the last British governor. Over the next five years he kept a diary, describing in detail how Hong Kong was run as a British colony and what happened as the handover approached. Unexpectedly, his opponents included not only the Chinese themselves, but some British businessmen and civil service mandarins, for whom political freedom and the rule of law in Hong Kong seemed less important than keeping on the right side of Beijing. Lord Patten offers an account of what has happened in Hong Kong since the handover and reflections on how to deal with China - then and now.

The Harp Unleashed

A Turk Odyssey (new commission) M de Falla Spanish Dance C Salzedo Pentacle Suite

The Harp Unleashed exhibits the versatility of two harps. The accessible music uses some unusual playing techniques, featuring items such as chopsticks, drumming, castanets and bluetack.

It is still firmly rooted in classical harp virtuosity but also showcases an exciting new side to the instrument. Lucy Nolan and Becki Luff formed The Chroma Harp Duo in 2016 whilst studying at the Royal Northern College of Music. Both harpists are passionate about contemporary music and as an ensemble commission and work with current composers on new works.

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

JA ME S RU NCIE

VIVA LA DIVA

THUR S DAY 14 J ULY

Thursday 14 July 7.15pm

Thursday 14 July 4pm – 5pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12

See p.18

The Great Passion Leipzig, 1726. Eleven-year-old Stefan, a humble organ-maker’s son, has just lost his mother. Sent to train as a singer in the St Thomas Church choir, Stefan’s talent draws the attention of the Cantor – Johann Sebastian Bach. Eccentric, obsessive and kind, he rescues Stefan from the miseries of school by bringing him into his home as an apprentice. In the depths of his own personal loss, the Cantor is writing a new work, the Saint Matthew Passion, and Stefan realises he is witness to the creation of one of the most extraordinary pieces of music that has ever been written.

This event includes an aria from the St Matthew Passion from the BIF Company

THE NATIONAL YOUTH JA ZZ ORCHESTR A B A S I E & B E YO N D

Thursday 14 July 8pm – 10.30pm Pavilion Arts Centre £20

The NYJO 18-piece ensemble performs classic works led by their Artistic Director, Mark Armstrong.

Since roaring from the American imagination over a hundred years ago, jazz has been thrilling audiences across the world. William James Basie is an icon. His impact on the jazz canon cannot be overstated. He formed the Count Basie Orchestra in 1935 and led the ensemble for over 50 years. As jazz transitioned from the dance floor to the concert platform, Basie 52

kept the spirit of swing alive, transforming the music for the atomic era, but keeping true to the soul of its roots.

This programme explores the impact on popular music made by Basie and the twentieth-century Black American artists that followed: Frank Foster, Dizzy Gillespie, Tadd Dameron, Oliver Nelson, Quincy Jones, Thad Jones. To their lives and struggle we owe an unpayable debt.

Opera

Music

Jazz

J ENN Y UGLOW Friday 15 July 10am – 11am Pavilion Arts Centre £12

Books

FRI DAY 15 J ULY

Walks

THIS IS AN ILLUSTRATED TALK

Sybil and Cecil: Cutting Through Time The bestselling author of Mr Lear charts the story of the pioneers of modernist linocut art. In 1922, Cyril Power, a fifty-year-old architect, left his family to work with the twenty-four-year-old Sybil Andrews. They would be together for twenty years.

Their dynamic, streamlined works full of movement and brilliant colour, summed up the hectic interwar years. Theirs was a world of futurists, surrealists and pioneering abstraction; yet at the same time they looked back, to medieval myths and early music, to country ways disappearing from sight.

CHRISTOPHER STOKES

This would make a great companion event with Frances Spalding p.62

J Bonnet Variations de Concert

ORGAN

C Saint-Saëns Fantaisie in E flat

Friday 15 July 12pm – 1pm St John’s Church £20

W Mathias Toccata Giocosa

H Howells Psalm Prelude Set 1 No. 1 G Thalben-Ball Tune in E N Cocker Tuba Tune

P Whitlock Folk tune

F Liszt Fantasie und Fuge über das Thema B-A-C-H Christopher Stokes is Organist & Master of the Choristers at Manchester Cathedral and has previously held posts at two of London’s leading churches, as Director of Music at St Martin-in-theFields and at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey. He’s a renowned conductor, organist, pianist, and harpsichordist who has performed with the major British orchestras and has given solo recitals across the UK and abroad. He is a regular organist on the Daily Service on BBC Radio 4 and Songs of Praise.

From Bonnet to Whitlock, Saint-Saëns to Herbert Howells, Christopher’s programme takes us on a journey of virtuosic works by some of the world’s greatest composers for organ.

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

FRET WORK V I O L CO N S O R T

Friday 15 July 3pm – 5pm, with interval St John’s Church £30 H Purcell Fantazia No. 4 – No. 12 M Locke Consort of Fower Parts No. 3 in F major W Young (published in Innsbruck 1659) Fantasy/ Sonata No. 1 for three viols M Locke Consort of Fower Parts No. 5 in G minor W Young Pavan for two bass viols W Young Fantasy/Sonata No. 2

LA DONNA DEL LAGO Friday 15 July 7.15pm

See p.16

‘Album after album from viol consort Fretwork affirms their status as an ensemble of supreme musicianship’ Gramaphone Magazine Fretwork is considered the world’s leading consort of viols, and last year celebrated its 35 year anniversary. Currently consisting of five musicians they showcase the sublime music of this rare instrument.

Fretwork presents a programme of music by 17th Century English composers. 2022 is the 400th anniversary of the birth of Matthew Locke, who wrote some of the finest works for viols. Upon his death in 1677, his pupil, Henry Purcell succeeded him as Composer for the Violins at the court of King Charles. Purcell´s dazzling Fantazias were written in the summer of 1680 when the composer was not yet 21 years old and represent the culmination of the viol tradition in England.

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Opera

Music

Jazz

Books

Walks

FRI DAY 15 J ULY

TR IS TR A M H U NT Friday 15 July 4pm – 5pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12 The Radical Potter Director of the V&A, Tristram Hunt charts the life of Josiah Wedgwood, perhaps the greatest English potter who ever lived and who epitomised the best of his age. He revolutionised the production of ceramics by marrying technology with design, manufacturing efficiency and retail flair thus helping to usher in a mass consumer society.

But Wedgwood was also radical in his mind and politics. He campaigned for free trade and religious toleration and was a member of the celebrated Lunar Society of Birmingham. Most significantly, he created the ‘Emancipation Badge’, depicting a slave in chains and inscribed ‘Am I Not a Man and a Brother?’ that became the symbol of the abolitionist movement.

BEN CROSL AND

Sponsored by

Ben Crosland Bass

T H E R AY DAV I E S S O N G B O O K

Theo Travis Saxes

Friday 15 July 8pm – 10.30pm Pavilion Arts Centre £20

Steve Lodder Piano/keyboards

John Etheridge Guitar Nic France Drums Ray Davies’ songs are rooted in the blues, music hall, popular song, variety and musical theatre - the perfect vehicles for jazz interpretation. Ben Crosland began his musical education at the age of 13 by taking up the drums, and the Kinks’ singles were constantly on the Dansette as he played along in his bedroom. Fifty years on, as bandleader and composer/arranger, he is again discovering new subtleties and strengths in these wonderful compositions and has assembled a quintet of international quality to perform these imaginative arrangements.

Photo credit. Robert Burns

‘Ray Davies’ tunes - evocative, catchy and deceptively simple. By recasting them in the jazz idiom and delicately elaborating their harmonies, bassist and composer Ben Crosland brings them out in a fresh glow. It’s remarkable how comfortable these melodies sound in their new settings’. The Observer 55

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

JENEBA K ANNEH-MASON PIANO

Saturday 16 July 12pm – 1pm St John’s Church £20 J S Bach Prelude and Fugue in C sharp major W Mozart Sonata in D major No. 18 A Scriabin Sonata No. 2

F Liszt Vallée D’Obermann

F Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

SAR A H L A NGFOR D AN D JA K E FIENNE S I N CO N V E R S AT I O N W I T H J U L I A N G LOV E R

Saturday 16 July 10am – 11am Pavilion Arts Centre £15 For the Love of the Land and Land Healer We need food to live. But the way we grow it wrecks our environment. Some people look to a future in which we rewild our land, eat less meat and use technology to produce substitutes. Others are working to show how farming can lead the recovery of nature. Sarah Langford tells the story of farmers fighting challenges people in urban Britain do not yet understand, but which will define the future of the countryside. She is joined by Jake Fiennes, whose inspirational work running the Holkham estate in Norfolk is setting the standard for a new and hopeful future for food, farming and England’s countryside.

WOMEN OF NOTE FE S T I VA L WA L K

Saturday 16 July 11.30am – 1pm Meet outside the Old Hall Hotel £20 See p.31 for information about this event 56

Nineteen-year-old pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason made her BBC Proms debut in 2021 playing Florence Price´s Concerto in One Movement with the Chineke! She holds the Victoria Robey Scholarship to The Royal College of Music and has appeared on television and radio programmes including Radio 3, In Tune, The BAFTAs, and The Royal Variety Performance.

Her recital programme moves through a broad range of styles, opening with Bach´s breezy Prelude and Fugue in C sharp major, and finishing with two of Franz Liszt´s most exuberant works, Vallée D’Oberman, inspired by the composer´s journey through the Swiss Alps in 1835, and his everpopular Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.

Opera

Music

Jazz

SOLEM QUARTET Saturday 16 July 3pm – 5pm, with interval St John’s Church £25

Books

Walks

SAT UR DAY 16 J ULY

C Schumann (arr. A Tress) Three Romances, Op. 22 B Bartok Quartet No. 3, BB 93

D J Roche Prayer at the Edge of Silence

L van Beethoven Quartet in B flat major, Op. 133 Grosse Fugue Praised for their ‘immaculate precision and spirit’ (The Strad) the Solem Quartet has established itself as one of the most innovative quartets of its generation. They have built a strong following since winning the Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Competition 2014 and their work ranges from international tours to venues including Wigmore Hall and Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. This programme brings together two giants of the string quartet genre – Beethoven and Bartok – alongside contemporary composer David Roche and a wonderful arrangement of Clara Schumann’s Three Romances by the quartet’s very own Amy Tress.

GYPSY Saturday 16 July 2pm & 7.15pm

SEBA S TI A N PAY NE

See p.22

Saturday 16 July 4pm – 5pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12 Broken Heartlands: A Journey Through Labour’s Lost England Sebastian Payne, Whitehall Editor for the Financial Times, makes a political road-trip through ten constituencies that made up Labour’s ‘red wall’. Originally from the North East himself, he sets out to uncover the real story of what turned these traditionally Labour seats to the Conservatives for the first time in living memory at the 2019 election. On the way, he explores significant and nuanced social and economic forces decades in the making, including generational ANTONIO E shift, the changing nature of work, CLEOPATRA de-industrialisation and Saturday 16 July struggling public services.

7.30pm

See p.20 57

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

SUN DAY 17 J ULY

FESTIVAL MASS Sunday 17 July 11am

Jeremy Sassoon Piano & Vocals Nicola Farnon Bass

See p.29

Phil Johnson Drum ‘Jeremy Sassoon packed out the house, had the audience, of all ages, up on their feet, dancing. He is a fantastic storyteller and talented musician, with beautiful interpretations of classic songs’ JW3 Renowned UK singer-pianist Jeremy Sassoon narrates and performs his history of Jewish songwriters from the piano, supported by his trio.

The show starts with the golden era of Gershwin and the Great American Songbook and continues right up to the 21st century, spanning artists such as Carole King, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Randy Newman and Amy Winehouse. Jeremy is a captivating host and raconteur, armed with witty repartee and some surprising and little-known facts.

JEREM Y SA SSOON’S MOJ O

Expect great music, several laughs, some audience participation and a few surprises as Jeremy takes you on his personal journey through the contribution of Jewish songwriters to the wonderful world of contemporary music.

(MUSICIANS OF JEWISH ORIGIN) Sunday 17 July 4pm – 6pm Pavilion Arts Centre £15

BUX TON FE S TI VAL DANCE BAND PR E SENT S ‘ M USIC TO DANCE TO’

Join us for a night in the beautiful surroundings of the Octagon as we take a step back in time.

Sunday 17 July 8pm – 10.30pm The Octagon £20

During the first set, as you sit back and enjoy a drink, our professional ballroom dancers will show you the moves, from tango to foxtrot, to jive to rumba. After the interval, the floor is open for us all to have a go. So, be brave, bring your dancing shoes and get ready to dance. Waltz to Moon River, quickstep to Sing Sing Sing and get your Latin moves ready for Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps.

Our very own 10-piece big band, a swinging rhythm section plus three saxophones, two trombones and two trumpets. Guest singers are Andy Bayley and Emma Holcroft who will play the songs that makes you want to dance.

OUR FUTURE IN YOUR HANDS

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LA DONNA DEL LAGO

Sunday 17 July 6pm

Sunday 17 July 7.15pm

See p.24

See p.16

Opera

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Jazz

Books

ZOË PL AY DON Monday 18 July 10am – 11am Pavilion Arts Centre £12

Walks

MON DAY 18 J ULY

The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes: The Transgender Trial that Threatened to Upend the British Establishment Ewan Forbes was born Elizabeth Forbes to a wealthy landowning family in 1912. It quickly became clear that the gender applied to him at birth was not correct. With the financial means of procuring synthetic hormones, Ewan was able both to live as a man and correct the sex on his birth certificate in order to marry. In 1965, on the death of his older brother, Ewan was set to inherit the family baronetcy, but his cousin contested the inheritance and Ewan was forced to defend his male status in an extraordinary court case, testing the legal system of the time to the limits of its understanding. The records of which were considered so threatening they were removed from history.

LOUISE ALDER AND JOSEPH MIDDLETON SOPR ANO AND PIANO

Monday 18 July 12pm – 1pm St John’s Church £25 R Strauss Six Songs

A Berg Seven Early Songs

R Strauss Four Last Songs Soprano Louise Alder has recently made debuts at some of the world’s most prestigious opera houses, including the Wiener Staatsoper, the Bayerische Staatsoper and the Teatro Real in Madrid. Pianist Joseph Middleton returns to Buxton after his memorable recital with Dame Sarah Connolly in 2021.

Joseph is the Artistic Director of the Leeds Lieder Festival. Their programme features two masterpieces of the German late romantic – Richard Strauss´ poignant Four Last Songs and Alban Berg´s achingly beautiful Seven Early Songs.

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MANSFIELD PARK Monday 18 July 3pm

See p.26

VIOLET Monday 18 July 7.15pm

See p.27

K IT T Y A N D A L TA IT Monday 18 July 12.30pm – 1.30pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12 Breadsong: How Baking Changed Our Lives Breadsong is an inspiring story of the life-saving power of discovering a passion. Around the time she turned 14, Kitty began experiencing anxiety, slowly disconnecting from everyone around her, until she discovered baking bread and came to

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A BIF LIFESTYLE EVENT

a stunning realisation: bread is alive. One loaf quickly escalated into an obsession, and Kitty felt better than she had for a long time. Within nine months, Kitty and Al opened The Orange Bakery – and they haven’t stopped since. Expect cinnamon buns and banter at this BIF Lifestyle Event.

Opera

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Jazz

Books

This would make a perfect companion event with any of our performances of Mansfield Park p.26

Walks

MON DAY 18 J ULY

WIL DLIFE WALK WITH M ARK COCK ER FE S T I VA L WA L K

Monday 18 July 11.30am – 12.30pm Meet at the junction of Corbar Road and Lightwood Road £20 See p.37 for information about this event

PICCADILLY (1929) FILM WITH LIVE PIANO ACCO M PA N I M E N T

BY A S H L E Y T H O M P S O N Monday 18 July 8pm – 10pm Pavilion Arts Centre £25 Piccadilly, a black and white silent film with an introduction by John Shapcott and live accompaniment by pianist Ashley Thompson.

G I L L H O R N BY Monday 18 July 4pm – 5pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12 Godmersham Park On 21 January 1804, Anne Sharpe arrives at Godmersham Park in Kent to take up the position of governess. Anne is neither one of the servants, nor one of the family. When Mr Edward Austen’s family comes to stay, Anne forms an immediate attachment to Jane. They write plays together and enjoy long discussions.

However, in the process, Anne reveals herself as not merely pretty, charming and competent; she is clever too and the household cannot fail to notice. Gill Hornby is the bestselling author of Miss Austen.

Directed by Ewald André Dupont, with a screenplay by Arnold Bennett, the Jazz Age film Piccadilly (1929) contrasts London’s glamorous West End night life with a threatening Limehouse underworld. Martin Scorsese calls it ‘Bold, beautifully crafted ... one of the truly great films of the silent era’. Anna May Wong’s performance as the scullery maid who becomes an overnight cabaret sensation made her the first Chinese American super star, whilst giving the film classic status.

Ashley Thompson’s live musical accompaniment recreates the immediacy of music and image that made silent cinema so magical.

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

FR A NCE S SPAL DING Tuesday 19 July 10am – 11am Pavilion Arts Centre £12 The Real and The Romantic: English Art Between Two World Wars

THIS IS AN ILLUSTRATED TALK

Sponsored by

The decades between the wars saw the growing influence of modernism across British art and design. But as modernism reached a peak in the mid-1930s, artists were simultaneously reviving native traditions in modern terms and working with a renewed concern for place, memory, and history. Throughout the period, an emphasis on the ‘real’ and the authentic remained dominant, even as romantic feeling played an important role in shaping artists’ responses to their This would make a subjects. great companion event This is an illustrated with ¬enny Uglow or talk with music from the Manchester Camerata period provided by the p.53 / p.63 BIF Company.

PHILIPPA FOR R E S TER I N CO N V E R S AT I O N W I T H M A R K CO C K E R

Tuesday 19 July 12.30pm – 1.30pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12 On the Trial of Wolves: A British Adventure in the Wild West When TV Presenter Philippa Forrester and her nature-loving family moved to the wilds of Grand Teton National Park, they quickly learned to love the wildlife of Wyoming and nearby Yellowstone.

But nothing she had learned from her studies in the UK could have prepared her for the reality of living amongst the grizzlies, elk and wolves of her new home nor the antipathy of some of her neighbours about sharing their land with wolves.

Philippa journeyed with conservationists, rangers, hunters and ranch owners to investigate when, and why, opinions on wolves became so polarised.

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This would make a great companion event with Karen Lloyd and Tim Birkhead p.35

Opera

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M A NCHE S TER C A MER ATA

Walks

TUE SDAY 19 J ULY

S Feshareki Venus/ZOREH

A Glazunov Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra Op. 109

W I T H T H E B R O D S K Y Q UA R T E T AND JESS GILL AM

C Shaw Entr’acte (version for string orchestra)

Tuesday 19 July 3pm – 5pm, with interval The Octagon £15 – £35

P Tchaikovsky Souvenir de Florence (version for string orchestra)

E Elgar Introduction and Allegro (with the Brodsky Quartet)

This concert brings together two outstanding ensembles, both hailing from Manchester and both celebrating their 50th anniversary. Joining them for this festive occasion is one of British music´s brightest young stars, saxophonist Jess Gillam. She plays Glazunov´s expressive and virtuosic Concerto for Alto Saxophone. The programme also features two compelling works by young female composers, Shiva Feshareki and Caroline Shaw and concludes with Tchaikovsky´s Souvenir de Florence, inspired by the composer´s rejuvenating stay in Italy in 1890.

R EMEMBER ING M A LCOL M FR A SER Tuesday 19 July 11.15am – 12.15pm Assembly Rooms £15 Malcolm Fraser was one of the founders of the Buxton Festival, an international teacher and mentor in opera, and an inspiration to a generation of opera directors, singers, and teachers. He was the first Artistic Director of the then Buxton Festival, and an

instructor at the Royal Northern College of Music.

He was influential in the early careers of many opera singers and directors. Because of the vivid inspiration he offered to so many, we offer an opportunity to remember him and pass on his legacy to a new generation. The event will include a film and panel discussion on Malcolm’s productions and work practices along with an exhibition of archival materials.

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

CHRIS TINA L AMB Tuesday 19 July 5.30pm – 6.30pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12

T UE S DAY 19 J ULY The Prince Rupert Hotel for the Homeless: A True Story of Love and Compassion Amid a Pandemic When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the government launched its ‘Everyone In’ programme, aiming to house the homeless through lockdown. The Prince Rupert, a 4-Star hotel in Shrewsbury with four poster beds and suits of armour, were asked to play their part and host 33 rough sleepers. Sunday Times Chief Foreign Correspondent Christina Lamb became captivated by the story of how the hotel owners and rough sleepers - many of whom had been out of housing for decades - spent months locked in together and wound up transforming each other’s lives.

VIVA LA DIVA Tuesday 19 July 2pm

See p.18

THE J E SS GILL A M ENSEMBLE Tuesday 19 July 8pm – 10pm, with interval Buxton Opera House £15 – £35 A musical force of nature, Jess Gillam has been forging her own adventurous path since she shot to fame becoming the first saxophonist to reach the finals of BBC Young Musician and the youngest ever soloist to perform at the Last Night of the Proms. Passionate about inspiring and bringing joy to people through music, Jess invites audiences on journeys of musical discovery through her electrifying performances and eclectic programming.

Her infectious enthusiasm and passion for classical and non-classical music lights up every stage and in her newly formed Jess Gillam Ensemble she brings together a group of brilliant musicians who share her bold, uplifting and open-minded approach. After topping 64

the classical charts with her latest album TIME, Jess performs music from the record with a small ensemble made up of an incredible group of musicians from a wide range of musical backgrounds but with roots in classical music. This promises to be an explosive concert designed to showcase the diversity, dynamism and versatility of the saxophone, and to inspire audiences to reflect, dance and smile!

FR I E N D S DAY Opera

Music

Jazz

Books

Walks

WEDNE S DAY 2 0 J ULY

V ER A BRIT TAIN AT THE DE VONSHIRE DOME FE S T I VA L WA L K

Wednesday 20 July 11.30am – 1pm Meet at the Reception of the Devonshire Dome £12 See p.46 for information about this event

ROBER T SACK V ILLE-W E S T Wednesday 20 July 10am – 11am Pavilion Arts Centre £12 The Searchers: The Quest for the Lost of the First World War By the end of the First World War, the whereabouts of more than half a million British soldiers were unknown. Robert Sackville-West brings together the extraordinary, moving accounts of those who dedicated their lives to the search for the missing: Rudyard Kipling’s quest for his son’s grave; E M Forster’s conversations with traumatised soldiers in hospital in Alexandria; desperate attempts to communicate with the spirits of the dead; the campaign to establish the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior; and the exhumation and reburial in military cemeteries of hundreds of thousands of bodies. It was a search that would span a century.

CHR IS TOPHER M A LTM AN AN D AU DR E Y SA INT- GIL B A R I TO N E A N D P I A N O

Wednesday 20 July 12pm – 1pm St John’s Church £30 The Soldier: from Severn to Somme Home: G Butterworth Loveliest of Trees A Somervell On the Idle Hill of Summer G Mahler Des Knaben Wunderhorn, No. 9 Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen Journey: G Fauré Les Berceaux Op. 23 No. 1 C Ives 3 Songs of War - He is there I Gurney Severn Meadows G Mahler Des Knaben Wunderhorn, No. 11 Revelge Battle: M Mussorgsky Commander in Chief I Gurney In Flanders H Wolf Mörike-Lieder No 5. Der Tambour R Schumann Der Soldat Epitaph: G Finzi Channel Firing G Butterworth The Lads in their Hundreds (from A Shropshire Lad), Is my team ploughing? (From A Shropshire Lad) F Poulenc Lune d’avril Christopher Maltman is one of the leading baritones of his generation. His career highlights include singing the title role in Claus Guth’s iconic production of Mozart´s Don Giovanni, and more recently productions of Verdi´s Rigoletto in Frankfurt, Berlin and Vienna. He is accompanied by the outstanding pianist, vocal coach and conductor Audrey Saint-Gil. This programme is a coherent but flexible narrative that produces a touching memoire to all those affected by war.

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FR I E N D S DAY BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

BRO DSK Y QUA R TE T Wednesday 20 July 3pm – 5pm, with interval St John’s Church £30 L van Beethoven String Quartet, Op. 135 B Britten String Quartet No. 3

D Shostakovich String Quartet No. 15

GYPSY Wednesday 20 July 2pm and 7.15pm

Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Brodsky Quartet has performed more than 3,000 concerts on the major concert stages of the world and has released more than seventy recordings. A natural curiosity and insatiable desire to explore have propelled the group in many artistic directions. This continues to ensure the quartet not only has a place at the very forefront of the international chamber music scene but also its rich and varied musical existence. They are widely

CHURCH M AT TERS FE S T I VA L WA L K

Wednesday 20 July 3.30pm – 5pm Meet at St John’s Church £12

See p.22 celebrated for their pioneering work with a diverse range of performing artists, while their collaboration with many distinguished composers gives them an unrivalled opportunity to influence and inspire some of the newest work for string quartet.

Carol Crook, a local tour guide, leads a walk to three historically and architecturally important churches spanning over four hundred years. St John’s, St Mary’s and St Anne’s churches offer an opportunity to reflect on the social history of a developing town.

A NN A K E AY Wednesday 20 July 4pm – 5pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12 A Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown

This would make a great companion event with Simon Thurley p.67

ANTONIO E CLEOPATRA Wednesday 20 July 7.30pm

See p.20 66

In 1649 Britain was engulfed by revolution. On a raw January afternoon, the Stuart king, Charles I, was executed for treason. Within weeks, the English monarchy had been abolished and the ‘useless and dangerous’ House of Lords discarded. The people, it was announced, were now the sovereign force in the land. The Restless Republic ranges from London to Leith, Cornwall to Connacht, from the corridors of power to the common fields and hillsides. Gathering her cast of trembling visionaries and banished royalists, dextrous mandarins, and bewildered bystanders, Anna Keay, Director of the Landmark Trust, brings to life the story of what happened when a conservative people tried revolution.

Opera

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THUR S DAY 21 J ULY

SIM ON TH UR LE Y Thursday 21 July 10am – 11am Pavilion Arts Centre £12 Palaces of Revolution: Life, Death and Art at the Stuart Court Life in the court of the House of Stuart has been shrouded in mystery: the first half of the century overshadowed by the fall and execution of Charles I, the second half in the complete collapse of the House itself. Lost to time is the extraordinary contribution the Stuarts made to the fabric of sovereignty. Former Chief Executive of English Heritage Simon Thurley takes us from Royston and Newmarket, where James I appropriated most of the town centre as a sort of rough-and-ready royal housing estate, to the steamy Turkish baths at Whitehall where Charles II seduced his mistresses.

We see the intimate private lives of the monarchs, presented through the buildings in which they lived and the objects they commissioned.

This would make a great companion event with Anna Keay p.66

England’s Orpheus:

H Purcell Music for a While; Lord, What is Man?; Sweeter Than Roses M Marais Les Voix Humaines (lute solo)

G F Handel Hendel, non può mia musa (Recit - Aria - Recit - Aria); O Lord whose mercies numberless (from Saul) J Dowland Preludium (lute solo); Behold, a wonder here; Flow my tears; King of Denmark’s Galliard (lute solo); Can she excuse my wrongs?; Now O Now my needs must part R de Visée Chaconne (lute solo)

IE S T Y N DAV IE S A N D THO M A S DU NFOR D CO U N T E R T E N O R A N D LU T E Thursday 21 July 12pm – 1pm St John’s Church £30

Countertenor Iestyn Davies is widely recognised as one of the world’s finest singers. He is celebrated for his intelligent musicianship and the beauty and technical dexterity of his voice. He has won numerous awards, including two Gramophone Awards. In 2017, he was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for services to music. At the heart of this recital with his regular duet partner, lutenist Thomas Dunford, are songs by two of England´s finest lyrical composers, Henry Purcell and John Dowland.

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L A DY H A LE Thursday 21 July 12.30pm – 1.30pm Buxton Opera House £15 Spider Woman: A Life As President of the Supreme Court, Lady Hale won global attention in finding the 2019 prorogation of Parliament to be unlawful.

Yet that dramatic moment was merely the pinnacle of a career of pioneering judicial reform. How does a self-professed ‘girly swot’ get ahead and become the most senior judge in the country in a profession dominated by men? A lifelong smasher of glass-ceilings, who took as her motto ‘women are equal to everything’, her landmark rulings in areas including domestic violence, divorce, mental health and equality were her attempt to correct that.

Sponsored by

MANSFIELD PARK Thursday 21 July 3pm

See p.26

COMMON PEOPLE

VIVA LA DIVA

Thursday 21 July 3.30pm – 5pm Meet at Buxton Opera House £12

See p.18

FE S T I VA L WA L K

See p.43 for information about this event 68

Thursday 21 July 7.15pm

Opera

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Walks

THUR S DAY 21 J ULY

G I L E S M I LTO N Thursday 21 July 4pm – 5pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12 A Checkmate in Berlin: The Cold War Showdown that Shaped the Modern World Berlin was in ruins when Soviet forces fought their way towards the Reichstag in the spring of 1945.

The fate of the German capital had been sealed four months earlier at the Yalta Conference. The city, along with the rest of Germany, was to be carved up between the victorious powers – Britain, America, France and Soviet Russia. On paper, it seemed a pragmatic solution; in reality, it fired the starting gun for the Cold War. No longer united by the common purpose of defeating Germany, they reverted to their pre-war hostility and suspicion, ensuring that Berlin became an explosive battleground.

Checkmate in Berlin tells this exhilarating, highstakes tale of grit, skulduggery, and raw power.

DOMINIC HALPIN AND THE HONE Y B’S Thursday 21 July 8pm – 10.30pm Pavilion Arts Centre £20

Dominic Halpin Guitar and Vocals Ben Wiltshire Bass Richard Wetherall Piano Jonathan Price Drums Kim Nishikawara Saxophone Dominic Halpin & The Honey B’s present live music at its very best. Great jazz and swing tunes from Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, Elvis Presley, Louis Prima and Frank Sinatra amongst many others. The Honey B’s are just the best swing band, playing great music from the 1950s onwards. My Baby Just Cares For Me, Fly Me To The Moon, Buono Sera, The Way You Look Tonight, I’m in the Mood, Americano and many, many more.

It’s hard to compare Dominic to anyone, but waiter if you please: ‘Two shots of Italian Dean Martin croon, a slice of Frank Sinatra swing, blend that together with a healthy dash of good old Elvis ... Bang! you have it’...Waiter make mine a double Shaken AND Stirred!

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TOBY W ILK INSON Friday 22 July 10am – 11am Pavilion Arts Centre £12 Tutankhamun’s Trumpet Toby Wilkinson is an internationally acclaimed Egyptologist and vice chancellor of the Fiji National University. His latest book is published to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the moment that Howard Carter and Lord Carnavon broke open Tutankhamun’s Tomb. Instead of concentrating on the well-worn subject of the discovery, Professor Wilkinson looks at the objects buried with the boy-king as the source for a detailed portrait of Ancient Egypt. One hundred artifacts from the tomb are allowed to speak again for a culture, its development, and lasting impact.

ELE A NOR COR R AN D EMIL DU NCU MB VIOLIN AND PIANO

Friday 22 July 11.15am – 12.15pm The Assembly Rooms £15 L Janáček Violin Sonata V Williams The Lark Ascending E Grieg Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major Eleanor Corr is a British-Irish violinist and winner of the 2020 Royal Over-Seas League Gold Medal.

She has given critically acclaimed recitals in venues such as Buckingham Palace, Wigmore Hall and at Brighton Early Music Festival as well as for Radio 3. Pianist Emil Duncumb has performed across Europe, both as a soloist and chamber musician.

Starting the programme with Janácek’s Sonata, which is full of foreboding, this is followed with Vaughan Williams’ perennial favourite The Lark Ascending, which although written in the same year as the Janácek, is a complete contrast, celebrating the idyllic English countryside. They finish the programme with the sublime Violin Sonata No. 2 by Grieg.

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Walks

FRI DAY 22 JULY

J US TIN W EBB Friday 22 July 12.30pm – 1.30pm Buxton Opera House £15 The Gift of a Radio: My Life and Other Trainwrecks Justin Webb’s childhood was far from ordinary. Life at home was dysfunctional at best. But with gun-wielding school masters and sub-standard living conditions, Quaker boarding school wasn’t much better. The backdrop to this coming-of-age story is Britain in the 1970s, with Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, strikes, inflation and IRA bombings. So, was it the brutal experiences of his upbringing, or an innate ambition and drive, that shaped the urbane and successful radio presenter we know and love now?

GOU L D PI A NO TR IO Friday 22 July 3pm – 5pm, with interval St John’s Church £30 L van Beethoven Op. 70 No. 1 Ghost Trio J Casken Lust of Roots (world premiere) A Dvořák Trio in E minor Dumky

The Gould Piano Trio have been compared in the Washington Post to the great Beaux Arts Trio for their ‘musical fire’ and ‘dedication to the genre’ and have remained at the forefront of the international chamber music scene for a quarter of a century.

Their programme opens with Beethoven’s ‘Ghost’ Trio, so named because of its eerie slow movement.

Beethoven was said to have been contemplating an opera on the subject of Macbeth at the time. John Casken’s Lust of roots receives its world premiere in Buxton and the programme ends with Dvoràk’s Dumky Trio, whose six short movements are simple in form but pack an emotional punch.

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FR I DAY 22 JULY

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

ANDREW MITCHELL MP

IN CONVERSATION WITH IAIN DALE Friday 22 July 4pm – 5pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12 Beyond a Fringe: Tales from a Reformed Establishment Lackey From his prep school years, through the Army to Cambridge, the City of London and the Palace of Westminster, Mitchell has passed through a series of British institutions at a time of furious social and political change. In the process he has become rather more cynical about the British Establishment.

Beyond a Fringe reflects on the perils and pleasures of loyalty, whether to a party, to individuals or to one’s own principles. Expect engaging honesty and hilarious political anecdotes with irresistible insider gossip from the heart of Westminster.

NIGEL PRICE ORGAN TRIO

ANTONIO E CLEOPATRA

LA DONNA DEL LAGO

Friday 22 July 1pm

Friday 22 July 7.15pm

See p.20

See p.16

W I T H VA S I L I S X E N O P O U LO S Friday 22 July 8pm – 10.30pm Pavilion Arts Centre £20 Nigel Price Guitar Ross Stanley B3 Hammond Organ Joel Barford Drums Vasilis Xenopoulos Tenor Saxophone If you like your jazz fast and hard and appreciate the beautiful sound of the Hammond Organ, this is the gig for you. The Nigel Price Organ Trio, nominated for the 2021 Parliamentary Jazz Award for ‘Best ensemble’ (they won in 2010) and winners of the 2016 British Jazz Award for ‘Best Small Group’, will be playing selections from their 72

vast back catalogue as well as the recently released and critically acclaimed Wes Re-Imagined (2021 Ubuntu), an album that celebrates the compositions of jazz guitar icon Wes Montgomery, but reworked into new, exciting and unexpected feels. They will be joined by the jazz saxophone virtuoso Vasilis Xenopoulos. Expect a night of exciting interplay, outrageous solos and a few laughs too!

Opera

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Jazz

Books

Walks

SAT UR DAY 23 J ULY

IAIN DALE, COLLEEN GR AFF Y, JUSTIN WEBB AND SIR CHRISTOPHER MEYER Saturday 23 July 12pm – 1.30pm Buxton Opera House £15

The Presidents: 250 Years of American Political Leadership American politics remains deeply divided but in so many ways it always had been. Anglo-American relations were also fraught for much of the first 150 years of the new American Republic. Only since the 1940s has the supposed ‘special relationship’ existed. Our discussion will explain why slavery and race have transcended the term of office of every President. Broadcaster Iain Dale leads his expert line up, consisting of former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Colleen Graffy; former BBC North American Editor Justin Webb; and Ambassador to the US (1997- 2003) Sir Christopher Meyer.

L van Beethoven String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18 , No. 4 Sally Beamish String Quartet No. 2 ‘Opus California’

THE B IF CH A MBER ENSEMBLE: T H E CO R R A N Q UA R T E T Saturday 23 July 2pm – 3pm Pavilion Arts Centre £20

This concert sees the return of the Corran Quartet, the BIF Chamber Ensemble for 2021 and 2022, whose appearances over the year have made a strong impression on audiences. Formed in 2019 they have studied with James Boyd and Catherine Mason and have performed live on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’, and at the Big BIF Weekend in October 2021.

Although it is Beethoven’s late quartets that are often considered some of his most important works in the genre, his six early quartets, Op. 18 already show him as the natural successor to Mozart and Haydn and a master of the form.

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BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

Snow Widows Katherine MacInnes retells the story of the race for the South Pole from the perspective of the women whose lives would be forever changed by it. For the first time, and with unprecedented access to family archives, she recounts the lives of five extraordinary women: Kathleen Scott, who campaigned relentlessly for Scott’s reputation; Oriana Wilson who understood more than most what the men faced in Antarctica and ‘Empire’ Emily Bowers, who had already survived the burning of Perak in the third Anglo-Burmese war. Snow Widows also explores the lives of the indomitable Caroline Oates, who openly snubbed the king’s invitations to celebrate the expedition; and Lois Evans, who was forced to endure the media’s assertions that her husband, the sole ‘Jack Tar’ in a band of officers, must have been responsible for the party’s downfall.

K ATHERINE M AC I N N E S Saturday 23 July 10am – 11am Pavilion Arts Centre £12

LINDSEY FITZHARRIS Saturday 23 July 4pm – 5pm Pavilion Arts Centre £12 The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon’s Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War One

This would make a great companion event with the Christopher Maltman and Audrey Saint-Gil recital or Robert Sackville-West p.65 74

Award-winning medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris tells the true story of the pioneering plastic surgeon Harold Gillies, who dedicated himself to restoring the faces of a brutalized generation.

Gillies, a Cambridge-educated New Zealander, established one of the world’s first hospitals dedicated entirely to facial reconstruction. At a time when losing a limb made a soldier a hero but losing a face made him a monster to a society largely intolerant of facial differences, Gillies restored not just faces, but identities and spirits.

Opera

Music

Jazz

Books

Walks

SAT UR DAY 23 J ULY

CO ME A N D SING H AY DN’S THE CR E ATION Saturday 23 July 7.30pm – 9.30pm, with interval St John’s Church £25 Buxton Musical Society Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Michael Williams MBE with soloists from the Festival Company.

Haydn’s colourful oratorio returns to Buxton as part of The Creation Project – two oratorios written two hundred and twenty-two years apart about the planet, which we inhabit. Kate Whitley’s oratorio Our Future In Your Hands explores the impact of climate change and Haydn’s The Creation celebrates the creation of the world. The Buxton Musical Society will perform Haydn’s great musical drama conducted by Michael Williams MBE.

Experienced choral singers are invited to share the joy of singing this great work by joining the Society Chorus in the day’s rehearsals and performance.

The morning rehearsal workshop will be led by the inspirational Jack Apperley, Assistant Chorus Master of the London Symphony Chorus, followed by an afternoon orchestral rehearsal and evening performance. Applications to join the chorus are available from the Buxton Musical Society website until 24 June 2022. buxtonmusicalsociety.org.uk

VIVA LA DIVA Saturday 23 July 7.15pm

See p.18 Ian Shaw Vocals

Barry Green Piano Dave Ohm Drums Simon Little Bass Jamie Safir Keys

Award-winning vocalist and ‘a true song stylist for our times’ Downbeat,USA

I A N S H AW A N D H I S Q UA R T E T WHEN JONI MET BOWIE

Saturday 23 July 8pm – 10.30pm Pavilion Arts Centre £25

Shaw salutes two song writing titans and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artists in this tribute to David Bowie and Joni Mitchell.

Shaw has recorded a critically highly praised album of Joni Mitchell (Drawn To All Things) and has a personal connection to both, which is the core of this exciting show. In this performance, Ian is joined by his quartet to play his arrangements of these songs by two of the most popular and influential artists of recent decades.

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Shackleford Pianos

Specialists in: piano sales, restoration, French polishing, tuning, transport, event hire.

Shackleford Pianos is a Steingraeber & Söhne, Piano Manufactory Official Dealer.

Crown Centre, Bond Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK11 6QS shackleford pianos new.indd 1

06/02/2020 17:00

Annual Membership starts from £33

I

t was a delight to welcome so many of the Friends back to Buxton last year. We missed those of you who weren’t able to make the trip to the hills and very much hope that the rich and varied mix of opera, music and book events within this brochure will tempt you to join us once again.

With the full Festival programme now available it’s the perfect time to become a Friend – you’ll be the first to hear news about the Festival, receive invites to events throughout the year, access exclusive deals on music holidays and benefit from the pick of the seats with your priority booking.

To highlight the importance of the Friends each Festival Wednesday will be a ‘Friends Day’ – providing an informal opportunity for us to say hello and hear about your Festival experiences.

If you’re already a Friend we’d like to offer our grateful thanks for your continued support. If you’re not please do consider joining the 2000 others who play such a vital role in helping deliver our unique Summer Festival.

We’re delighted to see the number of Next Generation (under 35-year-old) Friends continue to grow and are pleased to share that booking the ‘Next Gen’ £10 tickets for any performance has been brought forward this year to 1 May.

Pete Spriggs Chair, Friends of Buxton International Festival To join, search ‘Friends’ on B U X T O N F E S T I VA L .CO.U K

FRIENDS’ E V ENT S All welcome!

Why not get into the Festival spirit early by joining us at one of the following Friends’ Events?

LUNCH & RECITAL BY THE E N G L I S H TO U R I N G O P E R A

W I N E TA S T I N G & JA Z Z AT T H E R O O K E R Y

Lismore Road, Buxton

Ashford in the Water

Friday 18 March, 12:45pm – 3.45pm

Thursday 16 June, 6:30pm – 9:00pm

Operatic recital by soloists from the Olivier Award-winning English Touring Opera in the splendour of Moorcroft House

An early summer evening treat filled with wine tasting and jazz in a beautiful garden setting near Bakewell.

£40 (including lunch)

£35

For more information and to book see www.buxtonfestival.co.uk/friends-of-bif or send a cheque payable to ‘Friends of BIF’ to 3 The Square, Buxton, SK17 6AZ. 77

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

CO M P TO N GUEST HOUSE

GRENDON BED & B R E A K FA S T

Beautiful Victorian Guest house with all its original features. We are a family business that is trying to create a warm homely feeling on a warmly low price. We are in the heart of Buxton with close walking distance to the Opera House and other attractions.

A luxury B&B offering high class accommodation with a homely, personal touch; situated on a quiet lane just 15-minutes’ walk from the town centre. Andie and Neil pride themselves on providing warm hospitality and service.

07484 200 254 4 Compton Road Buxton SK17 9DN comptonguesthouse.co.uk

01298 436259 Bishops Lane Buxton SK17 6UN stay@grendonbnb.co.uk

The stunning Edwardian building is surrounded by beautiful gardens and has large, bright rooms, mixing original features with contemporary soft furnishings.

H AW T H O R N FA R M

B & B & L AV E N D E R C O T TAG E ( S E L F C AT E R I N G )

QUEEN’S HE AD HOTEL

A 16th-century Grade II listed Farmhouse full of character. Being one of the oldest buildings in Buxton, originally owned by the Duke of Devonshire, it now has its fifth owners.

We have 6 rooms available for guests, two of which are in the main house (which are not dog friendly) and four are in the barn conversion across the drive (these are dog friendly).

There is free on site parking, and we are within walking distance of Buxton town sentence.

The Queen’s Head Hotel offers bed and breakfast in our newly built accommodation rooms and also in a converted stable block, both situated at the rear of our premises. All thirteen of our rooms have central heating, en-suite bathrooms, tea/coffee making facilities and Sky’s ‘in-room’ television service.

Larger groups requiring accommodation are welcome but it’s best to call with your requirements.

01298 23230 Fairfield Road Buxton SK17 7ED hawthornfarmbuxton.co.uk

01298 23841 High Street Buxton SK17 6EU queensbuxton.co.uk

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BIGGIN HALL Biggin Hall is a grade II listed building standing in 8 acres of its own grounds and situated in the Peak District National Park. All rooms are en-suite, spacious and individually furnished. It features an award-winning restaurant and a new panoramic conservatory with breathtaking views over the grounds.

01298 84451 Biggin-by-Hartington Buxton SK17 0DH enquiries@bigginhall.co.uk bigginhall.co.uk

ROSELEIGH GUEST HOUSE Only a 5-minute scenic walk from Buxton Opera House, this Victorian 13-bedroom, family run guest-house overlooks the Pavilion Gardens and ornamental lake. Free parking for up to 9 cars. Visit our website for a virtual tour. B&B from £49pp based on two people sharing an en suite room.

01298 24904 19 Broad Walk Buxton SK17 6JR enquiries@roseleighhotel.co.uk roseleighhotel.co.uk

WHERE TO S TAY

T H E PA L AC E H OT E L B U X TO N & S PA Set in five acres of landscaped gardens, Centrally located, Just a 5 minute walk from the Opera House, offering 186 en-suite bedrooms, Bars , Lounge, Beauty Salon & Leisure Facilities including a 14-metre indoor pool. Pre-theatre dinners are available in our Dovedale Restaurant from 6pm.

01298 22001 Palace Road Buxton SK17 6AG britanniahotels.com/hotels/ palace-hotel-buxton

LEE WOOD H OT E L Set in its own mature grounds, this elegant Georgian hotel is situated only a few moments’ walk from the centre of the spa town and its famous opera house. Family owned for 56 years, our 4-star hotel offers high quality accommodation and award-winning dining.

01298 23002 The Park Buxton SK17 6TQ leewoodhotel.co.uk

Cowdale Hall Farm

Holiday Cottages & Caravan Site

Cowdale Hall Farm offers self catering holiday accommodation for all party sizes. Our old barns have been converted into comfortable accommodation offering a choice of a cosy couple’s retreat or parties of up to 12.

Situated just 2.5 miles out of Buxton in the quiet hamlet of Cowdale. Give us a call to discuss your needs and kick back and relax after a busy day exploring.

Cowdale Hall Farm Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 9SE T: 07944 456204 I E: lucy@cowdalehall.co.uk I Fb: Cowdalehallfarm

WHEELDON T R E E S FA R M A luxury retreat of 10 self-catering cottages set in 12 acres of stunning Peak District National Park, close to Buxton and Bakewell. New for 2022 is our fabulous Farmhouse with logburning hot-tub. Alongside our cosy cottages, guests can use our free EV charging, honesty shop, laundry and electric bikes to explore one of the Derbyshire’s most beautiful locations.

01298 83219 Earl Sterndale Buxton SK17 0AA stay@wheeldontreesfarm.co.uk wheeldontreesfarm.co.uk

Discover the Wonders of the Peak

FREE ENTRY

Exhibitions | Family Friendly | Shop | Events Tues – Sat: 10am – 5pm Sundays & Bank Holidays (Easter – Sep): 12 – 4pm

derbyshire.gov.uk/buxtonmuseum Terrace Road, Buxton SK17 6DA 01629 533540

useum Poster A7 Advert_DEC 2021_FINAL.indd 1

15/12/2021 14:37:01

42 High Street, Buxton SK17 6HB SECONDHAND BOOKS & BOOKBINDING

Mon–Sat 9.30 to 5.00 Sun 12.00 to 4.00

Telephone: 01298 73100

scrivbooks@hotmail.co.uk www.scrivenersbooks.co.uk In the Guardian’s 10 Best Bookshops

WHERE TO V ISIT

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

DAV I D M E L LO R A vibrant independent gallery and arts centre, managed by artists.

Exhibitions of contemporary art and craft from the region including paintings, prints, mixed media, photography, textiles, ceramics, glass, jewellery and cards at affordable prices. Hosts an eclectic programme of classes, workshops and live performance throughout the year.

Open every day in July.

01298 937375 Hardwick Square South Buxton S17 6PY hello@thegreenmangallery.com thegreenmangallery.com

POOLE’S C AV E R N

JA N TA R

Modern design in the Peak District National Park. Visit the famous David Mellor Cutlery Factory, Design Museum, Café and Shop for the best in modern tableware and kitchenware. The free museum shows Mellor’s historic designs, from teaspoons to traffic lights.

Jantar jewellery, located within the Cavendish Arcade, specialising in sterling silver, Baltic Amber, local Derbyshire Blue John and unique gemstones for over 20 years. With timeless classics and incredible statement pieces, it’s a treasure trove not to be missed.

01433 650220 The Round Building Hathersage S32 1BA davidmellordesign.co.uk

01298 73116 Cavendish Arcade Buxton SK17 6BQ Jantar.co.uk

ISL A FINE ART CARDS & GIFTS

CROMFORD MILLS

For centuries curious visitors have explored and marvelled at the natural subterranean world that is Poole’s Cavern. Explore Poole’s Cavern today with our expert guides and journey though the beautifully illuminated chambers to discover for yourself the magnificent underground scenery of the Peak District.

Aimed at the discerning customer, Isla Fine Art Cards & Gifts stocks a carefully curated range of beautiful and stylish gifts and cards alongside a selection of art by local artists and artisans. If you are looking for something a bit different in Buxton then this is the shop for you.

Established in 1771, Sir Richard Arkwright’s Cromford Mills is the birthplace of the modern factory system and the first successful water-powered cotton spinning mill.

Immerse yourself in history with a tour or take a walk in the picturesque Derwent Valley. Enjoy our shops, cafes and don’t miss the best scones in Derbyshire!

01298 26978 Green Lane Buxton SK17 9DH info@poolescavern.co.uk poolescavern.co.uk

01298 938492 4b & 5 The Colonnade Buxton SK17 6AL isla@isladirect.co.uk isladirect.co.uk

01629 823256 Mill Lane Cromford DE4 3RQ info@arkwrightsociety.org.uk cromfordmills.org.uk 81

Great Dome Art & Design Fair Devonshire Dome, Buxton

29th-31st July 2022

£2 Entry

Fri – 6.30pm-8.30pm Sat – 10.00am-5.00pm Sun – 10.00am-4.30pm

Devonshire Dome, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6RY peakdistrictartisans.co.uk

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

CO LU M B I N E We are a small independent restaurant, 3 minute’s walk from Buxton’s Opera House, serving modern British food, cooked to order. We are open for both pre and post theatre suppers by prior reservation.

01298 78752 7 Hall Bank Buxton SK17 6EW columbinerestaurant.co.uk

CHESHIRE CHEESE The perfect destination for a great pint and delicious home cooking. Food is served daily including pub classics, specials and our Sunday lunch is not to be missed!

Large beer garden, weekly live music, Sunday quiz, dog friendly – there is something for everyone!

01298 212453 37-39 High Street, Buxton SK17 6HA cheshirecheese@titanicbrewery.co.uk titanicbrewery.co.uk

WHERE TO E AT

LU B E N S A small independent bar & kitchen located a few minutes walk from Buxton Opera House. Open daily from 11.30am until late, serving local cask ales, a full range of wines & spirits alongside a varied & seasonal food menu. Relaxing, friendly atmosphere. Reservations welcomed.

01298 384394 8a Hall Bank Buxton SK17 6EW

EVERY THING ROSY INTERIORS & V I N TAG E T E A R O O M S Make your home cosy with Everything’s Rosy…

A range of gorgeous gifts, fashion & home accessories available from our Interiors shop, with ranges such as Powder accessories & Voyage home décor.

From our Vintage Tearooms, a variety of sandwiches, paninis, Derbyshire oatcakes & locally baked sweet treats including warmed scones served with clotted cream and jam.

01298 78778 4-8 Hardwick Street, Buxton SK17 6DH everythingsrosyinteriors.com 83

DAVID MELLOR Design Museum, Café and Country Shop

Come to the David Mellor Country shop for the best of modern tableware and kitchenware, including the world famous David Mellor cutlery. Visit the Design Museum showing the full historic collection of Mellor designs from tea spoons to traffic lights, and try our café serving lovely local food.

The Round Building, Hathersage,

Derbyshire S32 1BA

Telephone 01433 650220 Open Monday to Saturday 10am–5pm, Sunday 11am–5pm davidmellordesign.co.uk

Buxton festival ad.indd 1

Enhance your visit to the Festival at Pavilion Gardens We serve pre-show meals, afternoon tea, lunch and breakfast in our spacious Tea Rooms overlooking the Promenade and Gardens.

Open 9am – 7pm Monday to Sunday Pre-show dining between 5 - 7pm Call 01298 23114 to reserve a table

paviliongardens.co.uk

18/1/19 10:18:20

THE CORRAN QUARTET HARE HILL Buxton International Festival is bringing a flavour of its summer festival to a National Trust jewel, Hare Hill in Cheshire.

Come and hear the BIF Chamber Ensemble - Corran Quartet with a selection of classical music in a friendly, fun and welcoming atmosphere.

Join us for a magical, outdoor performance in the walled garden of Hare Hill, Alderley Edge.

Remember to bring along chairs or rugs to sit on and a picnic!

SATURDAY 21 MAY 2022, GATES OPEN AT 6PM TICKETS: £15 BOOKING: 01298 70395 OR VISIT WWW.BUXTONFESTIVAL.CO.UK

orm 3 Launch Night Platform 3 Launch Night

Under the banner of Platform 3, BIF works year-round in the community, engaging people of all ages and creating opportunities to get involved in music and the arts. Platform 3 is a new Learning and Engagement initiative developed by Buxton International Festival and Buxton Opera House. For more information on the activities taking place and how you can get involved, contact Allie Spencer aspencer@boh.org.uk.

PLATFORM 3 – ENGAGE CREATE PERFORM

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

B U X TO N OPER A HOUSE Events from

12pm – late See website for opera end times.

Access Information

3 wheelchair spaces available in the Stalls. Accessible toilet at ground floor level. The building is not accessible by motorised scooter.

Passive infra-red (PIR) system available for performances with £10 cash deposit.

Seating Plan*

Stage

01298 72190 Water Street, Buxton SK17 6XN

Stalls A-C

Refreshments

Stalls D-N

We recommend to pre-order interval drinks at the bar

Stalls O-Q Dress Circle boxes Dress Circle Sides Dress Circle centre

Please reserve wheelchair spaces and PIR systems with the Box Office.

Upper Circle sides Upper Circle Gallery

*

Seating plan for Gypsy: A Musical Fable differs. Please see buxtonoperahouse.org.uk for full details

La donna del lago, Viva la Diva

Violet

Strictly Musical

Gypsy: A Musical Fable*

Stalls A-C

£54

£40

£25

£48

Stalls D - N

£64

£45

£30

£64

Stalls O-Q

£39

£30

£20

£39

Dress Circle sides

£74

£50

£35

£71

Dress Circle centre

£79

£55

£35

£71

Dress Circle boxes

£74

£50

£30

£64

Upper Circle centre

£54

£40

£25

£48

Upper Circle sides

£25

£25

£15

£25

Gallery

£25

£25

£15

£25

86

V ENUE INFOR M ATION Stage

Stage

Stage Ground Floor

Stalls

1

5

6

Bleacher 3

Balcony unreserved

Balcony

2

4

7

PAV I L I O N A R T S CENTRE

ST JOHN’S CHURCH

O C TAG O N AT PAV I L I O N G A R D E N S

Events from

Events from

Events from

Access Information

Access Information

Access Information

10am – 5pm

2 wheelchair spaces available in the bleachers. Passive infrared (PIR) system available for performances with £10 cash deposit.

11am – 10pm

7.30pm – 10pm

Fully accessible by wheelchair, apart from the Balcony.

6 St John’s Road Buxton SK17 6XN

Fully accessible to all.

St John’s Road Buxton SK17 6BE

22 St John’s Road Buxton SK17 6XN

T H E A S S E M B LY R O O M S

T H E PA L AC E H O T E L

Events from

Events from

Access Information

Access Information

10am – 5.30pm Accessible entrance through main doors of Buxton Crescent Hotel. Lift available to upper floors.

01298 808999 Buxton Crescent Hotel Buxton SK17 6BQ

12.30pm – late Fully accessible via rear entrance.

01298 22001 Palace Road Buxton SK16 6AG

87

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

BOOK ING INFOR M ATION

P U B L I C B O O K I N G O PE N S 6 M AY B OX O F F I C E Box Office opening times Mon - Sat: 10am – 6pm Sun Closed.

Opening times during the Festival

Mon – Sat: 10am – 6pm, or 8pm if there is a performance in the Opera House Sun: 12pm – 8pm, or 10am if there is a performance at the Opera House Buxton Opera House Water Street, Buxton SK17 6XN 01298 72190 customerservice@boh.org.uk Book online at buxtonfestival.co.uk

Ticket types

Adult Full price Under 35s £10 tickets available to Next Generation Friends (join for free at buxtonfestival.co.uk/ friends-of-BIF).

Carer tickets Free tickets for registered carers reserved alongside full price ticket. Please reserve with the box office by email or phone.

Ticket availability at venues Tickets for venues other than the Opera House can be bought on the door half an hour before each event, unless sold out.

CENTRAL T E C H N O LO G Y

Changes to programme We publish any cancellations or changes to the music programme or to the cast of the operas or the musical on the Buxton International Festival website and social media. Refunds will not be given if there is a change to either the musical works performed or if a cast member has to be replaced. Please check before travelling. All information in this brochure is correct at the time of going to press.

Refunds Tickets cannot be refunded or exchanged, unless an event is cancelled. We strongly advise you take out ‘Booking Protect’ insurance when you purchase tickets to any of our events. Postage charges are non-refundable.

Safety information We want you to enjoy your time during the Festival and to feel safe and comfortable. Safety measures are in place in all our venues and we will be following the government’s COVID-19 guidelines, which are subject to change. Please get in touch on 01298 70395 if you have any questions or concerns.

Special Offers Book 3 operas for 10% Off* La donna del lago p.16 Viva la Diva p.18 Antonio e Cleopatra p.20 *Does not include Under 35’s tickets

Jazz Weekender Ticket £160 This includes entry to 10 jazz gigs from 7 – 10 July, plus a gallery seat at Gypsy: A Musical Fable, worth £25.

Visit buxtonfestival.co.uk for more information.

JOHN WHIBLEY ‘ H O L I DAY S W I T H M U S I C ’

CT provides proactive managed IT services for businesses that need stability, strong networks and business continuity.

We specialise in IT services which enhance business processes and our unique partnership approach ensures our offering is aligned with business objectives right from the outset. CT often meets potential new businesses when they find they have grown beyond their current IT capability. Our specialists will then audit what they have, understand the goals of the business and then develop a solution that will grow with them through our Managed Services, Cloud and Data Security Solutions. We offer our professional services for organisations across all sectors in Sheffield, Chesterfield, Derbyshire and East Midlands.

Since 1999 John Whibley and the “Holidays with Music” team have taken thousands of music and opera lovers on hundreds of Musical Holidays across Europe, America and the UK. With the recent addition of Travel for the Arts, our 2022 season offers more than 45 different opera, orchestral, chamber music and festival holidays to choose from.

Please contact us for a free brochure.

01246 266 130 Quantum Point, Sheepbridge Works Chesterfield S41 9RX sales@ct.co.uk ct.co.uk

01663 746 578 Ash Lea, Longlands Road Derbyshire SK22 3BY whibley.co.uk

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SUPP OR TER S Buxton International Festival and artists are grateful for the support of the following FUNDERS

CO R P O R AT E PA R T N E R S AND SUPPORTERS

OLD HALL HOTEL

T R U S T S A N D F O U N DAT I O N S

Hall Bank Trust, Stonehouse Educational Foundation, Andre Bernheim Charitable Trust, Kirby Laing Foundation, Michael Guest Charitable Foundation, Derek Hill Foundation, C & E Cantor Trust, Michael Tippett Music Foundation, N Smith Charitable Trust, Rainbow Dickinson Trust, The Marchus Trust

S P E C I A L T H A N K S TO

7

BIF 2022 7 – 24 ¬uly

14

6

11

4

2

12

5

3 1

13

7

10 15

8

9

KEY BIF VENUES

P C A R PA R K S

1. Buxton Opera House

7. Pavilion Gardens Car Park

3. St John’s Church

9. South St Car Park

2. Pavilion Arts Centre

4. The Octagon at Pavilion Gardens

5. Assembly Room at Buxton Crescent Hotel 6. The Palace Hotel 7. Wildlife Walk with Mark Cocker Festival Walk meeting point

8. Market Place Car Park 10. The Slopes Car Park

11. Spring Gardens & Wye St Car Park 12. Sylvan Car Park 13. BOH Car Park

14. Railway Station Car Park 15. Market Place Car Park

90

G E T T I N G H ER E

BY C A R

BY B U S

One hour’s drive (approx.) from the M1, M6, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham and Derby.

There are 1001 car park spaces in Buxton including: - 50 pay & display with 2 Blue Badge spaces at Buxton Opera House.

- 262 pay & display with 15 Blue Badge spaces at Pavilion Gardens.

Please allow extra time

Direct services from Chesterfield, Derby, Glossop, Huddersfield, Macclesfield, Sheffield, Stockport and Stoke. derbysbus.info traveline.info

BY R A I L Ditch the car, travel with with your travel partner Avanti West Coast.

Trains are direct from Euston to Macclesfield in less than 2 hours, plus a 20 minute taxi ride, or change at Stockport for trains to Buxton.

Direct services from Manchester, Preston, Blackpool and Hazel Grove by Northern Rail.

BY A I R Regular national and international flights to Manchester and Nottingham East Midlands airports.Manchester Airport is approximately 40 minutes away by Taxi/Car. Please check gov.uk for travel advice.

Brochure designed by: somersaultdesign.co.uk Opera illustrations by: Jessica Durrant

Waterstones

POP UP BOOKSHOP

OPEN EVERYDAY OF BUXTON INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL IN THE PAVILION GARDENS