ISSUE TWENTY-ONE / AUTUMN 2026
OVERTURE THE NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS OF BUXTON INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
DEAR FRIENDS A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR OF THE FRIENDS, TONY PARSONS
Welcome to the Autumn issue of Overture. Have you come back to Earth after this year’s glorious Festival, or are you still savouring your favourite events? In this issue of Overture, we look back on some of the highlights from this year but also whet your appetite for next year’s Festival, which will offer some wonderful treats. Among them will be the world premiere of Orlando, the new opera by Thea Musgrave. On pages 13-15, you can see a preview of some of the events planned for next year. As last year, two of the operas will go on sale prior to the main booking period in the Spring. These are Tales of Hoffmann and Ariadne auf Naxos. The thinking behind this early booking is that it gives the Festival team a bigger window within which to attract a new audience for opera; something that I think we all agree is needed if the art form is to have a healthy future. There is no doubt that for this year’s Festival the practice was a success. About 10% of the audience for La traviata had not been to the Festival before. We have also made some changes to this early booking which, I hope, will address some of the concerns around it. First, in time for the early booking, we will have the dates for most of the music events that 2
will be taking place. This change will make it easier for Friends to decide which performances of the two operas they wish to go to. Secondly, we will reinstate for the early booking four priority booking periods (First – Directors Circle, Benefactors and Gold Patrons; Second – Patrons; Third – Gold Friends; and Fourth Friends), consistent with our practice in the main booking period. This year marks two significant changes to the Festival team. First, after 12 years as Chairman of the BIF Board, Felicity Goodey stepped down in September. Secondly, after nine years as CEO, Michael Williams is retiring and returning to South Africa in March 2027. We wish them both well, and offer our deepest gratitude for bringing the Festival to where it is today. On pages 18-19, Felicity reflects on her time as Chairman, and I interview Michael about his time in Buxton. As ever, thank you for your support for the Festival. In no small way, has it helped it to be looking forward to staging the world premiere of an opera by a leading contemporary composer, and to cause this comment in Opera by Martin Dreyer. “Buxton (international Festival) continues to provide an operatic feast that other festivals can only dream about.”
3
2026 IN NUMBERS
8 159
Events
19
Jazz Events
46 4
Venues
Speakers
32,385 Tickets sold
10
Interns
675
Next Gen
2 521
Orchestras
Performers
129
Volunteers
2,440 Friends of BIF
67
Back-stage workers, crew and creatives
1,700
School children heard live music through BIF
44
Classical music events
5
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
LA TRAVIATA “This excellent production, superbly acted, sung and played by singers, dancers and orchestra, takes it very seriously, and Frank Matcham’s beautiful, intimate Buxton auditorium is the perfect venue in which to see it.” The Stage, Clare Stevens “The best compliment I can pay to Alexandra Nowakowski is that her performance rang true. Her sweet, focused voice was capable of great brilliance but also blended elegantly with her rather bullish Alfredo, Tigran Melkonyan.” The Spectator, Richard Bratby “Her voice has a rich lower timbre and is controlled, sweet and soulful. She injects imaginative feeling into her singing, too.” The Arts Desk, Robert Beale “This Traviata was beautifully conducted by Adrian Kelly in an elegant production by James Hurley, but it was Alexandra Nowakowski’s Violetta that carried all before it. She alone made this Buxton visit worth every penny.” The Article, Mark Ronan 6
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
THE MERRY WIDOW “And the update works brilliantly. The warning to switch off mobile phones is delivered in the voice of a Mafia gangster, and, from the moment the cartoon titles roll, we are in the world of movies, jazz clubs and radio stars.” The Stage, Clare Stevens “The large cast are all excellent performers. Dominic Sedgwick is a worthy interpreter of Danilo, with the looks and the voice; and the dancing is really good.” The Arts Desk, Robert Beale “Savournin’s production, revived by Bence Kalo, finds just the right balance between comedy and pathos, and the toe tapping music was delightfully played by the Buxton Festival Orchestra under the baton of Iwan Davies.” The Article, Mark Ronan “This rich and colourful adaptation of The Merry Widow arrives in Buxton as an absolute treat at its delightful opera house. This joyful and funny Merry Widow is well worth its place in this impressive line-up.” Plays to See, Owen Davies
7
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
AMADIGI DI GAULA “Director Olivia Fuchs and designer Eleanor Bull have enormous fun with their concept, and the singers embrace it with relish. The contemporary resonances as all this plays out online are powerful.” The Stage, Clare Stevens “With such a small cast, chemistry is everything, and it’s a joy to watch sopranos Hilary Cronin and Rowan Pierce, and countertenors James Hall and Tim Morgan, tangling themselves in Handel’s musical game of Twister.” The Guardian, Alexandra Coghlan “The scripted reality concept works particularly well here, underscoring the thinness of Melissa’s artifice. The concept also underlines Melissa’s ruthless exploitation of Amadigi’s rival Dardano.” The Times, Daniel Lewis “The quartet of performers are very strong, and Tim Morgan’s Amadigi is the more impressive for having been formed over just two weeks, after a late cast change, in his warm, controlled tone, with a beautiful messa di voce and neat trills.” The Arts Desk, Robert Beale
8
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
LA CLEMENZA DI TITO “A mainly young cast brings out the dramatic strengths in a semi-staging of Mozart’s late opera with compelling performances from Maria Stella Maurizi and Indyana Schneider.” Planet Hugill, Robert Hugill “The acting space was a wide strip in front of the orchestra with Würsch’s production concentrating on basics. The result was some admirably character-led drama.” Planet Hugill, Robert Hugill “Overall this was an impressive achievement. More than simply a concert, the performance showed Mozart’s opera as drama, bringing out the strengths of the ensembles and accompanied recitatives.” Planet Hugill, Robert Hugill
9
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
LA LIBERAZIONE DI RUGGIERO “Supplementing Caccini’s supple, expressive score with instrumental works from Florentine contemporaries, the music bursts with colour and idiomatic energy. No horse ballet, disappointingly, but this Liberazione still casts a potent musical spell.” The Guardian, Alexandra Coghlan “Dramatically, this production by the Vache Baroque Ensemble for the Buxton International Festival was hugely enjoyable. On the musical side, Darbourne oversaw an engaging interpretation that sparkled, eliciting excellent performances from both the orchestra and singers.” OperaWire “The quality of the singing and the generous scoring of the instrumental music made for a warmly engaging experience for the ear. Camilla Seale’s portrayal of Alcina and Jon Stainsby’s of Ruggiero naturally stood out.” The Arts Desk, Robert Beale “For both the Buxton International Festival and Vache Baroque, this ambitious production is a modest triumph. The opera richly deserves a place in the Baroque repertoire, and it rewards the care and imagination lavished upon it by Eloise Lally and her team.” Plays to See, Owen Davies 10
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
LE DERNIER SORCIER “But the memory of baritone Phil Wilcox’s consummately comic Krakamiche lingers. His character can’t cast spells, but his performance, somewhere between Orson Welles and Brian Blessed, did the trick.” The Times, Daniel Lewis “Director Lysanne van Overbeek has done wonders with the limited space available. Even so, this delightful rarity justifies its revival, and it sits comfortably alongside the imaginative and adventurous programming that has become a hallmark of the Buxton International Festival.” Plays to See, Owen Davies “Phil Wilcox is a sonorous Krakamiche, projecting his frustration at his declining powers. Eleri Gwilym is a warmly sympathetic Stella; her song welcoming the rain is one of the opera’s stand-out numbers.” Classical Music Daily, Mike Wheeler “The production makes excellent use of the limited available space and at just over an hour’s length this is pleasant light entertainment for a summer evening.” Number 9, Paul Ashcroft 11
UPCOMING FRIENDS EVENTS AGM and Recital Friday 26th February 2027 10.30am – 12.30pm Palace Hotel, Buxton £15 for the recital Join us for our AGM, to be the first to hear news of the 2027 Festival, followed, as usual, by a recital.
COFFEE MORNING AND TALK BY JULIAN GLOVER
What next for the Countryside? Friday 19th March 2027 10.30am – 12.00pm, Thorneycroft, 6, Burlington Road, Buxton. £12 Julian Glover led the Landscapes Review for the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) – which created better ways of running England’s protected areas – and has been a special advisor for both Number 10 and the Department of Transport. He is the author of Man of Iron: Thomas Telford and the Building of Britain; a biography of one of the UK’s most prolific engineers.
Afternoon Tea with Music and Poetry Saturday 24th April 2027 2pm – 4.30pm, Lydgate House, Chapel-en-le-Frith. £50 Join us for GLAD TO FEEL THE LIGHT. A sequence of songs and poems. Music by Schumann, Debussy, Bizet and a few lesser composers, performed by Samantha Rowe (soprano), Wyn Davies (piano); with poems written and read by Philip Holland.
12
There will be a welcome drink on arrival and the performance will be followed by our Events Committee’s celebrated afternoon tea.
2027 FESTIVAL LINE UP Tales of Hoffmann Jacques Offenbach
A Buxton International Festival production in collaboration with Norwich Theatre Royal, featuring the Buxton International Festival Orchestra. What drives a poet to love the wrong woman, three times over? In Offenbach’s final opera, Hoffmann revisits his most disastrous affairs: a mechanical automaton in Paris, a doomed young soprano in Munich, and a scheming courtesan in Venice. Rich with gorgeous melodies and sharp emotional truth, this production reveals a master of comedy reaching for something profound and eternal.
Ariadne auf Naxos Richard Strauss
A Buxton International Festival production, featuring the Buxton International Festival Orchestra. In the lavish home of the richest man in Vienna, two rival performing troupes arrive to entertain his guests. Minutes before showtime, the patron delivers an outrageous decree: to ensure the fireworks start on time, both performances must take place simultaneously on the same stage. Pandemonium ensues, yet magic occurs as high-flown opera and sparkling commedia dell’arte weave into an astonishing theatrical tapestry.
13
2027 FESTIVAL LINE UP La gazzetta Gioachino Rossini
A Buxton International Festival production, featuring the Buxton International Festival Orchestra. When the overbearing Don Pomponio places a newspaper advertisement to find a suitable husband for his sharp-witted daughter Lisetta, chaos quickly ensues. Misunderstandings, clever disguises, and secret romances turn a quiet garden into a whirlwind of hilarious confusion. Will true love triumph over ridiculous ambition? Warm, clever, and packed with irresistible melody, this delightful opera promises an entertaining evening with some of the best young voices in the land.
Orlando: An Escapade Thea Musgrave
A Buxton International Festival world premiere production, featuring the Buxton International Festival Orchestra. Guided by Virginia Woolf herself, this joyful opera follows the charismatic Orlando on an extraordinary journey through centuries of passion, identity, and transformation. Sweeping from the court of Elizabeth I to Constantinople, Orlando experiences passionate loves, bitter betrayals, and artistic struggle before waking to a stunning transformation: he is now a woman. Navigating a world of changing desires and societal expectations, Orlando embraces life with wit and courage.
14
2027 FESTIVAL LINE UP Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Don Pasquale
Gaetano Donizetti An Opera della Luna production. When rich old Don Pasquale tries to trick his nephew Ernesto out of an inheritance by marrying a demure young bride, he gets far more than he bargained for. Enter the cunning Doctor Malatesta and the spirited widow Norina, who disguised as the sweet ‘Sofronia’, agrees to a fake marriage only to instantly turn into a domestic tyrant. Packed with sharp wit and Rossinistyle exuberance, this comedy turns a classic battle of wits into pure fun.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Salome
Richard Strauss OperaUpClose, an ‘impressive tour de force’ (The Times), presents a radically distilled take on Richard Strauss and Oscar Wilde’s scandalous masterpiece in partnership with Opera North and artsdepot. Reinterpreted through the ‘ingenious musical bricolage’ (Opera Magazine) of Amy Bryce’s new acousticelectronic score and an original English libretto by award-winning writer Athena Stevens, Salome: Dance Toward Ruin is a psychological horror that asks whether violence can ever free us from the stories that imprison us. Directed by Anna Morrissey, with Strauss’s extraordinary vocal music driving the drama, this compelling reimagining brings audiences closer than ever to the heart of the tragedy, immersing them in a haunted, warped world that is at once disturbing, provocative and visceral.
A Buxton International Festival concert version, featuring the Buxton International Festival Orchestra. When the young Spanish nobleman Belmonte discovers that his beloved Konstanze is being held in the palace of Pasha Selim, he sets out on a daring mission to rescue her. With the help of her spirited maid Blonde and his resourceful servant Pedrillo, an escape plan is hatched, but the fearsome overseer Osmin is determined to stop them. Bursting with brilliant arias, lively ensembles and Mozart’s colourful Turkish-inspired music, this exhilarating comedy of love, loyalty and forgiveness races towards an unexpectedly generous conclusion.
15
THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SUPPORTERS FOR HELPING TO MAKE BIF 2026 SUCH A SUCCESS Buxton International Festival is deeply grateful to our funders, corporate partners and sponsors, community partners, BIF Friends, BIF Foundation, Festival Circle members, the Trusts and Foundations that supported us this year and all the individuals who have donated or volunteered with us. We couldn’t do it without you! Your support is critical to the success of the Festival. It enables us to create opportunities for young artists to hone their skills, commission new works and productions and offer multiple music participation programmes for the local Buxton community. None of this would be possible without your continued generosity and friendship. Thank you! 16
Give a Gift of Buxton Festival Friends Membership this Christmas This autumn, we are launching Give a Gift of Buxton Festival Friends Membership this Christmas. With a Friends membership gift, you can share the experiences which you have enjoyed with those who might appreciate it. Gifting can be from as little as £36.00 for a single Membership or at a higher level, if you choose. Please fill out the form on the Festival Website at buxtonfestival.co.uk/friends/membership. With membership, the recipient will receive: priority booking, regular e-newsletters keeping them up-to-date with Festival news and events, opportunities to enjoy Friends events throughout the year (including meals and recitals), recognition of their support in the Festival Souvenir Programme Book, Friends newsletters with exclusive interviews and messages from the Festival Team - and your gift will be packaged in a themed way and provided to you electronically for you to forward as a gift. Thank you for your continued support of the Friends and Buxton International Festival. Tony Parsons, Chairman
MONTHLY PIANO RECITALS United Reformed Church, Buxton Broadwood Piano
Students from RNCM give recitals at 2pm on the last Thursday of the month from September to June. Tickets (£8) on the door. To be added to the mailing list to receive details of each recital contact Carol Bowns at carolbowns@me.com 17
MESSAGE FROM
FELICITY GOODEY “Buxton International Festival continues to provide an operatic feast that other festivals can only dream about”, not a bad headline to read in Opera Magazine at the end of my 12-year tenure as Chairman! I am proud and relieved to be able to hand over a Festival which has never been in better shape. It is, of course, due to the Executive team, the artists, our Friends, the huge growth in our audiences and sponsors and even the critics! I owe a huge debt of gratitude to all of you. Buxton, BIF as we have taken to calling it, has a long-established reputation stretching back nearly 50 years. In the foreword to my first Festival as Chairman I wrote: ‘Four ravishing heroines, one of the world’s most admired Verdi Directors, glittering casts and that is just the opera content for the 2015 Buxton Festival; no wonder the Metropolitan Opera of New York lists Buxton in its house magazine as ‘one of the great unmissable European Opera Festivals’. I had been handed a gem but one which like so many opera festivals and companies was not in the best of financial health. We depended far too much on goodwill. How else could we afford to secure from the Met itself, the world’s greatest Verdi director, the incomparable Elijah Moshinsky? While our then artistic Director Stephen Barlow could call in personal favours from an old friend, I cringed 18
when I overheard the head of wardrobe joking about the yards of crimplene he had ordered for the costumes, all we could afford! At this point I must say a huge thank you to the generosity and belief of our present donors, George and Daphne Burnett in particular. Without the Burnetts, and their unshakable faith in the potential of the Festival, we could not have continued. Who you know, as much as what you know, is still a big part of our success! And the present team led by Michael Williams and Adrian Kelly is supremely wellconnected, as well as being amongst the most knowledgeable in the industry. We continue to call in favours but over the past 12 years we have also built a solid financial and audience base which enabled us this year to produce sumptuous productions of La traviata, Merry Widow and Handel’s Amadigi, each of which won five-star reviews, plus three other highly regarded operas. Our music series, many now say, is equal to Edinburgh’s and our book series, despite huge amounts of competition, continues to attract an enviable range of authors drawing sell-out audiences. Staging new, international opera productions is not for the faint-hearted. I liken it to burning £1,000 notes. The quality of the
music and book series has always made us a profit, all of which disappears into the big black hole called opera finance. Yet for all of us who love BIF, it is the supreme art form. With the Verdi season we began to realise that performing the rare and lesser-known works alone was not enough to attract the opera audiences and sponsors to secure the future. We needed to add in more popular fare. When Michael Williams was interviewed for the position of the new CEO he stunned us by offering to write a new Pasticcio on the life of the ‘naughty’ and very glamorous Duchess of Devonshire. It was a huge success and won us a national award. When Adrian Kelly joined us as Artistic Director he coined the phrase ‘But is it Festival-worthy?’ Whatever we did, had to be of artistic importance but also attractive to wider audiences and sponsors. In 2019 we broke the mould with Eugene Onegin, Georgiana, Lucio Papiro Dittatore, Orpheus in the Underworld and a piece for our outreach teams and local schools, Orphans of Koombu. The results spoke for themselves. And then came Covid. When it became clear that Covid was about to shut us all down, the Board bravely took the decision to cancel the 2020 Festival, the first cancellation in our history. We had not yet started contracting artists but we were throwing huge numbers out of work. We had no legal liability but we offered small token payments where we could. Without exception they were refused and returned. Our artists and our staff were all more concerned that BIF should survive to perform again no matter their own personal cost. The greatest joy of being Chairman is the people with whom I have worked. Our Friends, too, kept sending in donations, big and small, to keep us going, and let’s be fair, the government finally also helped. 2021 was a nightmare! Remember social distancing? Almost until we opened we had no idea of whether we could go ahead and if so how many seats had to be taken out of use. Selling a ticket for one person meant losing four seat sales all around them! Somehow we mounted eight operas plus a full music and book series! I am still not sure how we did it. I see that in my 2022
programme welcome I wrote ‘I handed the brochure to friends who had been for the first time the previous year. “Oh no,” they groaned, “we want to go to everything!” After the covid years the BIF team felt it was time for a bit of extravagance. We have romance, fantasy, heartbreak and lashings of fun!” I will never forget the sight of ‘gorgeous George’, our six-foot 3 baritone, George Humphreys, tottering around on four-inch heels as Lady Agatha in Donizetti’s operatic farce Viva La Diva. 2019 had been our most successful Festival to date. Covid nearly killed us all, but having survived we have never looked back. Year on year we become ever more ambitious. We established our young artists’ programme, giving young singers the opportunity to perform alongside our seasoned professionals; we started our own orchestra, blending young professional musicians with experienced operatic orchestral players. We brought young professionals onto the Board, giving the future leaders of our industry first-hand experience of running a company; we brought in young interns and trainees backstage to shadow and learn from our professional crews; we commissioned new works from young composers and writers and brought in young associate directors to learn the business of putting on international opera. BIF is rapidly being acknowledged as the cradle of the professional opera industry. The emails from our artists, many international stars, make clear how highly we are regarded. They love performing to passionate, knowledgeable audiences supported by hugely experienced and welcoming professional staff. And may I make a plea? We still have supporters who refuse to come to first nights because they think we might not be ready!!!! Don’t they know we assemble our casts months ahead of every Festival in London where we rent huge studio facilities to rehearse and hone performances? First night is your opportunity to join the team in celebrating the opening of another year of outstanding operas. We have been shortlisted by the International Opera Awards as, world-wide, Opera Festival of the year. You can be sure nothing is left to chance by the time the curtain goes up.
19
LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN…
An interview with Michael Williams, CEO, on his retirement.
20
Michael, you came here in 2018 from one of the most beautiful cities in the world. What prompted your move to Buxton? After spending 17 years as CEO of Cape Town Opera, and 13 years before that working as a staff director and head of outreach, it was clearly time for the next adventure. Ettie and I turned our eyes toward the UK. When I was invited to interview for the job in Buxton, I was intrigued. I already knew a bit about the Buxton Festival and the Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, as the G&S company in Cape Town had once brought a production here. I arrived in midFebruary for the interview and spent a snowy weekend exploring the town, calling up Paul Kerryson—whom I knew from previous encounters—to get a proper tour of the opera house. On Sunday morning, I wandered into St John’s Church, where I was warmly welcomed by Jean Luton and even crossed paths with my namesake, the organist Michael Williams. That afternoon I encountered the Crescent Hotel boarded up, looking magnificent nevertheless, and spent that evening reading up on its origins, discovering the remarkable Duchess, Georgiana Cavendish, and had an idea for an opera. When Felicity Goodey offered me the job after my interview, I thought, And so the adventure has begun! When you arrived in Buxton, was there anything that surprised you, either positive or negative? What surprised me was the generosity of the people in Buxton. Everybody was so welcoming. Because Ettie had to get a spousal visa to join me, I was alone for the first ten months, but the community quickly adopted me. I discovered that moving to a new town by yourself is remarkably easy when people keep inviting you to Sunday lunch. In your time as CEO we’ve seen the Festival grow in stature and reputation, listed as one of the top opera festivals in the world. You must feel very proud. But what do you personally think was your greatest achievement of your time here? What do you look back on and say “Yes, I feel proud to have done that?” I am proud that the festival team has been able to establish a strong financial foundation with proper financial management. Appointing Adrian Kelly, whose exceptional musical leadership has been central to the festival’s success, was huge; I have loved working with Adrian and planning the opera
seasons together. Also, the appointment of Vicky Dawson as the dedicated Book Director was key to launching and shaping a distinct literary programme. Similarly, Neil Hughes did a brilliant job curating BIF Jazz and building a loyal following right away. Having those core leaders created a wonderful energy and a collaborative fizz among us all. I was grateful to the board for supporting my pasticcio opera, Georgiana, about the 5th Duchess of Devonshire. Bringing her story to Buxton held a mirror to the town’s rich Georgian heritage, connecting audiences to the local history. And then the festival was awarded the UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Opera for this production, which was very special. Similarly, writing the musical The Land of Might-Have-Been in collaboration with Norwich Theatre honoured Buxton resident Vera Brittain. How wonderful to take a bit of Buxton history on tour. I have loved forming partnerships with Opera North, Scottish Opera, Vache Baroque, the Hallé, and the Early Opera Company, as well as touring our productions to Norwich every year and taking our Handel production to Lisbon. Adrian and I believe strongly in commissioning new works, and I am immensely proud of the oratorio, Our Future, Your Hands, and the series of 20-minute operas we produced in Shorts. Anything you would like to have achieved but haven’t? More international visitors. The festival is on its way to being recognised internationally, but we still have more work to do on this. And, finally, what are you going to do in your retirement when you won’t have a golf course designed by Alistair McKenzie on your doorstep? Ettie and I want to experience a year of finding a new rhythm, travelling, and re-establishing a home in Cape Town. My next novel—Night Harvest—is coming out in December, and I’m keen to start the next one. Michael and Ettie are selling their apartment at 43 Park Road, Hampton Court, Buxton and hope to find a buyer for their home before March next year. You can view the listing at www.mellors.org.uk/ 21
The Foundation works alongside the Friends and BIF to secure the long-term financial future of the Festival. The Foundation aims to build the fund to a level which will produce around £50,000 per year for the Festival. This year we are particularly grateful to Judith Tanner and Brenda Sharatt, who left gifts to the Foundation in their Wills; and to Peter Ryder, who made a gift in memory of his late wife Margaret. As reported in the Spring edition of Overture, Judith Tanner attended the Festival from the start and continued her enthusiastic support over many years. She campaigned for the setting up of the
Malcolm Fraser Circle for those intending to leave a legacy and encouraged others to give to the Foundation in that way. Her own legacy has now been received, amounting to just under £50,000, for which the Foundation is extremely grateful. We are equally grateful to Peter Ryder for his extremely generous gift. Along with his late wife Margaret he has been a strong supporter of the Festival and of the Northern Chamber Orchestra, with which the Festival has an association. The Foundation has also recently received a legacy of £1000 from Doris Turck. She lived in Chapel-en-le-Frith where she was
a committed volunteer and proud advocate of the work of the Blythe House Hospice, founded in 1989 by her lifelong companion the Reverend Betty Packham. The generosity of these individuals and others has meant that by the end of September 2026 the Foundation fund had grown to approximately £700,000. In recent years the Foundation has used the income generated by the fund to give direct support to the Festival. In 2025 it supported the newly established Buxton International Festival Orchestra. In 2026 the Foundation supported the use of the London Performance Studios in South London for opera rehearsals. The Studios, based in a converted light industrial building in South Bermondsey, offer a flexible space for rehearsing multiple operas at the same time. Colin Gregory, one of the Foundation Trustees, visited in June. In one of the studios a rehearsal of The Merry Widow was in full swing, presided over by conductor Iwan Davies and director John Savournin; under the guidance of choreographer Merry Holden, an enthusiastic cast were skilfully practising their moves, surrounded by the formidable amount of furniture and props that featured in the production. In another studio, where a wonderful model of Elliott Squire’s jewellery box set design was on display, a rehearsal of La traviata was taking place; and elsewhere busy members of the wardrobe team were running up and altering costumes needed for all the different productions. The studios are light and airy and well provided with facilities such as kitchens and washrooms. It was clear that everyone was enjoying being part of the amazing collaborative enterprise that is the Buxton International Festival. The Foundation is delighted to have supported the use of the Studios. The Malcolm Fraser Circle (named after one of the founders of the Festival) is made up of those who have declared their intention to leave a legacy to the Festival. They benefit from the same priority booking period as the Directors’ Circle level of Friends’ Membership. If you wish to take advantage of this in future and have not yet informed us of your intention to leave a legacy to the Festival, please contact Kate Redford, Chairman Buxton Festival Foundation, by email or via the Festival office so we can have the opportunity to express our gratitude to you for your generosity.
“Fabulous “Probably the best festival festival - one of we have attended and have the best ever” been coming since 1980”
“It’s a great advert for the town”
“The most fulfilling yet”
“Best yet. A truly wonderful two weeks. Thank you”
“I enjoyed myself so much that I’ve already booked accommodation for next year!”
you for another “love the free friends “Thank fabulous festival. The this year were joyful and accessible” events on Wednesdays” operas and volunteers all “Over and beyond “Staff helpful and friendly all expectations very - they seemed to have the for a first visit. festival spirit” “We love the variety and We’ll be back! opportunity to hear you don’t hear other places” Thank you all.” things