Buxton Opera Festival

Day 1: Arrival day

Your room will be available from 2.30pm onwards. Please join us for tea between 4pm and 5pm to meet the leader and your fellow guests.

Before dinner there will be a brief introduction to the holiday programme.

Day 2:

9.15am     An optional guided walk

(Guests not wishing to walk may use audio recordings and books provided or arrange their own festival events)

1.15pm     Sunday lunch - our main meal of the day

3pm        Talk on Handel and outline of tonight’s performance

5.15pm     Depart for pre-opera talks

6.15pm     Pre-opera talk at Devonshire Dome (University of Derby)

Picnic tea (to be eaten now or after the performance)

7.15pm     Performance of Jephtha (Handel)

As Jephtha leads the Israelites into battle, he single-mindedly vows to God that if he is victorious he will sacrifice the first creature he meets upon his return. After tasting the glory of conquest, Jephtha’s jubilation soon turns to horror, when the first person to welcome him is none other than his beloved daughter, Iphis, whose sickening fate has been sealed. This meditation on the paradox of life journeys to the very heart of the psychological condition of man's anguish of choice between duty and love.

Rising star Frederic Wake-Walker directs a timeless production of Handel’s classic oratorio. Harry Christophers conducts a stellar cast, led by Susan Bickley, James Gilchrist and Gillian Keith. They are joined by the renowned Orchestra of the Sixteen and our own splendid Festival Chorus in some of Handel’s most glorious and inspired music.

Day 3:

9.15am       An optional guided walk

1.15pm       Picnic lunch followed by discussion on last night’s opera

The afternoon is free for you to relax at the house or explore the local area.

After dinner     An audio visual presentation or in-house concert

Day 4: 

9.15am      An optional guided walk

1.15pm      Main meal

3pm           Talk on Strauss and outline of tonight’s performance

5.15pm     Depart for pre-opera talks

6.15pm     Pre-opera talk at Devonshire Dome (University of Derby)

7.15pm      Performance of Intermezzo (Richard Strauss)

The conductor Robert Storch is about to conduct a concert. Christine, his wife, feels under-appreciated and dislikes the fact that his work keeps him away during the evenings. Christine goes to a winter resort and meets Baron Lummer, with whom she enjoys a flirtation. Baron Lummer is revealed as a destitute nobleman in search of a loan. At one point, Christine receives a letter apparently addressed to her husband, and opens it. It turns out to be a love letter to him from a young lady, Mitzi Meyer. Christine is furious and intends then to divorce Storch.

Robert and his friends, including the conductor Stroh, play cards one evening, and talk about Christine’s mercurial personality. Christine has mailed a letter to Robert to say that she is leaving him. She visits a notary to try to obtain a divorce. However, the notary suspects that her real motivation is her relationship with Baron Lummer. Stroh and Storch eventually figure out that Mitzi Meyer had confused their names, and actually intended the love letter for Stroh. Christine is apprised of this situation, and she and Storch reconcile.

Day 5:  Today is a free day for you to relax at the house or explore the local area.

Day 6:   

9.15am     An optional guided walk

1.15pm     Main meal

3pm          Outline of tonight’s performances

5.15pm     Depart for pre-opera talks

6.15pm     Pre-opera talk at Devonshire Dome (University of Derby)

7.15pm     Double bill of The Maiden in the Tower (Sibelius) and Kashchei the Immortal (Rimsky-Korsakov)

The Maiden in the Tower

When a young maiden rejects the advances of a malevolent bailiff she is kidnapped and imprisoned. Racing to her rescue, her heroic lover prepares to fight a duel to rescue his sweetheart in this bright and evocative opera. Sibelius’s only completed opera demonstrates the authentic voice of the composer in refined orchestral writing, a beautiful choral scene and distinct folk influence.

Kashchei the Immortal

An evil wizard imprisons a beautiful young princess in his gloomy underworld. He will remain immortal as long as his daughter, a cold-hearted witch, holds back her tears. Will Prince Ivan-Korolevich escape the witch’s charms, rescue his beloved and defeat the wicked sorcerer? Rimsky-Korsakov’s dramatic storytelling and elaborate harmonies mesmerise in this extraordinarily original one act opera.

Beautiful melodies, mythical settings and magical storylines – this double bill features damsels in distress from captivating Russian and Finnish fairytales. The internationally acclaimed director Stephen Lawless and conductor Stuart Stratford lead a top-class team in two real operatic rarities, each reflecting their composer’s nationalism.

Day 7: 

9.15am       An optional guided walk

1.15pm      Picnic lunch

The afternoon is free for you to relax or explore the local area.

After dinner     An audio visual presentation or in-house concert

Day 8: Depart after breakfast