Buxton International Festival is pleased to announce a mighty line-up of artists for our five brand new opera productions taking place between 4 and 21 July.
Adrian Kelly, Artistic Director said: “Buxton is nothing if not brave, and we have some formidable casts lined up this year, with faces old and new. We’re packing a punch this summer, make no mistake.”
Giuseppe Verdi’s Ernani
6, 10, 12, 14 and 17 July 2024
Buxton Opera House
Giuseppi Verdi’s Ernani is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts which tells the tragic love story of Elvira, who is caught between three men: her lover, her guardian and the King of Spain. quick online loans. Adrian Kelly conducts this new BIF production with The Orchestra of Opera North, directed by Jamie Manton and designed by Sami Fendall.
• Roman Arndt – Ernani
• André Heyboer – Don Carlo
• Alastair Miles – Don Ruy Gomez de Silva
• Nadine Benjamin – Elvira
• Jane Burnell – Giovanna
• Emyr Lloyd Jones – Don Riccardo
• Theo Perry – Jago
George Frideric Handel’s Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno
7, 11, 15 and 18 July 2024
Buxton Opera House
Following the success of Acis & Galatea at Buxton in 2021, the festival joins forces with The Early Opera Company for a new production of Handel’s Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno conducted by Christian Curnyn, directed by Jacopo Spirei and designed by Anna Bonomelli.
• Anna Dennis – Belleza (Beauty)
• Hilary Cronin – Piacere (Pleasure)
• Hilary Summers – Disinganno (Deception)
Peter Brook’s adaptation of Bizet’s La tragédie de Carmen
5, 9, 13 and 16 July 2024
Buxton Opera House
In its second collaboration with Norwich Theatre, BIF presents Peter Brook’s adaptation of Bizet’s La tragédie de Carmen. Brook’s adaptation includes elements of the Georges Bizet opera as well as the original Prosper Mérimée novella on which Bizet’s opera was based. It’s conducted by Iwan Davies, directed by Katharina Kastening and designed by Bettina John.
• Niamh O’Sullivan – Carmen
• Erin Rossington – Micaëla
• Steffan Lloyd Jones – Escamillo
• Elgan Llŷr Thomas – Don José
Ethel Smyth, The Boatswain’s Mate
8, 14 and 19 July 2024
Pavilion Arts Centre
This brand-new BIF production, written by British composer and suffragette Ethel Smyth, The Boatswain’s Mate centres around a humorous battle of the sexes on the seafront in Margate. It’s full of twists and turns complete with all the quintessential sounds and sights of British summertime. The opera is conducted by Rebecca Warren and directed by Nick Bond.
• Joshua Baxter – Harry Benn
• Theo Perry – Ned Travers
• Elizabeth Findon – Mrs Waters
• Richard Woodall – Policeman
• Rebecca Anderson – Mary Ann
Joseph Haydn’s La canterina
July 7, 11, 18 and 20
Pavilion Arts Centre
The last of the BIF’s new productions for 2024 is Haydn’s two-act operetta, La canterina. This comedic opera has all the ingredients for a riotous show with its stock-in-trade buffo figures: the aspiring, money-grabbing diva; her mother adept at procuring suitors; an oily, lascivious singing teacher and a wealthy young lover. The opera is conducted by Toby Hessian and directed by Lysanne Van Overbeek.
• Helen Maree Cooper – Don Ettore
• Dominic Mattos – Apollonia
• Jonah Halton – Don Pelagio
• Jane Burnell – Gasparina
FESTIVAL TIMELINE FOR 2024
- End of February: The full programme and festival brochure will be issued.
- 5 March 2024: Priority booking for the full programme opens on a staggered basis for BIF Friends.
- 2 April 2024: Public booking for the full programme opens.