Get ready for an electrifying programme at Buxton International Festival this summer! Ahead of the full programme announcement and brochure publication in early March, we are hugely excited to share a sneak-peak of our stellar line-up for 2024. TV stars, journalists, politicians and world-class musicians are topping the bill.
Alongside Cuban dancer and choreographer, Carlos Acosta, this year’s musical superstars include soprano Golda Schultz, conductor and Music Director at the Royal Opera House Sir Antonio Pappano and Strictly Come Dancing’s lead singer Tommy Blaize. The books programme features BBC newsreader Clive Myrie, barrister, author and broadcaster Rob Rinder, BBC security correspondent and author Frank Gardner, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and Charles Spencer.
MUSIC
South African soprano Golda Schultz has been conquering the world’s opera houses as well as dazzling at the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms in 2020 with her extraordinary voice and presence. She makes her Buxton Opera House debut with a one-off recital on Monday 8 July at 5.30pm. Tickets £20 – £50.
Esteemed music director, Sir Antonio Pappano, has been based at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden since 2002. He moves on to become Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in September 2024 and in between. Buxton is lucky enough to have secured a masterclass and book talk with him. He will coach a group of young opera singers in the Pavilion Arts Centre on Friday 19 July at 3pm and give a talk about his memoir, My Life in Music, at 6pm in Buxton Opera House. Tickets £40 and £15 respectively.
JAZZ
An all-star cast closes Buxton International Festival’s opening jazz weekend, fronted by one of the world’s leading New Orleans clarinettists Adrian Cox. He’ll be playing alongside guest-singer Tommy Blaize, from BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, in Buxton Opera House on Monday 8 July at 9pm. Tickets £29-£39.
Judi Jackson, Vocalist of the Year at the 2020 Jazz FM Awards, is a stand-out artist who sold out at London’s Jazz Café last year. She headlines a late-night show with Madeline Bell the New Jersey-born singer who sold out the Pavilion Arts Centre last year. They make their Buxton Opera House debut on Tuesday 11 July at 9pm. Tickets £20-£30.
BOOKS
Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, recounts the trauma of being sent away from home at age eight to attend a boarding school. His very personal memoir, ‘A Very Private School’, offers a clear-eyed, first–hand account of a culture of cruelty at the school Spencer attended in his youth and provides important insights into an antiquated boarding system. This event takes place on Saturday 6 July in Buxton Opera House at 12.30pm. Tickets £15.
As a Bolton teenager with a paper round, Clive Myrie read all the newspapers he delivered from cover to cover and dreamed of becoming a journalist. In his deeply personal bestselling memoir, Everything is Everything, he tells how his family history has influenced his life, work and view of the world. Saturday 20 July in Buxton Opera House at 12.30pm. Tickets £15.
Rob Rinder, barrister turned writer and broadcaster, talks about his second legal thriller, The Suspect, in Buxton Opera House on Tuesday, 16 July at 12.30pm. In 2014, while still a practising barrister, he began starring in his reality court show Judge Rinder, and he now uses his legal knowledge working in the media to make the law more accessible. He is also the author of three books and a columnist for The Sun and The London Evening Standard newspapers. Tickets £15
Frank Gardner has been the BBC’s Security Correspondent since 2002. In 2004, while filming in Saudi Arabia, he was ambushed by terrorists, shot multiple times and left for dead. He survived and returned to active news reporting within a year. Frank will discuss both his career and his acclaimed series of bestselling thrillers, including his new novel ‘Invasion: The new Luke Carlton Thriller’. An unmissable event in Buxton Opera House on Friday 12 July at 12.30pm. Tickets £15.
Caroline Lucas is the MP for Brighton Pavilion and is the UK’s first and only Green Party MP. Caroline discusses her book, ‘Another England: How to Reclaim Our National Story’ at Buxton Opera House on Saturday 13 July at 12.30pm, which sketches out an alternative Englishness: one that we can all embrace to build a greener, fairer future. Tickets £15.
FESTIVAL TIMELINE FOR 2024
Brochures will be available at the start of March.
Public Booking opens on Tuesday 2 April 2024 at 10am.
Friends of Buxton International Festival have up to 1 month of priority booking, on a staggered basis.
- 5 March 2024, 10am: Priority booking opens for Director’s Circle, Benefactor and Gold Patrons.
- 12 March 2024, 10am: Priority booking opens for Patrons.
- 19 March 2024, 10am: Priority booking opens for Gold Friends.
- 26 March 2024, 10am: Priority booking opens for Friends of Buxton International Festival.
- Tuesday 2 April 2024, 10am: Public booking opens!
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