| The wheels are turning for BIF 2027 and we couldn’t be more excited to announce seven new fantastic operas for next year’s festival, including a world première, four new productions and a concert performance.
In this newsletter, you can read the details about our exciting selection of upcoming operas, as well as the important dates to note for our December early sale.
Priority booking for BIF Friends will open on Monday 7 December for two of our upcoming operas: The Tales of Hoffmann and Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as tickets for our exciting Jazz Weekender. On this date, we will also be sharing a list of musicians and the dates they are set to perform as part of our classical music series.
Public booking will open the following week on Tuesday 15 December (see all key dates outlined below).
On BIF 2027, hear what our artistic director Adrian Kelly has to say: |
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| “We are immensely proud of Buxton’s ever-ambitious canon and we are thrilled to be staging another world premiere this summer – Thea Musgrave’s opera, Orlando – An Escapade, alongside timeless masterpieces by Rossini, Strauss, Donizetti, Offenbach and Mozart. The Buxton International Festival Orchestra returns and our industry collaborations include Opera della Luna, OperaUpClose, artsdepot and Norwich Theatre.” |
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Hi ,
The wheels are turning for BIF 2027 and we couldn’t be more excited to announce seven new fantastic operas for next year’s festival, including a world première, four new productions and a concert performance.
In this newsletter, you can read the details about our exciting selection of upcoming operas, as well as the important dates to note for our December early sale.
Priority booking for BIF Friends will open on Monday 7 December for two of our upcoming operas: The Tales of Hoffmann and Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as tickets for our exciting Jazz Weekender. On this date, we will also be sharing a list of musicians and the dates they are set to perform as part of our classical music series.
Public booking will open the following week on Tuesday 15 December (see all key dates outlined below).
On BIF 2027, hear what our artistic director Adrian Kelly has to say: |
|
|
|
| “We are immensely proud of Buxton’s ever-ambitious canon and we are thrilled to be staging another world premiere this summer – Thea Musgrave’s opera, Orlando – An Escapade, alongside timeless masterpieces by Rossini, Strauss, Donizetti, Offenbach and Mozart. The Buxton International Festival Orchestra returns and our industry collaborations include Opera della Luna, OperaUpClose, artsdepot and Norwich Theatre.” |
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| Here are the seven wonderful operas you can expect next year! |
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Orlando – An Escapade by Thea Musgrave
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First up, we have Thea Musgrave’s Orlando. This will be a Buxton International Festival world première production featuring the Buxton International Festival Orchestra. A chamber opera in two acts based on Virginia Woolf’s novel, Orlando, with a libretto by Thea Musgrave.
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.
Orlando – An Escapade is supported by the Royal Philharmonic Society, with a grant from the RPS Thea Musgrave Fund.
The Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach
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| Our next opera poses serious questions about artistic purpose and love. We have The Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach. This will be a Buxton International Festival production in collaboration with Norwich Theatre Royal directed by Lysanne van Overbeek, featuring the Buxton International Festival Orchestra.
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 by Richard Strauss
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| An opera that could be described as a love letter to Mozart, we have Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss, a Buxton International Festival production directed by Daisy Evans, 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. |
La gazzetta by Gioachino Rossini
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Next, we have this lesser-known opera by Gioachino Rossino, which was composed after The Barber of Seville (1816). La gazzetta is a Buxton International Festival production directed by Amy J Payne, 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.
Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti
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We will also be bringing Gaetano Donizetti’s comic opera Don Pasquale to the Buxton International Festival, a new production by Opera della Luna directed by Jeff Clarke.
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 Rossini-style exuberance, this comedy turns a classic battle of wits into pure fun.
Salome: Dance Toward Ruin by Richard Strauss
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| There will also be a new staging of Salome: Dance Toward Ruin by Richard Strauss. This will be an OperaUpClose production directed by Flora McIntosh, in partnership with Opera North and artsdepot.
OperaUpClose presents a radically distilled take on Richard Strauss and Oscar Wilde’s scandalous masterpiece in partnership with Opera North and artsdepot. Reinterpreted through Amy Bryce’s new acoustic-electronic 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.
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. |
Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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| Finally, we have Mozart’s rarely performed Die Entführung aus dem Serail, a Buxton International Festival concert performance, 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. |
Our public booking for the early sale will then go live on Tuesday 15 December.
