“Beethoven's what?" Leonore at Buxton Festival

By Dominic Lowe, 09 July 2016

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Reviewed at Buxton Opera House, Buxton on 8 July 2016

Beethoven, Fidelio (Leonore)

Buxton Festival Opera

Stephen Barlow, Conductor

Stephen Medcalf, Director

Francis O'Connor, Set Designer

Kirstin Sharpin, Leonore

David Danholt, Florestan

Scott Wilde, Rocco

Kristy Swift, Marzelline

Stuart Laing, Jaquino

Hrolfur Saemundsson, Don Pizarro

Jonathan Best, Don Fernando

Northern Chamber Orchestra

From the ballroom to the trenches: The Land of Might-Have-Been

Sarah Noble, 15th July

Setting the life of Vera Brittain to the music of Ivor Novello, Buxton Festival's new musical is a welcome if overambitious showcase for them both.

***11

Arcadia in the Peak District: Mozart's Il re pastore in Buxton

Sarah Noble, 9th July

Mozart's early opera seria may not be his greatest achievement – but lightness of touch from all involved highlight its charms in Jack Furness' new production.

***11

Buxton Festival celebrates 40th anniversary with Eugene Onegin

Robert Gainer, 6th July

Every July, Buxton’s charming opera house hosts an international festival of opera, literature and the arts. This year the festival opened with a strong familiar favourite, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

****1

For teenage kicks: Mozart's Lucio Silla at Buxton International Festival

Charlotte Valori, 9th July

The fashion for reviving Mozart's teenage operas brings a vocally dazzling production of Lucio Silla to Buxton, nevertheless hampered by the work's own lack of believable drama and some fairly flat staging.

***11

Fresh peaches of temptation

Charlotte Valori, 8th July

A period-perfect Albert Herring from Francis Matthews for Buxton International Festival takes time to settle into its stride, but provides plenty of laughs along the way.

****1

Verdi's Macbeth at Buxton International Festival

Charlotte Valori, 7th July

A searing, edge-of-your-seat spinetingler from Elijah Moshinsky makes the strongest possible case for Verdi's first Macbeth, ideally suited to the proportions of Buxton's beautiful Opera House.

*****

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Dominic Lowe

Dominic Lowe recently completed a degree in Classics, and one of his great interests is the reception of Greece and Rome in opera. A regular opera-goer since his very early teens, he is particularly keen on the hidden operatic gems of the 19th century. He is largely based in the South of England.

“Beethoven's what?” Leonore at Buxton Festival