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

By Charlotte Valori, 10 July 2017

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Reviewed at Buxton Opera House, Buxton on 9 July 2017

Mozart, Lucio Silla

Buxton Festival Opera

Laurence Cummings, Conductor

Harry Silverstein, Director

Linda Buchanan, Set Designer

Joshua Ellicott, Lucio Silla

Rebecca Bottone, Giunia

Fflur Wyn, Celia

Karolina Plicková, Lucio Cinna

Madeleine Pierard, Cecilio

Ben Thapa, Aufidio

The English Concert

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

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.

*****

Games of Thrones: Handel's Tamerlano

Dominic Lowe, 10th July

Handel's psychotic Tartar leader and bedhopping nobles are well served in an excellent collaboration between the Buxton Festival and the English Concert with some outstanding singing from Marie Lys and Owen Willetts.

****1

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Charlotte Valori

Charlotte Valori read Classics at Christ Church, Oxford. As a classicist, her main interest is Greek tragedy and its reception by later cultures, which has led to a continuing passion for theatre and opera. Charlotte reviews for several online magazines, and won the Bachtrack Opera Award 2015 for Best Written English Review. Follow her on Twitter @operissima.