Love reigns in Buxton's Orfeo ed Euridice, but at what cost?

By Mark Pullinger, 14 July 2014

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“Daisy Brown was a fabulous Amore – a sassy, sexy Cupid”

Reviewed at Buxton Opera House, Buxton on 13 July 2014

Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice

Buxton Festival Opera

Stuart Stratford, Conductor

Stephen Medcalf, Director

Francis O'Connor, Set Designer

Daisy Brown, Amore

Barbara Bargnesi, Euridice

Michael Chance, Orfeo

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.

*****

More reviews...

Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.