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On the 2004 Festival
‘The true
opera lover has only one option…to mortgage the house and beg, bride or
steal a ticket to see Handel’s Hercules and Rossini’s The Turk in
Italy exquisitely performed…in the finest Frank Matcham opera house in
England.’
‘Go to
Buxton now.’
‘At the
heart of [Buxton’s] revival is the festival, its audience swelling over the
past decade…Nothing is too adventurous.’
Simon Jenkins, The Times
'Buxton Festival can confidently
claim to offer more to arts lovers than most cultural events in the
country'
Daily Mail, April 2004
‘Now
in its 25th year, Derbyshire’s leading festival is reaching new
peaks.’
‘the two
in-house productions…perfectly suit the scale and exquisite neo-rococo
ambience of Frank Matcham’s jewel of an opera house.
Hugh
Canning, The Sunday Times
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Literary Series
Buxton Literary Festival...is
now a major cultural event.'
Bill Deedes, The Daily Telegraph
‘Buxton have
a line-up of speakers who are entirely comfortable in front of an audience.’
City Life
Magazine
‘Buxton
Festival has achieved its eminence not only because of the artistic skills
of Aidan Lang, but by the ambitions of Chairman Roy Hattersley for a
literature festival.’
Peter Spaull,
Liverpool Daily Post
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Il turco in Italia
‘Pure theatrical happy
dust.’ ‘If only all festival opera were like this.’
Robert Thicknesse, The Times. 
‘Buxton’s
reputation for belly laughs emerges enhanced.’
Alfred
Hickling, The Guardian.
‘[The cast]
are engagingly funny, all of them, and well sung to sharp expressive
purpose;
it
sounded…like vintage Rossini.’
David
Murray, Financial Times.
‘Donald Maxwell, a great Buxton Festival
favourite and a superb singing thespian…His diction is above reproach and
his tone as warm as ever.’
Robert
Beale, Manchester Evening News
‘quickfire timing, impeccable ensembles and
strong characterisation.’
Michael
Kennedy, The Sunday Telegraph
‘Russell
Craig’s designs…were a delight to the eye.’
Peter Spaull,
Liverpool Daily Post
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Hercules
‘Worth
travelling a long way to see.’
‘a
work full of fabulous music … which this staging brings to a completeness of
drama and poignancy, thanks in great part to a harrowing performance by
Yvonne Howard’
‘Harry
Christophers… finds in these scores shadings of tempo and colour, an
emotional depth, that few others can.’
‘[Gillian
Keith’s] final aria My breast with tender pity …felt like the descent
of divine grace.’
Robert Thicknesse, The Times.
‘This is
baroque singing and playing of the highest order.’
‘Symphony of
Harmony and Invention, make a thrilling, febrile sound in the pit…Keith's
tone as pure and fresh as the water that bubbles up so plentifully around
these parts.’
Alfred
Hickling, The Guardian.
‘[Yvonne
Howard] negotiates the music with remarkable agility.’
Hugh
Canning, The Sunday Times
If you like
Handel, you’ll absolutely love Buxton’s Hercules.’
‘Buxton
Festival’s glorious staging of Handel’s rarely-staged Hercules
resolutely proves it is not an oratorio.’
Bernard Lee,
Sheffield Telegraph
‘Dejanira is
a wonderful mezzo-soprano role with a succession of heart-piercing arias…
marvellously sung by Yvonne Howard.’
Michael
Kenney, The Sunday Telegraph
‘Lang’s
handsome classical production is free from irritating gimmickry.’
‘Yvonne
Howard…sang with flair and cut a splendid figure.’
Rupert
Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph
‘A great
night…Handel’s Hercules…received a standing ovation.’
Peter Spaull,
Liverpool Daily Post
‘Handel’s
Hercules is intensley emotional from the opening bars.’
‘Harry
Christophers and his Symphony of Harmony and Invention bring out the urgent
intensity of the music, which is sung in English by an exceptional
ensemble.’
Blackmore
Vale Magazine
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Four Note Opera
‘All four
sang the four-note saga with an intimate musicianship making much of the
words, which pinged into the auditorium with a crystal clarity.’
David
Blewitt, The Stage
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The Blackened Man
'Will Todd's score, expressive, colourful and melodic - spiritedly played
under conductor Alistair Dawe's drive.'
Philip Radcliffe, Manchester Evening News
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Maria de Buenos Aires - Selected
press quotes...
“It’s shiveringly good.”
“A redeeming experience: catch it if you can.”
“Julieta Anahi Frias made a melting mezzo Maria, and Sebeastien Soules proved
outstandingly moving as the Payador..”
Roderic Dunnett, The Independent
“I defy you not to savour every life-enhancing note.”
Anthony Holden, The Observer
“You probably won’t hear tangos played better anywhere.”
Richard Morrison, The Times
“The spirit of tango brought to life” (headline of review)
“Julieta Anahi Frias gave a statuesque and passionate performance of Maria.”
Ivan Hewett, The Daily Telegraph
“Admirers of Piazzolla and tango addicts should not hesitate.”
Barry Millington, Evening Standard
“Piazzolla triunfa en Inglaterra” (headline - Piazzolla triumphs in England)
“..este maravilloso espectáculo”
(“this marvellous show”)
Eduardo Benarroch, Operayre, Buenos Aires
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