On the Festival

Buxton is a very nice place to be, and with all this (opera, music and literature) on tap it approaches cultural heaven Opera magazine

Buxton Festival is as good as an arts festival gets The Independent

A rich, characteristically Buxtonian feast Sunday Telegraph

Buxton is still able to offer a range of repertoire that no similar British festival can begin to approach North West Enquirer

A unique festival in an attractive spa town...where else can you hear eight operas over a couple of weeks and choose from 18 literary events featuring high profile authors?
The Independent

There is nothing like a good arts festival in a small market town to replenish the soul
The Independent

Armide

Aidan Lang’s farewell production as artistic director is, in every sense, dazzling  The Guardian

Lang staged it with real flair, aided by Jason Southgate’s attractive set and costumes  The Sunday Telegraph

...the evening belongs to the outstanding Brazilian soprano Rosana Lamosa, utterly riveting up to the final scene where, betrayed by Renaud, the piqued enchantress destroys her palace.  A performance to bring the house down in every respect.                The Guardian

Lang directs with a sure feeling for the opera’s intensity and has secured, in Rosana Lamosa as Armide a vocally fleet and roundly characterised seductive sorceress.    The Independent

A sound cast  (the largest ever assembled by the festival) produces sparky and sweet-voiced singing, with even the essential smaller roles given depth and dimension.   The Independent

 Musically, standards are high.  Armide lives or dies in the orchestra, where the sorceress’s passions really surge, and Robert King’s conducting is alert to every sinuous, seductive twist and turn        The Times

...her performance crackles with conviction  (on Rosana Lamosa’s Armide)    The Times

Todd Wilander, in the cruelly high role of her bewitched lover Renaud, sings with winning vigour  The Times

This Buxton production sparkled on stage Liverpool Daily Post

The staging, costumes and lighting were evocative, effective and visually relevant and arresting     Seen and Heard website

The Fair Maid of Perth

Bizet’s score, presented here in a cleaned-up edition, is regularly delightful, and conductor Martin André is exemplary in delivering it.         The Stage

James Rutherford’s Duke is lavishly sung The Guardian

Conor Murphy’s brilliant designs prove one of the highpoints of the show     The Stage

A worthwhile and largely successful revival.                      The Stage

Pimpinone

This delightful production, directed by Donald Maxwell, who revels in the title role, is pure joy        Manchester Evening News

Rebecca Rudge is a revelation as the tyrannical chambermaid Vespetta in Telemann’s Pimpinone        Sheffield Telegraph

Rebecca Rudge, bright and sexy as Vespetta, and Donald Maxwell as the bumbling bachelor Pimpinone, bounce their farce off each other with good timing and some nice business   Stoke Sentinel

Noye's Fludde 

Lively, energetic and humourous     Stoke Sentinel

With Michael Barry’s inspired idea of setting it in 1939…it all came magically to life   Manchester Evening News

Donald Maxwell and Yvonne Howard were magnificent       Manchester Evening News

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