At the dawn of a new age of mandolin activity, an all star cast hit Buxton to pay homage to the heyday of mandolin orchestras (the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and, er, the 1780s), raising the level of mandolin consciousness for generations to come!

Fresh from recent tours of the Arctic Circle, China, the jungles of Borneo and most places in-between come the Mandolinquents, including the mighty mandobass (‘yes, I think we have one in stock, Madam’). 

Expect reels and traditional airs, hot swing and ragtime, Mozart and Tchaikovsky, Brazilian folk melodies and much more...played, and sometimes sung, with infectious fun, stunning virtuosity and offbeat humour.

mesmerizing… with superb musicianship and a zany sense of fun
The Hereford Times

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Ensemble 360 has gained an enviable reputation across the UK as an ensemble of outstanding musicians and for its ability to communicate to audiences.  Formed in 2005, the group brings together up to 11 world class musicians to offer informal, friendly and relaxed concerts, performing ‘in the round’ wherever possible.  These friends share a passion for music which radiates through each performance.

Mozart - Oboe Quartet K370
Howells - Rhapsodic Quintet
Britten - Phantasy Quartet, opus 2
Mozart - Clarinet Quintet K581

The emotional chemistry here was manifestly unusual… pure magic           
The Sunday Telegraph

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Graffiti Classics are guaranteed to leave you with a smile on your face – sixteen strings, eight dancing feet and four voices.  Not gypsy, not jazz, not trad, not classical – but scintillating performances with brilliant arrangements and mischievous humour.

I can't rid my mind of the image of the Pizzicato Polka with the bass tucked crosswise under his chin – God knows, I've tried         
The Daily Mail

This show is a wonderful antidote for those who think that classical music is as staid as stained-glass
The Times

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Tim Hugh - cello

Bach’s Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello are acclaimed as some of the greatest works ever written for solo cello.  Full of light and shadow, sorrow and joy, Bach expresses a huge range of emotions in this intimate music, presented here in two concerts in the beautiful little theatre at Chatsworth House.

Tim Hugh enjoys an immensely varied career incorporating chamber music, solo recitals and concertos while maintaining his position as principal cellist with the London Symphony Orchestra.  He regularly appears as soloist with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors and has recorded much of the solo repertoire.  BBC music magazine described his 2006 recording of the Suites as ‘the best performance on a modern cello’.

Britain should be proud of Tim Hugh – an artist of world stature      
Musical Opinion

Ticket holders are welcome to enjoy the Garden until it closes at 6pm.  Full access information will be sent to ticket holders.

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THE BACH CELLO SUITES

July 9

11am
Suites 1, 3, 5
Chatsworth Theatre

1 hour 25

£20

* * * * *

2.30pm
Suites 2, 4, 6
Chatsworth Theatre

1 hour 25

£20

Audiences have come to expect the unexpected at A Good Reed’s concerts, as the four madcap exponents of woodwind lowlife continue their attempt at world domination. 

Now with a new member to train (or tame?), will they be able to convince us that the bassoon can be more than ‘an acoustical travesty’?

Satellites run around our planet, but we still play bassoons.  It's ridiculous!
Witold Lutoslawski

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Madeleine Mitchell - violin
Noriko Ogawa - piano

This exciting new Anglo-Japanese collaboration between Madeleine Mitchell and Noriko Ogawa is supported by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation.  Delightful short pieces by Bridge and Takemitsu are paired with favourites of the violin repertoire by Franck and Debussy, who influenced Takemitsu.    

Madeleine Mitchell is one of the country’s most distinguished musicians, well known for her imaginative programming.  She recently gave recitals in Sydney Opera House and the Seoul Center for the Arts as part of a three month world tour.

Bridge - Melodie
Debussy - Sonate
Takemitsu - From far beyond Chrysanthemums and November Fog 
Franck - Violin Sonata in A

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Few groups are truly unique, yet that epithet applies to firm Festival friends Calefax. 

With over 600 concerts in 20 countries, Calefax is in great demand worldwide, performing standing up, sometimes from memory, and always engaging audiences with musicianship and virtuosity.  Most importantly, they arrange, recompose and interpret music from eight centuries to suit their unique line-up: from early music to classics and jazz, in the hands of Calefax all sounds fresh and new.

Mendelssohn - The Hebrides overture
Debussy -  Suite Bergamasque
Tchaikovsky - Overture from the Nutcracker Suite
Tchaikovsky/Duke Ellington - Nutcracker Jazz Suite
Steve Reich - New York Counterpoint

We tapped our feet too at the concert by Calefax – five extremely gifted Dutch gents who almost made the wind quintet seem the best musical format on the planet                     
The Times

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with Rebecca Caine
and James Church

Internationally renowned soprano Rebecca Caine shot to fame when she the star of Les Misérables and later opened the Toronto production of The Phantom of the Opera. 

Now a major star of musical theatre and opera on both sides of the Atlantic, Rebecca sings some of her favourites from The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, Follies and Ragtime!  

Rebecca Caine looked and sounded gorgeous
The Sunday Times

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Alicja Smietana - violin
Evelyne Berezovsky - piano

Born in 1983 in Poland, Alicja Śmietana has been described by San Francisco music critics as ‘extraordinary brilliant and sensitive’ and has already gained the respect of world-famous musicians as soloist and chamber musician including Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Misha Maiski, Martha Argherich and Thomas Zehetmair.

A multi-prizewinner in international competitions, Alicia presents a varied programme from the lyrical folk character and drama of Grieg's Sonata to Wieniawski’s great showpiece.

Grieg - Sonata no.1, opus 8
Schubert - Rondo in A, D438
Saint-Saëns - Dance Macabre
Wieniawski - Fantaisie brillante on themes from Faust, opus 20

While working with Alicja I found not only a brilliant musician but a colleague interested primarily in the greater good of music                     
Nigel Kennedy

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Emma Kirkby - soprano
Jakob Lindberg - lute

Emma Kirkby offers her own Grand Tour of seventeenth-century Europe, with a programme from the decades that marked the twilight of the Renaissance and the dawn of the Baroque age, with music by Dowland, Purcell, Schütz and Lawes.

Emma’s voice is richer and intensely expressive...her richly coloured interpretations of English songs, show that the timbre of her voice, enhanced by a gentle vibrato, has mellowed over the years.  Jakob accompanied gracefully throughout and offered several elegant solos          New York Times

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Known worldwide for his aristocratic interpretations of the great nineteenth-century masters, John Lill recently celebrated his 60th birthday. 

His programme culminates in Schumann’s musical representation of an elaborate and imaginative masked ball during carnival season.

Mozart - Sonata in F, K332
Brahms - Rhapsody, opus 79
Schumann - Carnaval, opus 9

Lill played the busy piano part it as though it was the easiest thing in the world, his hands rippling over the keys with never a missed note, in a performance that was never just a vehicle for showing off, but thoughtfully musical
Seattle Post

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Juri Gilbo - conductor

Two years ago Festival audiences were thrilled by the superb playing of this string orchestra and we are delighted to offer a return visit, when they bring Tchaikovsky’s sparkling Serenade, written as homage to Mozart's own serenades, and Grieg’s folk-inspired dance suite.

Grieg - Holberg Suite, opus 40
Tzintsadze - Georgian Folk Dances
Bach - Violin Concerto in E, BWV 1042
Bartok - Romanian Dances
Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings, opus 48

Juri Gilbo and his orchestra gave the music their Russian soul and so won the hearts of the Germans.  An unforgettable event!   
Osterländer Volkszeitung

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Sarah-Jane Brandon - soprano
Gary Matthewman - piano

Winner of the 2009 Kathleen Ferrier Competition, South African Sarah-Jane Brandon sings Schumann’s cycle of a woman’s response to love and life, coupled with Rachmaninov’s beautiful and romantic songs.

Schumann - Frauenliebe und -leben, opus 42
Liszt - Three songs
Rachmaninov - Six songs

Meet one of tomorrow's divas. The way she physically projects herself, with eloquence in her eyes and hands, recalls the days of silent cinema.  For a 25-year-old, her artistry is astonishingly mature.  A born recitalist, she has an instinctive understanding of this difficult game.  Covent Garden surely beckons.          
The Independent

Supported by:

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The Primrose Piano Quartet includes some of the UK's most renowned chamber musicians, with years of experience gained in the Lindsay, Sorrel and Edinburgh Quartets. 

They have a particular passion for lesser-known English music and sandwiched between mature Mozart and youthful Strauss is the music of William Alwyn, an unashamed Romantic who preferred his music to appeal to the heart rather than to the head.

Mozart - Piano Quartet in G minor, K478
Alwyn - Rhapsody
Strauss - Piano Quartet in C minor, opus 13

Their playing is selflessly beautiful…everything seems to be just right         
The Strad

Supported by the William Alwyn Foundation

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Members of our celebrated chorus enjoy a musical sojourn in Germany, celebrating the bicentenary of Schumann’s birth and sampling the Teutonic delights of songs and ensembles by Cornelius and Nicolai.  Their stunning Rossini concert last year was a Festival highlight for many, so expect a journey to delight.

The Festival Chorus – vital, disciplined and sensitive          
The Independent

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Miroslava Yordanova - mezzo-soprano
Giulio Zappa - piano

introduced by Julian Smith

Pauline Viardot was a hugely talented pianist, singer and composer, and friend of Chopin, Liszt, Gounod, Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, Turgenev and George Sand.  This lecture recital, marking the 100th anniversary of her death at the age of 88, describes her world and famous friends, including some of the many songs she wrote and the operatic arias with which she was especially associated.  

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Pavlo Beznosiuk - violin
Elin Manahan Thomas - soprano

Vivaldi’s most popular work was originally entitled ‘The Contest between Harmony and Invention’ and helped define the concerto form.  The Academy of Ancient Music cleverly intersperses the violin concertos with arias from The Fairy Queen, The Triumph of Time and Truth, Ezio and Giulio Cesare, sung by the leading baroque singer Elin Manahan Thomas, who many will remember from her role here in Samson.

Vivaldi - The Four Seasons, opus 8
Purcell - 'seasonal' arias
Handel - ‘seasonal’ arias

The AAM is on glorious form: the strings have a bite, precision and vibrancy any orchestra would envy   
International Record Review

with Rohan Mccullough
written by Hugh Whitemore
directed by Gareth Armstrong

‘My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me’  
Winston Churchill

My Darling Clemmie is the remarkable, moving and highly entertaining story of the woman who married one of the truly great figures of the last century: Sir Winston Churchill.

Compelling, engaging, intimately and beautifully realized – an unforgettable performance  
Roger Graef, Chairman of Complicite Theatre Company

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Alessandro Talevi, fresh from directing The Barber of Baghdad, guides willing volunteers from the Festival chorus in an opera workshop exploring the workings of the director’s mind!

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The stunning Dufay Collective presents a concert of English music from the 12th to 17th centuries in the beautiful and ancient ‘Cathedral of the Peak’.  

Tracing the roots of traditional song and dance music from Westron Wynd, Miri it is and Sumer is icumen in, they mix instrumental dances on pipes, flutes, vielle, harps gittern, psaltery, fiddle and gurdy with ballads and dances heard in the streets and taverns of renaissance London.

Please allow plenty of time if travelling from Buxton. We suggest leaving Buxton at 1pm as the Carnival closes some roads and the town centre becomes virtually impassable for some hours.

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Di Xiao - pian0

Two years ago the diminutive and charming Di Xiao gave us a superb recital and we welcome her again after a year when she has thrilled audiences across Europe on her Rising Star Tour, taking in 12 of the most prestigious concert halls from Athens to Barcelona.  Other tours have taker her to Singapore, India, Malaysia and China.

Mozart - Sonata in B flat, K570
Mendelssohn - Songs without words  
Grieg - Lyric Pieces, opus 43
Debussy - Deux Arabesques  
Debussy - L’Isle Joyeuse

The Chinese pianist Di Xiao presents a demanding programme of Beethoven, Chopin, Ravel and Messiaen that takes your breath away     
Kölner Philharmonie

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Winner of the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Chamber Music and the Chamber Music section of the BBC Music Magazine Awards, the Dante Quartet is known for its imaginative programming and the emotional intensity of its performances.  Here they offer a chance to hear our opera composers in chamber guise, including what is thought to be the first modern performance of a quartet by Peter Cornelius.

Cornelius - Quartet no.3 in G major
Verdi - String Quartet
Debussy - Quartet in G minor, opus 10

This was just the sort of event that makes festival-going worthwhile
The Financial Times

When the first notes sounded it was, thrillingly, as though Beethoven was speaking to us direct   
The Sunday Times

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Giselle is the ultimate Romantic ballet, a tale of innocence, betrayal and the redemptive power of true love, and one of the greatest and most popular ballets. 

With outstanding classical dancers and expansive choreography this production by Independent Ballet Wales has original choreography, expressive costumes and atmospheric sets to make one of the most thrilling and entertaining dance events of the year.

Please note: this performance uses recorded music

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Hannah Marcinowicz - saxophone
John Reid - piano

Hannah is winning many new friends for the saxophone.  Already an established soloist with the Philharmonia, LSO and BBC orchestras, she has given recitals at the Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall and the Royal Festival Hall and was awarded the prestigious Médaille d'Or for chamber music.

Demersseman - Fantaisie sur un Thème Original
Debussy - Syrinx
Hanabe No Uta - Traditional Japanese Song
Milhaud - Scaramouche
Grieg - Once Upon A Time
Matitia - Au bonheur des dames
De Rose - Deep Purple

A superb young saxophonist 
The Times

Supported by The Countess of Munster Musical Trust

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Welcome to the quietly sinister world of the ghost story…where withered hands snatch at passers-by, rickety scarecrows lie chained to iron beds, and unpleasant surprises lurk among the tea leaves…

Pop into the antique shop where old paintings and doll’s houses suddenly come to life... or leaf through dusty books filled with shockingly lifelike pictures of hideous creatures, and locks of hair pasted between the pages.  But if you find buried crowns down on the beach, leave them well alone –they have probably been left there for a very good reason.

Join The Happiness Patrol for an intimate evening of gentle chills and pleasing terrors from acknowledged masters of the macabre.

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Andrew Greenwood - conductor   

Samuel Barber was one of the twentieth-century's most accomplished composers for the voice and the enlarged Festival chorus marks the centenary of his birth with a staged performance of the short chamber opera A Hand of Bridge, directed by Alessandro Talevi and accompanied by the Festival Ensemble.

As one famous opera guide remarks, ‘less has been said by many longer operas’!  Also included are Dover Beach, with string quartet accompaniment and one of his most successful compositions, and the famous Adagio for Strings, equally effective and ethereal when transformed for voices as Agnus Dei. 

A Hand of Bridge
Dover Beach
Agnus Dei (Adagio for Strings)
Sure on this shining night

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Expect another sell-out for this off-beat septet from Opera North in an ingenious programme combining their favourite tango music with links to music from their favourite films!  

So expect to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (where Some Like it Hot), experience the Scent of a Woman, cruise on the Showboat with Eyes Wide Shut and finally Escape to Happiness after a West Side Story!

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An excellent introduction to the Festival operas, as members of the Festival Company understudying main roles enjoy their own performance of scenes with piano accompaniment, introduced by Andrew Greenwood. 

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Mary Plazas - soprano
Paul Nilon - tenor
Andrew Greenwood - piano

Two of the country’s most versatile singers take time off from Idomeneo to share their extensive repertoire in songs and duets by Mozart, Haydn, Schumann, Donizetti, Britten and Somervell.  A Festival special!

Mary Plazas gave a titanic performance as Lucrezia Borgia, negotiating Donizetti’s coloratura sweeps with heroic abandon
The Financial Times

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Nicholas Kok - conductor

In a programme built around this year’s opera composers, sinfonia ViVA brings to Buxton the autumnal preface to Capriccio and the late flowering of Strauss’s genius in his Metamorphosen, an intensely personal reflection on war-torn Germany.  Mozart and Verdi, two great opera composers, show than the lack of voices doesn’t have to be a handicap!

Mozart - Divertimento, K136
Strauss - Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings
Strauss - Sextet from Capriccio
Verdi - String Quartet, arranged for string orchestra

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Dulsori (literally ‘wild beat’) rekindles the spirit of ancient Korea.  From the intimacy of the heartbeat to the sizzling energy and passion of the full group, the frighteningly agile troupe whirls, twists, dances and defies gravity as they combine the age-old traditions and modern spectacle of their national art. 

Their pace never lets up in a gripping performance of delicious percussion and crashing drums
The Guardian

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with Michael Hampton - piano

Jonathan Lemalu is a Pacific jewel.  A powerful, warm and captivating bass baritone, Festival-goers have had the pleasure of seeing him develop into one of the most sought-after talents on the international concert, operatic and recital circuit.  We’ve enticed him to our opera stage for the first time this year, and of course we had to ask for a recital as well!

Programme to include songs by Schubert, Mahler, Finzi and Poulenc.

Jonathan Lemalu’s voice is glorious, his stage presence warm and masterly        
The Observer

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An excellent introduction to the Festival operas, as members of the Festival Company understudying main roles enjoy their own performance of scenes with piano accompaniment, introduced by Andrew Greenwood. 

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Sofya Gulyak - piano

The Russian pianist Sofya Gulyak won first prize in the 2009 Leeds International Piano Competition, the first woman so to do.  This crowned success in other major competitions in Helsinki, Copenhagen and South Korea.  She marks the bicentenary of Chopin’s birth with a programme containing some of his finest music.

Chopin - 2 nocturnes, opus 55
Chopin - Polonaise-phantasy, opus 61
Chopin - 2 Scherzos opus 20 & 39
Chopin - 2 Mazurkas, opus 59
Chopin - Ballade in G minor, opus 23

Gulyak’s playing stayed fresh and precise throughout…  cleanly articulating even the most devilish passages, with volcanic crescendos that climaxed in blazes of brilliant sound, and lyrical passages with lovely, limpid tone               
Washington Post, USA

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Nicholas Daniel - oboe

The Festival’s resident orchestra enjoys two classical symphonies and continues our Straussian theme with the ‘happy glow of the inspiration of old-age’ that is his oboe concerto, joined by Nicholas Daniel, one of the country's most distinguished soloists.

Haydn - Symphony no. 26, Lamentation
Strauss - Oboe concerto
Barber - Canzonetta for Oboe and Strings
Mozart - Symphony no. 40

Nicholas Daniel was the very embodiment of that ‘classical’ spirit that Strauss exuberantly and nostalgically transformed in the filigree of his imagination
The Times

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Pascal & Ami Rogé - piano

Pascal Rogé is one of the great interpreters of French music – his name is synonymous with the best playing of French repertoire in the world today. 

For several years Pascal has enjoyed playing recitals for four-hands with his partner Ami Rogé.  Together, they have travelled to the world’s prestigious festivals and concert halls, from New York to Beijing.

Their Debussy programme culminates in a version of La Mer which the composer wrote before the more familiar orchestral version, bringing every splash and wave to life in a vividly exciting score.

Debussy - Petite Suite
Debussy -6 Préludes
Debussy - La Mer, poème symphonique

A concert of sheer delight and a reason for celebration – their pianism was seamlessly superb
Dominion Post, Wellington

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Ian Buckle - piano
tbc - reader

The poetry of Philip Larkin is much loved for its 'piquant mix of lyricism and discontent'. 25 years after his death Larkin's darkly humorous view of human foibles and failings has lost none of its power to provoke and delight.

Its bittersweet quality is present in much of the English piano literature by the poet's contemporaries, and Ian Buckle's selection of miniatures – from Bridge, Britten, Coates and Ireland to Colin Matthews and Graham Fitkin – is interspersed with readings to reflect the view of England created by 'the country's greatest post-war writer'.

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Adapted from the poems of Carol Ann Duffy
Performed by Linda Marlowe
Directed by Di Sherlock

A new stage version of the acclaimed poems that imagines the wives’ perspective of famous men through the ages.  From Mrs Faust to Frau Freud, Queen Kong to Mrs Midas, this delightful show slices through history and myth, whilst casting an astute glance over the modern world.  Laced with dark humour and acerbic wit, this passionate exposé will enthral lovers of Duffy’s brilliant and often controversial verse.

Linda Marlowe’s virtuoso performances have enjoyed great acclaim including international tours and West End seasons. 

Joyfully refreshing. Oh, do go and see this: it's wonderful                
The Observer

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The uniquely wide range of the cello and the sonorous richness of its tone mean that it is the string instrument best suited to playing en masse. 

The introduction to Rossini’s William Tell overture marks its first appearance in this medium and Romantic-era cellist-composers such as David Popper, and Heitor Villa-Lobos, have also done much to build a serious repertoire for cello ensemble.  

The CBSO cellos perform regularly as an ensemble in Centre Stage, the CBSO’s own chamber music series, with a repertoire of transcriptions and original works ranging from JS Bach to Eric Coates. 

de Falla - 3 Dances from The Three-Cornered Hat
Casals - Les Rois Mages 
Casals - Song of the Birds
Brubeck - God's Love Made Visible
Brubeck - The Desert and the Parched Land
de Falla - 6 Popular Spanish Songs

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© Buxton Festival