Buxton Festival programme out

It should go without saying that without the Buxton Festival there would be no Buxton Festival Fringe. So, with all necessary pomp, pageantry and celebration we are delighted and thrilled to report that the Buxton Festival programme is being mailed out this week. 

Tickets go on general sale on 1st April - so you have plenty of time to make your choices. High on our priority list are the following:

• Monday 14 July - Rachel Cooke in conversation about her book Her Brilliant Career
• Tuesday 15 July - counter tenor Michael Chance accompanied on lute and theorbo by Paul Beier in a programme of Purcell and Dowland songs
• Friday 18 July - La Serenissima, violin duos (Vivaldi etc). Adrian Chandler was brilliant last year and will surely dazzle alongside Cecilia Bernardini this year
• Sunday 20 July - Alan Johnson will be in conversation with Festival chair Dame Janet Smith about his autobiography, This Boy. [The Festival mass this day is Haydn's Theresienmesse]. In the evening the Huddersfield Choral Society will be raising the roof at St John's with a programme of Parry, Elgar, Vaughan Williams and more
• Monday 21 July - The Swingle Singers (remember them!) are at the Opera House
• Tuesday 22 July - accordionist Djordje Gajic is at St John's with an intriguing and varied programme
• Thursday 24 July - The Orwell Debate: the Housing Crisis and the Countryside will have a particular resonance in the Peak District.
• Sunday 27 July - the final day of the Festival includes a concert by soprano Gillian Keith who is a much-loved Buxton regular.

This is just a small selection - and we haven't even mentioned any of the operas. The Festival programme is a visual joy but there isn't much orange in it. Happily, on p47 that is largely redeemed with a full page notice for the Fringe.

Here's a not very difficult Festival-related competition for you. On Sunday July 13th there are two quite famous people speaking - Jonathan Aitken and Lord Archer. They have a number of things in common - but what very specific events from around the turn of the century unite them? Depending on the number of correct answers (the judges verdict will be final) we might find a suitable prize.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
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Twitter: @buxtonfringe