Buxton to preview 2023 shows

Published: 12 May 2023
Reporter: Steve Orme

Jane Burnell, Henry Strutt and Jess Hopkins who will be singing at a preview of Buxton International Festival

A preview of the 2023 Buxton International Festival is to be held in the Derbyshire town and guests will be introduced to a new musical based on the early life of Vera Brittain.

The event at the Octagon in the town’s Pavilion Gardens on Wednesday 17 May will include extracts from The Land of Might-Have-Been.

The musical is built around the songs of Ivor Novello and is loosely based on incidents in the early life of Buxton’s pioneering feminist and pacifist Vera Brittain and the lives, loves and stories of those closest to her.

There will also be arias from Bellini and Mozart sung by sopranos Jane Burnell and Jess Hopkins and tenor Henry Strutt from the Royal Northern College of Music. Tickets cost £10 per person. Under-16s will be admitted free.

The festival is also organising an opera study day at which directors and writers will talk about the 2023 productions which include Vincenzo Bellini’s La sonnambula (The Sleepwalker), Mozart’s Il re pastore (The Shepherd King) and G F Handel’s baroque opera seria Orlando as well as The Land of Might-Have-Been.

The opera study day will be held at the Best Western Lee Wood Hotel on Tuesday 16 May. Tickets cost £45.

    Related listings

  • The Land Of Might-Have-Been - Book and lyrics by Michael Williams, music by Ivor Novello (Buxton International Festival and Norwich Theatre)

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