Buxton International Festival

Buxton International Festival is back this summer, with a knock-out line-up of opera, jazz, music and book events taking place in venues across the town from 6-23 July 2023. Included in The Times’ top 50 must-see events around the globe, the Festival is one of the UK’s leading cultural events, and attracts the very best singers, musicians and speakers from across Europe. Here we round-up the highlights of this year’s programme.

Music is a big part of Buxton International Festival. In addition to a hugely impressive opera series (which we cover in more detail here) and a bold new musical (head here) built around the songs of Ivor Novello, the 2023 Festival will feature many highly respected names in classical music.

Since winning the BBC’s Young Musician title in 2004, Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti has forged a dazzling international career, and in 2022 she became the first Scot and the first woman to be appointed Director of the Edinburgh International Festival. On 10 July at Buxton Opera House she’ll perform a programme of Vivaldi, Corelli and Geminiani with The English Concert, one of the world’s leading period-instrument orchestras. Additionally, we’ve got our eyes on the fresh and imaginative Sacconi String Quartet on 12 July, the brilliant chamber music group Endymion on 15 July and Ensemble Molière on 17 July.

Pianistic talent will be in good supply at the Festival, not least in the form of Paul Lewis CBE, whose cycles of core piano works by Schubert have received unanimous critical and public acclaim worldwide. On 19 July at St John’s Church, he’ll perform three of Schubert’s glittering sonatas. Joanna MacGregor CBE will take to same venue on 14 July to play her own works alongside a programme of Bach, Schumann and Barber. Meanwhile, on 18 July, the church will also host internationally-renowned pianist Peter Donohoe and clarinetist Sacha Rattle in a concert inspired by ‘the lyrical romanticism of Brahms and Berg’.

Before MacGregor’s concert on 14 July, Dame Sarah Connolly, one of the finest singers of her generation, and Joseph Middleton, “one of the brightest stars in the world of song and Lieder” (BBC Music Magazine), return to Buxton following their sell-out appearance two years ago. This is the third concert in Middleton’s ‘Seasons’ series —  a sequence of song recitals, featuring guest singers Nicky Spence, Lucy Crowe and Ashley Riches, exploring responses to the four seasons.

As well as these classical highlights, there are many jazz concerts to look forward to, most taking place during the ‘Jazz Weekender’ which opens the Festival on 6-10 July, and for which separate tickets are available.

Jazz highlights include the iconic trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who experiments in an ever-widening palette of forms and concepts that constitute some of the most advanced thinking in modern jazz. On 10 July, he’ll perform a specially-curated set in what is a relatively intimate space for an artist of his calibre: Buxton Opera House.

Another legendary performer making a rare appearance is the New Jersey-born soul singer, Madeline Bell, who performs with award-winning singer, pianist and broadcaster, Ian Shaw. This show debuts as an exclusive for Buxton, and you can expect searing ballads, swinging songs from the American classic canon, and a few surprises. Additionally, R&B meets rock when Geno Walsh and The Ram Jam Band perform an unmissable double header with Manchester-based Sad Café.

Young jazz talent comes in the form of pianist/vocalist Tom Seals, who brings his sextet to Buxton, fresh from his Sky Arts show and sell-out gigs at Birdland, Ronnie Scott’s and Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Shez Raja, meanwhile, is one of the hottest bass players around, and will present a sonic kaleidoscope of Indo-jazz, thundering funk, tuneful ragas and euphoric grooves at the Pavilion Arts Centre on 8 July.

As for the book series Buxton again leads the way in conversation and debate with its line-up of authors, commentators and politicians.

Top guests for 2023 include award-winning English playwright, screenwriter, theatre and film director Sir David Hare, who discusses his latest collection of essays and poems We Travelled at Buxton Opera House on 8 July. Another big draw is Turner prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, who appears at the same venue on 14 July, to discuss his book Art is Magic.

Some of the country’s leading journalists are also set to appear at the Festival. The BBC’s Jeremy Bowen and Edward Stourton will speak at Buxton Opera House on 11 and 18 July respectively and the Guardian’s editor-at-large Gary Younge presents ‘Dispatches from the Diaspora: From Nelson Mandela to Black Lives Matter’ at the Pavilion Arts Centre on 7 July.

Political guests include Alistair Campbell (22 July, Buxton Opera House), Jesse Norman (21 July, Pavilion Arts Centre) and Nick Thomas-Symonds (20 July, Pavilion Arts Centre), while social commentator Polly Toynbee (8 July, Pavilion Arts Centre) speaks on class and meritocracy, and Colin Grant (14 July, Pavilion Arts Centre) shares stories of his aspirational Jamaican family in Britain.

Travelling via Antarctica and across the world to become one of the UK’s foremost explorers, Sara Wheeler (18 July, Pavilion Arts Centre) tells the story of life in a notoriously testosterone-laden field; Isabella Tree (22 July, Pavilion Arts Centre) speaks on her seminal book Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm; and Dame Kate Bingham and Tim Hames (21 July, Buxton Opera House) tell the inside story of the race to vaccinate Britain during the pandemic.

As you can see, the programme is rather huge, and we’ve really only scratched the surface of the 130+ events on offer. For the full lowdown, and for more information on booking, head to Buxton International Festival’s website via the ‘Book Now’ button below.