Buxton Festival is a 19-day summer arts event showcasing the finest opera, music and literature. It is held in the historic spa town of Buxton, set in the beautiful Peak District – a perfect mix of culture and countryside.
Every year the Festival welcomes over 40,000 from across the country to Buxton in July and is now recognised as one of the UK’s largest and best arts festivals.
"The little miracle that is Buxton Festival – the UK’s most unpretentious and best value–for–money summer opera event – continues to astonish…I don’t know how they manage it..."
The Sunday Times
Festival in the Community
Every year Buxton Natural Mineral Water helps Buxton Festival involve around 2,000 people in creative arts activities by supporting a series of community and education projects run by the Festival.
Young People and the Festival
A key focus of the Festival's community programme is to engage young people in the arts, so they are delighted to include two children's operas in their 2010 programme.
- Richard Rodney Bennett's All the King's Men will involve young people from Glossopdale Community College, Lady Manners School and Dark Peak Youth Orchestra, with three public performances (July 9, 12, 13, Methodist Church) and one free for invited schools.
- Florence Nightingale is a new work by James Redwood, based on the life of the famous nurse. Children from four High Peak primary schools feature as performers and also composers as their own songs will be incorporated into the work with one public and one free schools' performance (July 20, St John’s Church).
These projects aim to develop the young people's musical knowledge and performance skills as well as encouraging team-work, communication skills and self-confidence.
The Festival's other education projects in 2010 are:
- Buxton's Water Music – students from Buxton Community School explore traditional and electronic techniques to compose a short piece of music inspired by the sounds of water
- Wandering Minstrels – Festival musicians entertain the elderly in daycare and residential centres
- Live Music Now! – Specially trained musicians perform to over 300 children with special needs Poetry and Photography Competitions – national competitions to encourage people to think creatively about their surroundings, with exhibitions at the Devonshire Dome
- Festival ambassadors – local teenagers explore backstage at Festival events, interview performers, meet cast and crew and report their findings on our blog throughout the Festival