By Andrew Clark [Financial Times, 11 July 2011]

Of all the UK’s summer opera venues, Buxton must be the most relaxing and the least pretentious. The town, once a holiday spa for well-to-do Lancashire families, exudes faded elegance and upmarket potential, but its countrified Peak District setting encourages a longer stay. Having had a chequered career over the past 30 years, the festival is on an upward curve. Its greatest asset remains the Opera House, a 900-seat Matcham jewel, and this year it has expanded to three in-house productions, running on consecutive nights - a good package.