Buxton International Festival has built a reputation over its 40+ years for offering a programme of rarely performed operas.
This year, the festival unveiled Shorts – a bold new series that redefines what opera can be. Seven award-winning writers and composers were commissioned to create four innovative, 20-minute operas from scratch, each pushing the boundaries of the art form. The opening night on 13th July was a huge success, with audiences pleasantly surprised by how fresh, unexpected, and unlike anything they imagined what they might find at an opera festival could be:
“It was so not what I thought opera was about, to me it felt like mime, interpretive dance, song and and story – and that’s not how operas are usually sold to us; I’ve often seen operas as ‘it’s not for me’ and inaccessible and being sung in difference languages where I won’t understand what’s going on – that’s not what it was like at all, all four operas were incredible, each so individual, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who hasn’t been to an opera before!”
Four New Stories of Our Time
Forget what you thought you knew about Opera: this is the future.
Four 20 minute contemporary operas premiere at Buxton International Festival.
Inevitable
A countdown to the end of the world.
Composed by Carmel Smickersgill (Ivor Novello Award Nominee), libretto by Josh Overton (Sunday Times Playwright Award Winner).
Life Gets Stretched
A couple meet, fall in love and change; 20 years in 20 minutes.
Composed by Martin Green (Ivor Novello Award Winner, BBC Radio 2 Folk Award Winner).
Disorderly House
The story of queer icon Bobby Britt, arrested in the 1920s for
keeping a ‘disorderly house’.
Composed by Jasper Dommett (Ivor Novello Nominee), libretto by Jessica Walker (Opera North, Wigmore Hall).
Tears Are Not Meant to Stay Inside
Nombula feels invisible and turns to a `traditional healer to cure her unsettled spirit.
Composed by Thanda Gumede (Opera North, BBC Proms), libretto by Zodwa Nyoni (BBC, Channel 4, Netflix).
Shorts, commissioned by Buxton International Festival, brings together seven award
winning writers and composers from the worlds of jazz, folk, classical and contemporary
theatre to create a compelling series of short operas which tell relevant and contemporary
stories; a fresh take on the art form.
Manchester based Carmel Smickersgill and Sunday Times Playwright Award Winner Josh
Overton kick off this emotional and innovative narrative journey with Inevitable.
In a stark, unremarkable office overshadowed by the doomsday clock, three generations of
humans labour over a rusty old crank. Giving their lives to keep the world ticking, until the
creeping doubt of an inevitable end sparks. Expect gallows humor and raw emotion as the
clock ticks on.
Next, BBC Folk Award Winner, Martin Green presents Life Gets Stretched, a love story. In
a time of war. A couple meet, fall in love, and marry. But life is long and people change, will
their bond prove strong enough? With folk influences and a strong, physical theatre energy
this is a story of change and growing apart. Martin Green’s ‘invented’ language taps into a
universal form of communication, allowing the music and the emotion to take you away.
Disorderly House recounts the real life story from 1927. In Fitzroy Square, London,
sensational dancer Bobby Britt hosts an exuberant get together for his bohemian guests. A
party in full swing. Britt treats his guests to a performance of Salome’s Dance of the Seven
Veils, behind closed doors. But, the entertainment crashes down when the police raid and
he is arrested for keeping a ‘disorderly house’. Join us for this celebration of LGBTQ+
history and the pioneering individuals that would otherwise be forgotten. The opera is
performed in English and Polari (a hidden language primarily spoken by gay men in Britain).
And finally, jazz, gospel and opera star Thandanani Gumede (Opera North, Manchester Jazz Festival, Zulu Tradition) and Zodwa Nyon, Zimbabwean-born writer for theatre (Royal
Exchange, Leeds Playhouse & Tiata Fahodzi, Kiln Theatre), radio and TV (Channel 4, BBC, Netflix), have teamed up to create Tears Are Not Meant to Stay Inside.
In a modern world, this opera explores whether we can still find deep connections to our
spiritual heritage? An uplifting, emotional joyous experience will enhance your senses and
engulf you in a blend of classical opera and traditional African sounds. Performed in Zulu
and Ndebele.
The operas are directed by Marcus Desando and Rebecca Melzer and designed by Eliott
Squire.
Next performance dates are 15th, 18th, 21st and 25th July 2025 at Buxton Opera House.
Book Now
Click here for more information and ticket bookings.
Investing in the Future of Opera
Helen Goodman, Shorts Producer from Buxton International Festival said:
“We are excited to be working with a creative team of such incredible calibre. In their
respective fields of the arts they have already produced work of incredible quality and
creative vision. Together, using opera as their medium of expression, we think that the
possibilities are limitless. They will express stories that will take audiences to the limits of
their emotions and demonstrate the enduring power of opera in a modern context.
This commission is just an example of Buxton International Festival’s commitment to
presenting world class opera and to inviting audiences to experience new and challenging
theatrical experiences.”
🎥 Watch: Go behind the scenes with the Creative Team in this short film, captured during their residency at Opera North.
Performed in English, Zulu, Ndebele, Polari, and an invented language.
If you see nothing else this year, make sure you see this.
Buxton International Festival, 3 The Square, Buxton, SK17 6AZ
T: 01298 72190 Box Office / 01298 70395 Festival Office
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