2011 Peak Photography Competition Winner Roachend Barn by Richard Wheeler

Amateur and professional photographers of all ages are invited to enter the Peak Photography Competition 2012 for the chance to win a cash prize of £300.  The Festival has teamed up again with Visit Peak District & Derbyshire to launch the contest, and this year’s theme is ‘Welcome to Britain’.

Claire Rhodes, Development Manager said: ‘We chose the theme Welcome to Britain to explore what is special about the UK and our national identity, in a year that brings us the 2012 Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  We’re sure the theme will generate a really broad range of photographs, reflecting the great variety of people, places and events that make Britain Special. Photographs could focus on a particular place or person, a spectacular event, occasion or landscape, or could be a snapshot of everyday British life.’

Selected images, including those by the three main prize winners, will be printed by professional photography laboratory Peak Imaging and will be displayed at a public exhibition at the Devonshire Dome during Buxton Festival in July.

David James, Chief Executive of Visit Peak District & Derbyshire said: “We’re delighted to be working with Buxton Festival to launch the third Peak Photography competition. 2012 offers huge potential for Britain, England and leading UK tourism destinations like the Peak District to be showcased on a world stage, and we’re sure that this year’s topical theme will spark plenty of creative and inspirational entries.  It’s a great opportunity for people to give their artistic talents full rein, and we look forward to seeing the imaginative results, which will go on display during one of the area’s major arts festivals.”

The first prize winner will receive £300 cash and the second prize will be a £100 voucher towards Going Digital Photography Workshops. The third prize will be a £40 voucher to use in a national photography store

Entries are invited from photographers of all ages, at a cost of £3 per image, up to a maximum of three photographs per entrant. Anyone under 19 years of age by the closing date, 1 June 2012, can enter free of charge. Full competition rules and application packs are available from http://tiny.cc/6dmm2

By Andrea Joseph

Audition for peachy role in community production

We’re seeking a young male singer with an unbroken voice to play the lead role of James in our upcoming community production of James and the Giant Peach, based on the well-loved Roald Dahl story.

This is a wonderful opportunity for a young singer to perform a solo role alongside a community cast from local primary and secondary schools, a youth choir and a professional band and creative team. James and the Giant Peach will be the highlight of the Festival’s community programme and this will be an exciting experience for an aspiring and talented young singer hoping to develop their skills – support and coaching will be available.

The show will be performed on 9 and 11 July and the chosen singer must be available on these dates, and for rehearsals on 5 and 6 July, as well as other dates to be agreed.

Auditions will be held in Buxton on 25th January. If you would like to audition please call Claire Rhodes on 01298 70395 to book a slot.

Illustration by Andrea Joseph: http://andreajoseph24.blogspot.com/

In 2012 the placements will run from 2^nd July – 26^th July in Buxton.  While the placements are unpaid we do provide simple accommodation in Buxton and £500 towards your food and travel expenses.

 As a Festival Assistant your work would include: 

• working in the Festival shop
• stewarding events
• front-of-house duties
• assisting with concert and stage management
• venue set-up
• general ‘running’
• page-turning
• operating our opera surtitle screens
• anything else that might crop up along the way!

You will also have the chance to see as many Festival events as you can get to – from world-class opera to the best UK chamber music, as well as the famous faces of our literary series speakers.

Competition for these exciting roles is strong and places are limited.  If you would like to apply please send a CV and covering letter to claire@buxtonfestival.co.uk.

Audiences have tripled to more than 43,000 during Glyn’s tenure and Buxton is now recognised as one of the UK’s leading arts festivals, attracting extensive national media attention. 

Dame Janet Smith,  Buxton Festival’s Chairman, said:

‘Glyn’s contribution has been immense; he has transformed the Festival both artistically and financially. We now begin the search for a new Chief Executive who can build on this success and take the Festival forwards. This is a very exciting time to join the Festival: we are financially stable, critically acclaimed and well-regarded by our growing audiences.’

 Buxton Festival is a thriving summer celebration of opera, music and literature, with a national reputation for quality productions of unusual operatic repertoire.   In recent years the Festival has expanded to 19 days of intense activity, comprising three Festival opera productions and a total of around 150 events, as well as an education and community programme.

The newly appointed Chief Executive will work in collaboration with Artistic Director Stephen Barlow.   

The post is now being advertised with a closing date for applications of Friday 9 December.  Email recruitment@buxtonfestival.co.ukto request an application pack.

Glyn Foley

Poets of all ages are welcome to enter – there are three categories: Open Poetry for poets aged 19 and over, Young People’s Poetry for budding poets between 12 and 18, or Children’s Poetry for those aged 11 and under.

There are cash prizes totalling £600 for winners of the Open category and book tokens for winners of the Young people and Children’s categories. Winning poets will also see their work in a unique exhibition at the University of Derby’s Buxton Campus – the iconic Devonshire Dome – during the 2012 Buxton Festival.

The theme Welcome to Britain aims to explore what is special about the UK and our national identity in a year that brings us the 2012 Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. We hope it will inspire diverse interpretations, from celebrating the things that make our nation unique to highlighting current issues, reflecting on what makes us British and exploring how the rest of the world sees the UK. Welcome to Britain could inspire a wide variety of thoughts and emotions, from the personal to the political – the theme is intended to be as expansive as possible.

This year’s judges are Sheffield based poets Peter and Ann Sansom:

‘We’re sure this year’s theme will bring in a really broad range of poems, reflecting our very varied society and great heritage. Poems that focus on a particular place or figure from history maybe, or on some British invention or the sports and games we play; even our distinctive (for better or worse) food and drink – any or all of these subjects might make a winning poem.’

The competition is run by Buxton Festival and the University of Derby Buxton. The Buxton Poetry competition is also supported by the nation’s former poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion alongside Lady Jasmine Cavendish, who are the competition’s enthusiastic patrons.

The deadline for poems is April 6 2012 and entries are free for the Children and Young People’s categories. Entry packs can be downloaded here or you can contact Claire Rhodes on 01298 70395/ claire@buxtonfestival.co.uk

The first group of students attended a performance of the community opera Tarka the Otter before meeting Festival Chief Executive Glyn Foley.  Here is a snippet from their interview:

What is your favourite part of working at the festival?
I think my favourite part is when all our efforts throughout the year come together for shows like Tarka the Otter.  So when you’re putting together all the orchestras, schools, local adults and dancers to make something which works as a whole, it’s very rewarding, and when you see the audience’s reaction to that, that’s really why I do it. 

What do you look for when choosing people and events for the Festival?
Variety. First of all we choose our opera programme which is mostly performed in the Opera House.  We aim to include a range of different opera from different periods of history, so this year we have a Handel opera from the baroque period, we’ve got a French opera from the 19^th century, and we’ve got an Italian opera from the 19^th century, all quite different.  So once we’ve got the bones of our programme we choose three or four operas from touring companies to complete the programme.   Then we add our afternoon concerts and the literary talks.  So our programme aims to keep people busy, if you want to, you can go to almost every event, or you can just do one, and then move onto Chatsworth, or go for a walk in the hills.

When you put on productions like Tarka the Otter, do you find that they are harder because so many people are involved?
Yes, especially a community opera. There are different problems. With our own operas in the opera house, everyone there is professional, from the orchestra, the chorus, the principles, the director, the technicians, everybody. So we’re paying them to the schedule that we’ve worked out, so in some ways, that’s easier.  Once you’ve told somebody what to do and you’re paying them, they get on with it and do it.

Community operas present lots of different problems, because they’re performed by people who aren’t paid.  With Tarka the Otter, that you’ve seen today, the orchestra, the director and the designer and the three principle soloists were paid, but everybody else, the dancers, community chorus, the people singing on stage and all the schools involved, they’re all giving themselves freely.  You can’t tell them what to do in such a way. You have to work with them to make sure they want to do the programme.

The second group of young people attended the ballet Beauty and the Beast performed by Ballet Cymru.  The students then met Artistic Director Darius James and two of the principal dancers.  Here is their review of the show:

On Friday 15^th of July 2011 we went to see the matinee performance of the ballet of  Beauty and the Beastat Buxton Opera House. It was performed by the Welsh ballet company – Ballet Cymru. We think that it was very good and that we would like to go and see another of the group’s performances.

Although it was the same old tale of a young girl, a handsome prince that becomes a beast and a rose, the ballet company added its own personal twist to the story through the choreography and the costumes.

We thought that the costumes were one of the best elements because of the exotic taste they added to the ballet. We would especially like to mention the beast’s costume as it was extremely modern and interesting. The beast danced around the stage on stilts which we think made the beast seem more menacing. Another of our favourite costumes were the ones belonging to the four girls. They were all dressed elegantly in red and black dresses, each the same but with a different element perhaps showing a different personality.

Overall we think the ballet was a huge success and we would definitely recommend it to anyone else that was thinking of going to see it themselves. Beauty and the Beast was a great story to choose and the company interpreted it very well.

Finally a group of students were invited to the dress rehearsal of the The Italian Girl in London by Bampton Classical Opera.  After the rehearsal they interviewed Director Jeremy Grey.

We went to see the dress rehearsal of The Italian Girl In London and it was a very good experience and opportunity because we actually got to see what happens and the amount of effort it takes to make these performances come together.

The staging is quite a sight. Although it was a dress rehearsal we were still able to get the feeling of London and Italy on the same stage. It is fantastic experience as you can see all the things they have to test and practice such as the lights and music. The dress rehearsal was also good because you can see the problems that occurred as well as the things that were really good.

Whilst the actors played their characters superbly the orchestra had an amazing role. They performed with accuracy and a very professional quality, beautifully timed with the singers/actors. Fantastic. I think that the actors portrayed their roles excellently and you could tell who everyone was and what they did. Also the music fitted in very well with the actors and their actions. It is good that they used most of the stage and their space effectively. It is full of humour and entertainment. The actors work really hard to keep in time with the music and use actions and facial expression to convey their feelings and to fill their characters personality. We also enjoyed the use of props and how the performers interacted with them. They used tables, chairs, coat hooks and umbrella stands. 

Thank you to all who took part in this project, we hope you enjoyed the Festival!

As a Festival Assistant I will be seen working around the Festival in other ways: controlling the surtitles for the operas, working in the shop, greeting the artists and speakers and stage managing the literary talks and concerts, to name but a few! I will also be trying to attract a young crowd by developing our Buxton Festival facebook page!

My excitement for the start of the Festival is gaining momentum – the rehearsals in Londonare now complete! Donizetti’s Maria di Rohan has come alive in the creative hands of Stephen Medcalf, Andrew Greenwood, Francis O’Connor and John Bishop. The cast sound fantastic, the chemistry between Mary Plazas, John Bellemer and Will Dazeley, in particular is really magical, and this gripping production will surely be the crowning jewel in the Buxton extravaganza of 2011.
Charlie Watson

The Festival’s chief executive, Glyn Foley, said: ‘It was a great relief to receive the news that our funding from Arts Council England remains intact. It is a vital source of income for us, ensuring our ability to produce high quality opera and to continue to bring international talent to Buxton. We know ACE has had to make a 15% cut, so we are thrilled that they have been able to increase their investment in this area. We have great sympathy with those organisations which have not been so fortunate.

 ‘This year we mount three fully-staged Festival productions, underlining our ambition, even in these tough times. The positive outcome of the Arts Council’s funding decision allows us to continue our aim to make Buxton Festival one of the UK’s most successful arts festivals.’

Arts Council England has previously supported 850 regularly funded organisations and was faced with substantial cuts in their government funding. Approximately 1,300 organisations submitted a request to be part of ACE’s new portfolio. These have now been assessed on their ability to help achieve ACE’s 10-year vision to get the best art to the most people.

There are now just two weeks to go until the closing date of the 2011  Buxton Poetry Competition on 1st April.

Our theme this year is fire and our top prize is £300.

Visit http://derby.ac.uk/buxtonpoetrycompetition to download a form and get writing!