In praise of ... the Buxton festival

Frank Matcham, the architect of many opulent Edwardian theatres, designed what is now one of Britain's biggest opera houses, the London Coliseum, and one of its smallest, in Buxton. By some miracle, and a lot of hard work, the theatre in the north Derbyshire town has survived to become home to what must be Britain's least pretentious annual opera festival, now entering its final week. Every July for over 30 years, audiences have gathered outside Matcham's miniature opera house (and, afterwards, in the pub opposite) before listening to operas old and new, most of them little known. Some work, some don't, but every year seems to come up with something worth hearing. This year's highlights are Verdi's Luisa Miller, a dastardly tale of love and trickery that almost, but not quite, competes with the composer's more famous works, and a curiosity, Mozart's Idomeneo, as rearranged by Richard Strauss. All this might amount to England's version of the Wexford festival, except that you don't have to be an opera buff to make the journey and the pleasure of the place is that local people turn up for enjoyment. Buxton is always bold, staging eight different performances this year, including a new show involving local children. Only the unkind would say that Buxton, England's highest market town, is also always cold: in June 1975 snow stopped play in a county cricket match. Contrary to rumour, it doesn't always rain – and anyway if it does, you are best off inside the town's gem of an opera house.