English Touring Opera at Buxton Opera House

Timeless stories of love and grief get a contemporary makeover at Buxton Opera House this October, as the nation’s leading touring opera company pay their annual visit.

English Touring Opera’s mission is to create opera that’s both daring and accessible, and their two nights in Buxton show exactly what that looks like in practice.

Night one brings a boldly original take on Gluck’s Orpheus & Eurydice, a revolutionary 18^th century opera to which Leo Grant adds a fresh orchestration incorporating electronics. Before embarking on a classical career, Grant cut his teeth releasing electronic music for labels including Goldie’s Metalheadz, so it’ll be interesting to see how that background collides with a 260-year-old score. Director Jenny Ogilvie brings her own fresh take as an in-demand movement specialist whose recent credits include Vienna State Opera, La Scala, and ETO itself with 2023’s Cindarella.

Drawing on Greek mythology, the plot concerns Orpheus’ tragic love for Eurydice, whose death he can’t accept – so he strikes a deal with the Gods and descends into the Underworld to bring her back. In this new version of the myth, memory and reality start to blur as Orpheus’ search opens up a strange and shifting world, mirrored in the music as Gluck’s original score dissolves into Grant’s electronic re-workings. Tenor William Morgan, praised by Opera Now for his “storytelling and dynamic tenor” in ETO’s 2025 Rape of Lucretia, sings Orpheus, with Galina Averina as Eurydice and Iwan Davies conducting.

Night number two brings a time-travelling double-bill: Elena Langer’s 2002 short opera Ariadne and Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas. The former sets a Glyn Maxwell poem into a 20-minute powerhouse performance for soprano, off-stage countertenor and a four-piece ensemble. It tells the story of Ariadne, King Minos’ daughter, who left her home and family behind to help Theseus escape Crete. She wakes on the shore to find Theseus gone, and the opera takes the shape of a letter to the lover who deserted her. ETO regular Jessica Cale takes the title role, Theseus is sung by Keiron Connor Valentine, and Anna Morrissey directs.

Dido & Aeneas, meanwhile, is one of the first great English operas, full of beauty, drama, and desolation. Conductor Raymond Leppard once described it as “like Tristan und Isolde in a pint pot”: barely an hour long, but just as intense. It follows Dido, Queen of Carthage, who finally allows herself to admit her love for the Trojan hero Aeneas and agrees to marry him, even as she fears the match will weaken her as a leader. But as the couple celebrate, supernatural and natural forces conspire to tear them apart, with devastating consequences. Mezzo-soprano Samantha Price sings Dido, with baritone Michael Lafferty making his company debut as Aeneas. Alex Robinson leads the ETO orchestra from the harpsichord and period instruments.

English Touring Opera has toured since 1979, reaching more towns and cities each year than any other UK opera company. Buxton is one of only a handful of venues where they stage every production they tour, and this October, they’re bringing some of their most adventurous-sounding work yet.

Customers get 20% off when they purchase tickets for both Orpheus and Eurydice (Fri 23 Oct) and the ETO Double Bill (Sat 24 Oct). Discount automatically applies at checkout.