More than 120 events — including five operas, 19 literary speakers, 43 concerts, an afternoon ballet, cooking demonstrations and walks and talks — are now being showcased in and round the spa town in the 19-day event on until Sunday 27th.

Besides a dazzling array of big-name speakers (Antonia Fraser, Shirley Williams, Lynne Truss, Rosie Boycott and Menzies Campbell), one of the festival's strengths has been to produce rarely performed English language opera.

And it did this with great style on Saturday at Buxton Opera House with a triple treat of English goodies.

Two were by 'The Planets' composer Gustav Holst —'Savitri' and 'The Wandering Scholar' — rounded off by Vaughan Williams's atmospheric 'Riders to the Sea.'

This triple treat had a common theme exploring lives that have been ruined by romance, seduction, betrayal and tragic departure, as shown in 'Savitri,' from an episode in the Indian epic the Mahabharata, in which a woodcutter's wife sets out to wrest her husband from the grasp of death, or on a much lighter note in France with 'The Wandering Scholar,' a simple country tale about a farmer's wife whose plan for a spot of hanky panky with the local priest were halted by a surprise visitor.

Completing the trilogy was 'Riders to the Sea' — a welcome additon to the list of Vaughan Williams' tributes in the 50th anniversary of his death — which was based in J. M. Synge's play about Aran fisherfolk, and one woman's loss of her husband and sons to the sea.

The work's 40 minutes may have been one reason why it is not more popular, but when presented in this three-in-one programme made for an entertaining and varied evening of musical entertainment.

The programme is being repeated on 17th, 20th and 25th July, in a line-up which also features Lortzing's comic opera 'The Poacher' on 18th, 21st and 26th; Handel's 'Samson' on 19th, 22nd and 27th; Kurt Weill's 'Street Scene,' a triumphant blend of Broadway musical and American opera, on 24th; Purcell's tragic opera 'Dido and Aeneas' on 23rd July, and an English premiere of the comic opera 'A Chair in Love' on 20th.

Further details of all these productions, plus any of the other festival attractions, can be obtained from the information line on 01298-70395, or via the website at:
www.buxtonfestival.co.uk