Jenny Mather, Opera House Business Development Officer gave members an incentive to spread the word about the wide variety of marketing opportunities on offer by introducing a ‘Recommend a Friend’ scheme – with money-saving benefits for those present. During the night attendees were also encouraged to make a special offer, exclusive to fellow Opera House supporters via a fun ‘2-minutes on the microphone’.

This successful event was the inaugural networking evening for Buxton Opera House supporters and members, and will be repeated in the future.

For more information about the Cavendish Business Club or Sponsorship at the Opera House, please contact resident Development Officer, Jenny Mather (Tel: 0129872050, email: development@boh.org.uk )

Sponsored by Pizza Express and The University of Derby Buxton and presented with support from High Peak Borough Council, the Festival welcomed a record 7,230 customers to its 19 concerts (10 in the Opera House and 9 in the Gardens) over its ten-day run, taking just over £150,000 at the box office. The programme featured an incredible five sell-out nights in the Opera House – Marc Almond, who opened the Festival on Friday 15th,The Stranglers, Richard Hawley, Bill Wyman & The Rhythm Kings and Boy George, who brought proceedings to a close on Sunday 24th. There were also near sell-outs for Freeborn John starring Maddy Prior and The Levellers, and for Scottish celtic heroes The Peatbog Faeries.

In the Pavilion Gardens Lounge there was an eclectic mix of: jazz from The Gary Boyle Quartet & Zoe Rahman, folk from Ashley Hutchings & The Larkrise Band, poetry and music from The Ian McMillan Orchestra, the very best of Buxton’s own music-makers in Bla-Bla-Bla, and a sell-out for BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of the Year, Julie Fowlis. A total of 900 people came to see the nine concerts in the Pavilion Gardens Lounge.

Andrew Aughton, Chief Executive of the Opera House, said: “This was a stunning Festival with some unforgettable performances, especially Marc Almond’s and Richard Hawley’s. The bar has been raised by our new record total attendance of 7,230, which is over 10% more than our previous best in 2006, and to have five sell-out concerts in one week, all by very prominent names on the live music circuit, was a fantastic bonus for the Festival and for our audiences. Needless to say, we are already busily planning for next year!”

Four-Four Time 09 will run from Friday 13 to Sunday 22 February 2009.

The primary dance festival, which will take place at 11am, has been expanded to include Harpur Hill Primary School, St Anne’s, Taddington, Dove Holes, Earl Sterndale, Buxton Juniors, Buxton Infants and Fairfield Infant School. Pupils will perform pieces created by Liz Foster, a professional dance artist (who has worked with such world-famous companies as the Royal Ballet and the Rambert Dance Company), as well as by Year 11 Dance Leaders at Buxton Community School and by Zoë Hanson the Dance Teacher at Buxton Community School.

The secondary dance festival starts at 2pm, comprising performances by Key Stage 4 and 5 pupils from Buxton Community School, Glossopdale, New Mills, Highfields, Anthony Gell and St Philip Howard Catholic Sports College.

Both parts of the Day of Dance will be performed before an invited audience on the Opera House stage.

The event, which will be a culmination of hard work by all the pupils involved, is organised by Zoë Hanson from Buxton Community School and Louise Kerwin, Buxton Opera House’s Education and Community Officer.

Word of the award-winning one-man comedy, Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf must have reached the planet Scaro, since a Dalek was dispatched to check out the show. Moths star, Toby Hadoke was on-hand to witness the Dalek’s arrival.

In the show, Toby, a lifelong Who fan, as well as a respected actor and writer in his own right, takes audiences on a hilarious and often poignant odyssey – his life mirroring the ups and downs of his favourite television programme’s 44-year life. Through the glory days of classic Doctor Who, to ploughing a lonely furrow during the show’s enforced absence from our screens and finally revelling in its ultimate triumphant return. It is a tale of fandom, of a boy taking comfort in a fantasy universe and a man bonding with own son over the show’s spectacular new incarnation. You won’t have to be a Doctor Who fan – if you’ve ever been a fan of anything, you’ll understand where he’s coming from.

Luckily for all concerned, the Dalek was unable to negotiate the Opera House steps and exterminate Box Office staff, so tickets for the show remain on sale. Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf takes place on Saturday 29 September at 7.30pm and tickets are priced at £10. For further details or to make a booking please call the Box Office on 0845 127 2190 or visit www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk.

Twelfth Night is a co-production by Buxton Opera House and The University of Derby, and will be performed by current and postgraduate students of the University’s Theatre Arts Department. This delightful production sees the Dome of the University of Derby Buxton transformed into a unique theatre-in-the-round, with comfortable tiered seating for 600 people. Twelfth Night is the second Opera House and University co-production to be staged inside the Devonshire Dome – the previous collaboration on A Midsummer Nights Dream in October 2005 having been a spectacular sell-out success. A newly-installed, fully-amplified sound system will overcome the unique acoustics of the Dome, (which is acoustically one of the most challenging spaces in the country), and assure good audibility from every seat in the house.

Andrew Aughton, Chief Executive of Buxton Opera House, said: “The co-production of Dream in 2005 was possibly the most exciting project I’ve worked on in my career in theatre, and the ticket sales and audience reaction reflected the same sense of excitement. If Twelfth Night is even half that audience experience, it will be truly wonderful!” Yvonne Hurt, the University’s Theatre Arts course leader, and director of Shakespeare In The Dome in both 2005 and this year, added: “This is possibly the most exciting and important opportunity our students have for public performance, either as undergraduates or postgraduates, and it certainly brings out the very best in them. We have some incredibly skilful young actors taking the course at the University of Derby, and this is the perfect showcase for them.”

Twelfth Night – the traditional end of the Christmas season – has always been a time for revelry and topsy-turvydom, and is the perfect setting for one of Shakespeare’s best-loved romantic comedies. The story of two identical twins separated by a shipwreck, Twelfth Night features several cases of mistaken identity, some badly-aimed Cupid’s arrows, a duke, a noble lady, a quick-witted clown and a dazzling pair of yellow stockings! This lively interpretation, set in a magical wintry landscape, mixes the beauty and humour of the original text with the youthful vitality and energy of the University of Derby’s Theatre Arts Department.

Tickets for Twelfth Night are £14 (discounts available) and are on sale now from Buxton Opera House Box Office on 0845 127 2190 and online at www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk