Pick your instrument! - music at Fringe40

PRESS RELEASE: For immediate release May 21st 2019

The 40th Buxton Festival Fringe is the biggest ever and includes more than 50 different musical events.

Many people have tried to play a guitar at some stage but few make much progress. Folk, rock and classical guitarists will be playing in Buxton demonstrating the wealth of sounds that the instrument can produce. Jonathan Prag will be playing solo, drawing on the classical repertoire. Ed Billingham and Joanne Kay return to Burbage with Latin-inspired solos and duets. Rik Roberts’ programme Worlds of the Guitar offers a showcase of styles.

Buxton’s own Kenny Robertson is a hard-working and entertaining musician; his History of Rock Guitar will be far from a dry lecture. The Chris Woods Groove Orchestra is a demonstration of what can be achieved with a solo guitar - with the addition of tape loops and other technologies.

“What’s the difference between a bottle and a ukulele?”, goes the old joke. (“No one is upset when you smash a ukulele.”) Expect more jokes and expert playing from the uke-trio NoJoKe when they headline Summer Thyme at the Serpentine Community Farm. Not quite guitars - but no laughing matter - are the lutes and theorbos that are part of the sumptuous early music repertoire of Partita, returning for a 25th Fringe!

Pianos are less portable than guitars, of course, but many have played Chopsticks. The Fringe welcomes a clutch of highly-skilled, professional pianists who return to Buxton this year. Jonathan Ellis is well-known across north Derbyshire and Manchester and his generous programmes draw equally enthusiastic audiences. This year he plays Chopin and Haydn. Jill Crossland is based in Leeds, though she played all over the UK and in the US. Her recordings of Bach are acclaimed and her third visit to Buxton is to be welcomed.

Eden Walker won many friends when he played for Fringe audiences last year. This year he plays Bach, Mozart and Schubert on the Broadwood grand at the United Reformed Church. Brian Low - a gifted student from the RNCM - includes Ravel and Liszt in his programme, also at the URC. Buxton audiences may recognise Charles Ormrod as the pianist with Egriega. This year Charles brings his own solo show - enigmatically entitled 4 KHz is a Chilli. For further explanation see Charles. Adrian Lord will be featuring uplifting music from his new album, Sky Blue Piano.

Add a flute to a piano and you have Rachel Johnson and Jemima Palfreyman who have been delighting Buxton audiences for more years than seems possible. This year their programme is inspired by British and Irish folk tunes. If one flute is not enough then try the Norden Flute Quartet which plays at The High Peak Bookstore and Cafe.

Eight saxophones take a lot of puff and the Sovereign Saxophone Octet put it to good use in a wide-ranging programme of music. But the Octet is dwarfed by the 40-strong Manchester Recorder Orchestra which returns with an adventurous programme.

There is plenty more music at Fringe40. For further information see the printed programme, www.buxtonfringe.org.uk or the new Buxton Fringe App.

The Fringe wishes to thank its sponsor The University of Derby as well as financial supporters The Trevor Osborne Charitable Trust and High Peak Borough Council, its Fringe Friends and the town’s many Fringe supporters and venues.

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