Classical: Roasting hot shows at Buxton.

THE rain stopped as we passed the Cat and Fiddle, and Buxton and its festival lay roasting in the hot sun, which so often coincides with this event. There were six operas on show this year, of which I caught three last weekend.

The major in-house production was of Offenbach's La Perichole, to which director Aidan Lang brought visual delights to offset a sometimes leaden libretto.

The tale of the Bolivian viceroy and his lascivious activities, appeared at a time of changing political and fashionable tastes, and so the opera ends almost Fidelio - like in a dungeon, and here Lang produced the surprise appearance of the hairy man from the Count of Monte Cristo - but all ends happily for the young lovers.

This delightful production bubbled along with Andrew Greenwood conducting the Northern Chamber Orchestra. Eric Roberts was a fine wicked viceroy, master of the transparent disguise, while Victoria Simmons and Richard Coxon as the lovers relished Offenbach's melodies. And the Spanish design was gorgeous.

Opera Theatre Company Dublin brought their acclaimed production of the world's first opera performed publicly - Erismena by Cavalli, sung in a contemporary English translation.

I have to confess this had its problems. The sexual confession of the six characters and initial publicity which led some to duets were beautifully sung, not least by Liverpudlian counter-tenor Jonathan Peter Kenny, and the second half came together well.

The period instrument band was conducted by David Adams.

Buxton had a second inhouse production which brought together eight professional singers, a fivepiece instrumental group and 170 children from eight local schools.

The opera was The Green Children by Nicola La Fanu with text by Kevin CrossleyHolland, first seen at Kings Lynn 12 years ago.

If this sounded as if it had the makings of an amateurish shambles, nothing could be further from the truth.

It was superbly staged, the tale told clearly with magical sounds from the orchestra pit and the kids almost acted the pros off the stage.

But Claire Daniels as the Lady of the Manor, and Aled Hall as The Priest provided the solid centre for the action with Nicholas Smith pulling it together in the pit.

The children devised four short creations of their own in ``holes' by the authors and showed great humour and imagination.

Altogether a triumph, a wonderful experience for the children, and led by a star in the making, 18-year-old Claire Buckley from Bolton as The Green Girl, who has a good developing voice, and a large eyed appealing stage presence.

Emma Kirkby and Jakob Lindberg entranced us with lute songs and solos from England and Italy, Jean Rigby and John Graham-Hall sang Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde to a 13 piece ensemble, which the Palace Hotel ballroom acoustic did not treat kindly.

And literature-wise there was Roy Hattersley, P D James and Gore Vidal. With the sun, what more could one want?