Longborough Festival Opera

Longborough Festival Opera An intimate 500-seat theatre overlooking spectacular Cotswolds countryside. Season runs June-August.

Take in the picturesque views, bring a picnic and enjoy spectacular opera – Longborough Festival Opera is one of the UK's finest country opera houses, an intimate 500-seat theatre set amidst the glorious rolling hills of the Cotswolds. Each performance at Longborough is a production created especially for us: we work with talented designers, directors, conductors and the best up-and-coming artists to bring you something you won't have seen anywhere else.

⚔️❤️ CAST & CREATIVE TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Tristan und Isolde ❤️⚔️This Saturday, 20 June, is Opening Night!A love potion. A...
17/06/2026

⚔️❤️ CAST & CREATIVE TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Tristan und Isolde ❤️⚔️

This Saturday, 20 June, is Opening Night!

A love potion. A forbidden passion. A fate from which there is no escape.

We are thrilled to present the cast and creative team behind Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, returning in Carmen Jakobi's acclaimed production with the Longborough Festival Orchestra conducted by Longborough's renowned Wagnerian Music Director, Anthony Negus.

Cast
✨ Peter Wedd as Tristan
✨ Catharine Woodward as Isolde
✨ Catherine Carby as Brangäne
✨ Alastair Miles as Marke
✨ Robert Hayward as Kurwenal
✨ Brian Smith Walters as Melot
✨ Peter Bronder as Shepherd
✨ Tobias Campos as Sailor
✨ Fraser Robinson as Helmsman

Creative Team
🎼 Conductor: Anthony Negus
🎭 Director: Carmen Jakobi
🎨 Set & Costume Designer: Kimie Nakano
💡 Lighting Designer: Ben Ormerod
🩰 Movement Director & Intimacy Coordinator: Lucy Cullingford
🎨 Associate Designer: Matt Deely
🎭 Assistant Director: Guido Martin-Brandis
⚔️ Fight Director: Sam Lyon-Behan
🎶 Chorus Master: Kelvin Lim
🎼 Assistant Conductor: Ashok Gupta

Described as "one of the most exalting operatic experiences I have had" (The Spectator), this is Wagner's epic tale of love, longing and destiny at its most powerful.

Book your tickets 🎟 today

https://lfo.org.uk/opera/tristan-und-isolde

Longborough Festival Opera is delighted to congratulate Anthony Negus on being named as a Commander of the Order of the ...
15/06/2026

Longborough Festival Opera is delighted to congratulate Anthony Negus on being named as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the King’s Honours List.

The honour is in recognition of his services to music with particular reference to his work at Longborough Festival Opera where he has been Music Director since 2000. Among the highlights of his time with Longborough Festival Opera have been acclaimed cycles of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen in 2002/2004, 2013 and 2024.

For this year’s edition of the Festival Anthony conducts Tristan und Isolde and next year, as part of the celebrations of the theatre’s 30th anniversary, he conducts a new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

Critics have praised Negus’s conducting at Longborough Festival Opera citing his authoritative interpretations, his ability to draw nuanced textures from the orchestra and the way he enhances the dramatic and emotional impact of productions. In 2025 Sir Nicholas Kenyon in the Telegraph noted “the outstanding musical direction of Wagner supremo Anthony Negus” in his review of Pelléas et Mélisande at Longborough.

Elsewhere, Negus has conducted Wagner around the world, including with Melbourne Opera, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. In Australia, Negus has regularly been invited to conduct Wagner, including four hugely successful performances of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 2025 and two acclaimed Ring cycles in 2023 for Melbourne Opera, where he was awarded for both productions the Outstanding Conductor Award at the OperaChaser Awards.

Negus assisted Sir Reginald Goodall on The Valkyrie in 1970 at Sadlers Wells before working as a repetiteur at Wuppertal, Bayreuth and Hamburg. After joining the music staff of Welsh National Opera he conducted their production of Parsifal in 1983 aged 36 when Goodall fell ill. Wolfgang Wagner, Head of the Bayreuth Festival and the composer’s grandson, came to a performance and said: “It is absolutely astounding what Anthony has done. I was impressed with the love he brought to all aspects of the opera. It was a great personal triumph for him”. At WNO, Negus assisted Pierre Boulez on Pelléas et Mélisande and at ENO, Reginald Goodall on Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal and The Valkyrie. In 2017 he was awarded the Goodall Award by The London Wagner Society for “his devotion to the works of Richard Wagner”.

Anthony Negus conducts Tristan und Isolde in this year's Festival. Don't miss this acclaimed production: performances are 20 June, 2, 5, 9, 12, 18 July
Book now 🎫
https://lfo.org.uk/opera/tristan-und-isolde

Opera season is in full swing, and this summer we present a revival of our acclaimed production of Wagner’s Tristan und ...
02/06/2026

Opera season is in full swing, and this summer we present a revival of our acclaimed production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, directed by Carmen Jakobi and performed by the Longborough Festival Orchestra under the baton of Longborough’s veteran Wagnerian Music Director, Antony Negus.

From the rehearsal room to the stage, there is so much happening behind the scenes as we bring this groundbreaking opera to life.

https://lfo.org.uk/opera/tristan-und-isolde

✨ Take a look behind the scenes and stay tuned. We can’t wait to share more with you throughout the season.
📸 Lidia Crisafulli

Only 4 performances remain – don’t miss your chance to experience this critically acclaimed production!Remaining perform...
02/06/2026

Only 4 performances remain – don’t miss your chance to experience this critically acclaimed production!
Remaining performances: 2, 4, 6 & 7 June
https://lfo.org.uk/opera/orlando

🎭 Toi toi toi to the cast and creative team for tonight’s second performance of Handel’s Orlando at Longborough Festival...
02/06/2026

🎭 Toi toi toi to the cast and creative team for tonight’s second performance of Handel’s Orlando at Longborough Festival Opera! ❤️

Following a hugely acclaimed opening night, we’re delighted to share some of the wonderful praise for this extraordinary production, with particular acclaim for Beth Taylor’s “thrilling”, “spellbinding” and “extraordinary” Orlando.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “There are simply no weak links in this cast” – Opera Now

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “A superb array of voices on display, giving us an evening of virtuosity and powerful expression” – The Times

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Beth Taylor… on the very brink of international stardom” – The Stage

Directed by Sinéad O’Neill and conducted from the harpsichord by Baroque specialist Christopher Moulds, featuring period-instrument orchestra Academy of Ancient Music

Join us for an unforgettable evening at Longborough Festival Opera ❤️

Remaining performances: 2, 4, 6 & 7 June
📸

🎭 The Opera Season 2026 is open!We are delighted to share the reviews and warmly invite you to experience Handel’s Orlan...
01/06/2026

🎭 The Opera Season 2026 is open!

We are delighted to share the reviews and warmly invite you to experience Handel’s Orlando at Longborough Festival Opera this June.

The opening night performance was absolutely wonderful — with perfect weather to match.

Performances: 2, 4, 6 & 7 June
https://lfo.org.uk/opera/orlando

We look forward to welcoming you for an unforgettable evening of music and drama. ✨

During the intervals of the dress rehearsal for Handel’s Orlando, members of the Longborough Youth Chorus and work exper...
29/05/2026

During the intervals of the dress rehearsal for Handel’s Orlando, members of the Longborough Youth Chorus and work experience students explored the origins of the opera and discussed the characters’ emotions.

Artistic Director Polly Graham spoke about how Baroque opera differs musically and dramatically from other operatic styles, offering insight into its distinctive structure and expressive language.

The young singers also heard from Freya Storie, who is performing in Orlando this year and continues to grow within the company following her debut in Dido and Aeneas (2025 season). She shared her passion for the stage and reflected on how she approaches her role in Orlando as an actor.

Only one day to go until the opening night of Handel’s Orlando! We are looking forward to welcoming audiences on 30 May....
29/05/2026

Only one day to go until the opening night of Handel’s Orlando! We are looking forward to welcoming audiences on 30 May.

Under the baton of Christopher Moulds, the Academy of Ancient Music makes its distinguished Longborough debut in a captivating new production directed by the award-winning Sinead O’Neill .opera

In the meantime, we are delighted to share these behind-the-scenes photographs by Jorge Lizalde

Performance dates are 30 May, 2, 4, 6 and 7 June.
Tickets are available now.
🎬

Only three days to go until opening night and the start of the 2026 opera season at Longborough Festival Opera.Featured ...
27/05/2026

Only three days to go until opening night and the start of the 2026 opera season at Longborough Festival Opera.

Featured on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune, opera writer and broadcaster Sarah Lenton singled out Handel’s Orlando as one of this summer’s operatic highlights, calling it “Handel’s Zauberflöte”.

“It’s got the sublimity, it’s got the humanity, it’s got the comedy and it ends rather wonderfully in an ordinary way after all the disasters have happened,” she said, describing Handel’s extraordinary tale of magic, madness and restoration.

Listen to the BBC Radio 3 In Tune preview and join us in the Cotswolds this summer.

🎧 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002wggm

Address

New Banks Fee
Moreton In Marsh
GL560QF

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+441451830292

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