(Photo credit: Matthew Williams-Ellis)

Longborough Festival Opera has announced that Music Director Anthony Negus has been named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the King’s Honours List.

Negus was recognized for his services to music and his work at Longborough Festival Opera, where he has served as Music Director since 2000.

Among the highlights of his tenure are three acclaimed cycles of Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” presented in 2002-04, 2013, and 2024. This season Negus conducts “Tristan und Isolde” at Longborough, and in 2027, as part of the theater’s 30th anniversary celebrations, he will lead a new production of “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” in his new role as Conductor Laureate.

“He has played a central role in shaping the reputation of Longborough, particularly through his deep commitment to the works of Wagner and composers inspired by him,” said Andrew Mosely, Chair of the Board of Trustees, per the an official press release. “His meticulous attention to detail and ability to coach and inspire singers and orchestral musicians have driven the artistic excellence for which Longborough is now renowned. Anthony’s musical leadership has taken the company from a small festival to a respected destination for serious opera lovers, significantly enhancing its profile within the UK and achieving international recognition.”

Beyond Longborough, Negus has conducted Wagner with Melbourne Opera, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. In Australia, he conducted four performances of “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” in 2025 and two Ring Cycles in 2023 for Melbourne Opera, earning the Outstanding Conductor Award at the OperaChaser Awards for both productions. He was awarded the Goodall Award by The London Wagner Society in 2017 for his devotion to the works of Richard Wagner.

Negus began his career assisting Sir Reginald Goodall on “The Valkyrie” at Sadler’s Wells in 1970 before working as a répétiteur at Wuppertal, Bayreuth, and Hamburg. He subsequently joined the music staff of Welsh National Opera, where he stepped in to conduct their production of “Parsifal” in 1983 when Goodall fell ill. He later assisted Pierre Boulez on “Pelléas et Mélisande” at WNO and Goodall on “Tristan und Isolde,” “Parsifal,” and “The Valkyrie” at ENO.

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