Anthony Negus CBE, Conductor
Anthony Negus CBE is one of the leading Wagnerian conductors of our day. In 2026 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2026 King's Birthday Honours for services to Opera, particularly Mozart and Wagner, and to Young Artists. From 2027 he will be Conductor Laureate at Longborough Festival Opera (LFO).
In 2024 as Longborough’s Music Director he conducted three enthusiastically received cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen and Die Walküre (all directed by Amy Lane). With LFO, he has established himself as one of the most perceptive and original conductors of the Wagner repertoire, giving acclaimed performances of the 2013 full Ring Cycle (dir. Alan Privett), Tannhäuser (also directed by Privett), Tristan und Isolde (directed by Carmen Jakobi) and Der fliegende Holländer; Die Zauberflöte, Ariadne auf Naxos, Pelléas et Mélisande. The 2017 and 2026 revivals of Tristan und Isolde met with especial critical and audience acclaim. The London Wagner Society awarded Anthony Negus the Goodall Award for ‘his devotion to the works of Richard Wagner’.
Forthcoming productions:
2026 Parsifal, Melbourne Opera
2027 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Longborough Festival Opera, UK, director Polly Graham
2028 Siegfried, Grange Park Opera, UK, director Charles Edwards
2029 Götterdämmerung, Grange Park Opera, UK, director Charles Edwards
“Anthony Negus, one of today's supreme Wagnerians”
– iNews (Der Ring des Nibelungen, Longborough Festival Opera 2024)
“Aficionados talk about Anthony Negus in hushed tones”
– Bachtrack (Tristan und Isolde, Longborough Festival Opera 2026)
Die Walküre, filmed at Longborough Festival Opera’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (2024)
“Conductor Anthony Negus is clearly the soul of this project. His decades of experience with Wagner’s music shone through in every bar, his readings expansive and generous”
– Opera Now (Der Ring des Nibelungen, Longborough Festival Opera 2024)
“Anthony Negus drew a very warm tone from the Melbourne Opera orchestra, who played even better than they had done for the Ring...the improvement in the orchestra since Negus started coming regularly has been extraordinary”
– Opera magazine (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Melbourne Opera 2025)
“Primarily the remarkable achievement of conductor Anthony Negus, undoubted lord of this Ring. His authority and understanding permeate every bar”
– The Guardian (Götterdämmerung, Longborough Festival Opera 2023)
“Much has been written about Anthony Negus and his special relationship with Wagner. Having heard him conduct a complete Ring for the first time I can say the plaudits are entirely justified”
– Wagner Journal (Der Ring des Nibelungen, Longborough Festival Opera 2024)