Longborough Festival Opera will continue its Ring cycle this June, with a performance of Die Walküre in the beloved Longborough theatre. The festival will then stage Siegfried (2022) Götterdämmerung (2023) building to the full cycle of Der Ring des Nibelungen in 2024.
Longborough’s ambitious new Ring cycle began in June 2019, with a critically acclaimed production of Das Rheingold: “Both epic and intimate, a fantastic journey that felt enthrallingly natural” (Opera Magazine); “a new Ring with assurance and clarity” – The Guardian; “a Ring to travel miles to hear” (Opera Now); “Wagnerian excellence” (The Arts Desk).
All productions in the new Ring cycle are created especially for Longborough. Amy Lane, Artistic Director of Copenhagen Opera Festival and previous Head Staff Director at The Royal Opera Covent Garden, will direct the entire cycle. Longborough Music Director and eminent Wagnerian Anthony Negus will conduct.
“The Ring cycle is the most epic of tales with a score that is searing, desperate, sublime and so perfectly unfathomable. What an honour it is to set foot upon this glorious pathway and to commence this journey with Longborough” – Amy Lane, Director.
Although Longborough has introduced a new venue for 2021 (The Big Top) performances of Die Walküre will take place in the beloved Longborough Theatre. In an era of social distancing, this means expanding beyond the orchestra pit. Die Walküre will therefore be presented in a new concert production, allowing for additional musicians on stage alongside the cast.
In the Ring year, 2024, Longborough will present a hitherto unseen fully staged performance of Die Walküre.
Wagner is the lifeblood of Longborough founders Martin and Lizzie Graham. In 1996 they began building the Longborough theatre in the image of Wagner’s Bayreuth festival theatre. The first opera in the completed theatre was a performance of Das Rheingold (1998) from a reduced version of the Ring cycle which was adapted for the City of Birmingham Touring Opera by Graham Vick and Jonathan Dove. The festival has since been celebrated for its performances of Wagner’s work.
