2025 AND BEYOND: WAHNFRIED
Avner Dorman
WAHNFRIED: THE BIRTH OF THE WAGNER CULT
UK PREMIERE (BEST NEW OPERA nominee, INTERNATIONAL OPERA AWARDS 2017)
Conductor: Justin Brown
Director: Polly Graham
Performance dates: 27, 29 May, 10, 12, 14 June 2025
This major new opera by the Israeli-born composer Avner Dorman, with a libretto by acclaimed German playwrights Lutz Hübner and Sarah Nemitz, will receive its UK premiere at Longborough in 2025.
Richard Wagner with his family at Wahnfried in Bayreuth in 1881
Wahnfried received its world premiere in Karlsruhe, presented alongside the Karlsruhe Ring in 2017, and was nominated for a prestigious International Opera Award in the Best New Opera category.
What happens to an artist’s work after their death? Who gets to control the narrative and how do they gain this power? Set between 1883 and 1925, Wahnfried tells the story of the failed British entomologist Houston Stewart Chamberlain, who became a Wagner superfan: adopting a completely German identity, disowning his first wife, and marrying Richard Wagner’s daughter, Eva.
Richard Wagner named his Bayreuth family home Wahnfried, which translates as “free from delusion”. The opera’s title takes on an increasingly ironic power as we meet the inner circle of the Wagner family after the composer’s death, and witness their Succession-style infighting as they vie for the leadership of the Bayreuth Festival. Cosima Wagner, the ultimate matriarch, pits one child against another as she shores up Bayreuth as a national institution and develops the cult of Richard Wagner. A young Adolf Hitler, another superfan, arrives at Wahnfried and develops a close relationship with the family as he expands his own devastating national vision.
Musically, Dorman’s sound world has affinities with Kurt Weill and Dmitri Shostakovich. Biting satirical writing gives way to lyrical arias and powerful choruses, while the action is propelled relentlessly forwards by the virtuosic percussion-heavy score.
It will be conducted by Justin Brown, previously the Music Director of Karlsruhe State Theatre, who has a long-standing association with the piece having invited Avner to compose this opera. The production will feature a cast of leading British singers including Susan Bullock CBE as Cosima Wagner, and Mark Le Brocq as Houston Stewart Chamberlain.
Justin Brown, in rehearsals for Die tote Stadt at Longborough (2022)
Praise for Wahnfried:
“Seeing this opera half-way through a Ring cycle in Wiesbaden was like tasting an astringent sorbet between the courses of a heavily sauced Wagnerian banquet. A timely antidote to immersion in the Wagner ethos and warning of the ever-present threats of populism, hatred and intolerance.” Bachtrack
“Justin Brown conducted Wahnfried as a masterpiece with dedication, burning intensity, and perfection in sound” Opernwelt
“Dorman’s music develops an irresistible pull. The highly engaged Justin Brown with his brilliantly performing Badische Staatskapelle ensured the perfect realization of the virtuosic score.” German Press Agency
"wide-ranging, appealing, breathtakingly virtuosic, sophisticated enough to appeal to an audience of classical aficionados, and approachable enough to appeal to people who have never been to an orchestra concert.” - Washington Post on Avner Dorman
