Longborough Festival Opera appoints inaugural Ring Cycle Conducting Fellow

We are delighted to announce that we have appointed Harry Sever as our first Ring Cycle Conducting Fellow. Harry will work alongside Longborough Music Director and eminent Wagnerian Anthony Negus for the next three seasons as we build towards our 2024 Ring cycle.

For his first performance in the post, Harry will conduct Siegfried at Longborough on Friday 3 June 2022. All other Siegfried performances will be conducted by Anthony Negus.

Harry Sever comments: “I'm so thrilled to be joining this Ring cycle at Longborough and conducting a performance of Siegfried in the upcoming season. I feel such a musical affinity with Anthony Negus' approach to this repertoire and can't wait to work alongside him and all the team at Longborough. Opportunities to work on a Ring cycle are few and far between, so this really is a dream come true for me!”

Longborough Music Director Anthony Negus says: "I very much look forward to welcoming Harry for Siegfried this coming summer. At his audition earlier this year, he showed great sensitivity to the music and style, understanding of singing in German, as well as pianistic ability which is so important for working with singers. I also felt that he would be pleasant to work with as a personality: in all, an extremely promising prospect."

Harry was chosen following an extensive audition process in which eight emerging conductors worked with Anthony Negus on the opening scene of Siegfried. An expert and experienced panel observed the process, including Anthony, Polly Graham (Longborough Artistic Director), Isabel Murphy (Longborough Artistic Advisor for the Ring) and Brenda Hurley (Royal Academy of Music’s Head of Opera, previously Director of the prestigious International Opera Studio in Zürich).

Polly Graham comments: “We are thrilled to be working with Harry Sever - an extraordinary young conductor. We are excited to be expanding our work with Emerging Artists into the field of conducting. Anthony’s knowledge and vast experience in this repertoire are things which must be passed on to the next generation, and we have created this new role to make sure this happens.”