Longborough Festival Opera appoints Ring Cycle Conducting Fellow

Longborough Festival Opera has appointed Harry Sever to the newly created role of Ring Cycle Conducting Fellow.

Started in 1991, Longborough Festival Opera is situated in the Cotswolds, with an annual season taking place in the festival’s purpose-built opera house.

Sever’s first performance will see him conduct Siegfried at Longborough in June 2022 and he will work alongside Longborough music director and Wagnerian Anthony Negus to build towards the festival’s Ring cycle in 2024.

Sever said: ‘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.’

Sever studied at Oxford University and trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Royal Academy of Music. He was a finalist at both the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition and the Athens International Conducting Competition.

Recently appointed music director of the Cambridge Philharmonic, he has worked at English National Opera, Den Jyske Opera, and the Grange Festival as well as with orchestras including the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Odense Symfoniorkester, and the Britten Sinfonia.

Sever was chosen following an audition process in which eight conductors worked with Anthony Negus on the opening scene of Siegfried, observed by a panel including Negus, Longborough’s artistic director and its artistic advisor for the ring and Royal Academy of Music’s head of Opera. Negus commented that Sever ‘showed great sensitivity to the music and style’ during this process, demonstrating an ‘understanding of singing in German, as well as pianistic ability which is so important for working with singers.’

You can find more information about about the festival at the Longborough Festival Opera website.