Around the Music Festival

The recipients of this year’s King’s Birthday Honours have been announced, revealing that conductor Anthony Negus, Music Director of Longborough Festival Opera, has been awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

In the field of music, two individuals received the CBE: conductor Paul McCreesh, in recognition of his achievements with the Gabrieli Consort, and Scottish film composer Patrick Doyle. Composer Roxanna Panufnik receives the OBE, while soprano Louise Alder receives the MBE.

Neegas is currently 80 years old. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at Christ Church, Oxford, before joining the Welsh National Opera in 1976. He was involved in productions of German opera—with a particular focus on Wagner—until he left the company in 2012.

He assumed the role of Music Director at Longborough Festival Opera—which stages Wagner’s works in the UK—in 1999, and in 2018, he was awarded the Reginald Goodall Award by the International Wagner Society. He will step down from the position in 2026 and become Conductor Emeritus starting in 2027.

In recent years, he has maintained a close relationship with Melbourne Opera in Australia; he won the Green Room Award for Best Conductor for his 2018 performance of *Tristan und Isolde*. He also conducted *Der Ring des Nibelungen* in 2023 and *Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg* in 2025, receiving the Opera Chaser Critics’ Award for Best Conductor for both productions.

PHOTO：Longborough Festival Opera