Dorman’s Wahnfried receives its UK premiere at Longborough

Mark Le Brocq (Houston Chamberlain), Alexandra Lowe (Isolde Wagner), Andrew Watts (Siegfried Wagner)

Edmund Danon (Hermann Levi) and Oskar McCarthy (Wagnerdämon)

Susan Bullock (Cosima Wagner)

Mark Le Brocq (Houston Chamberlain)

Longborough Festival Chorus

By Mark Pullinger, 28 May 2025

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“the score’s patchwork quality reflects the opera’s structure, a series of vignettes”

Reviewed at Longborough Festival Opera, Moreton-in-Marsh on 27 May 2025

Dorman, Wahnfried (UK premiere)

Longborough Festival Opera

Justin Brown, Conductor

Polly Graham, Director

Max Johns, Set Designer

Anisha Fields, Costume Designer

Peter Small, Lighting Designer

Longborough Festival Opera Orchestra

Longborough Festival Chorus

Emma Jude Harris, Dramaturgy

Mark Le Brocq, Houston Chamberlain

Susan Bullock, Cosima Wagner

Meeta Raval, Anna Chamberlain, Eva von Bülow

Andrew Watts, Siegfried Wagner

Alexandra Lowe, Winifred Wagner, Isolde von Bülow

Oskar McCarthy, Wagner-dæmon

David Horton, Der Meisterjünger (Hitler)

Antoin Herrera-López Kessel, Bakunin, Der Kaiser

Edmund Danon, Hermann Levi

James Ham, Choirmaster / chorus director

An enthralling Walküre at Longborough Opera Festival

David Karlin, 18th June

Who wouldn't relish the chance of seeing a Ring cycle at close quarters? Longborough's Die Walküre isn't perfect, but it consistently delivers on the story and on character interpretation.

****1

Back to the Bard: Longborough's Fairy Queen

Roy Westbrook, 29th July

Polly Graham's production turns semi-opera into “three-quarters opera”, to good effect.

***11

Don't look back: Longborough's new L'Orfeo

Roy Westbrook, 11th July

Olivia Fuchs directs Monteverdi's early opera in a sparse staging with a consistently fine cast.

***11

Fame and feuding on the Rhine: Longborough's new Götterdämmerung

Roy Westbrook, 29th May

Longborough's Ring Cycle reaches completion in the Cotswold's, effectively staged by Amy Lane.

****1

Grief compellingly explored: Die tote Stadt at Longborough

David Karlin, 27th June

An outstanding performance from Rachel Nicholls lights up Carmen Jakobi's compelling production of Korngold's exploration of grief.

****1

Fearlessly heroic: Siegfried gets the Longborough Ring back on track

Matthew Rye, 30th May

Longborough Festival Opera’s ongoing Ring cycle returns to its fully staged form with a triumphant new Siegfried.

****1

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

At home with the Wagners: Avner Dorman’s Wahnfried receives its UK premiere