Highly Satisfying

RODERIC DUNNETT visits Longborough
for Wagner's 'Tannhäuser'

Longborough may be a village tucked away on an agreeable escarpment on the Worcestershire-Gloucestershire border of the southern English Midlands, but it has for several years earned a name for less rural pursuits.

Why, it has often been asked, make the arduous journey to Bayreuth, in pursuit of Wagnerian passions, when The Ring and other operas can be found right on your doorstep?

There's no doubting, Longborough has earned a name as the unique English home of Wagner. Built up by stages, a new opera added each year, it has seen three Ring cycles, appealingly staged, well cast (the second series featured Sir Donald McIntyre, no less — the New Zealander making the transition from Bayreuth to Longborough) and accompanied, after an initial chamber version, by an orchestra of quality and dimensions many would envy...

ENGLAND

RICHARD WAGNER

TANNHAEUSER

JONATHAN DOVE