Die Walküre
Longborough
Not having been to Longborough and its opera festival before, I was bowled over by it in all respects. The much-referred-to extended garage is an extremely comfortable theatre, with more than 400 seats, and with plenty of space in the foyer to make intervals a far more agreeable affair than they are in London’s two major opera houses. The setting is, of course, enchanting, the trimmings slightly playful, no hint of pretentiousness such as one finds in several other country-house operatic establishments, and no lengthy hectoring before the performance gets under way. However, none of that would count for anything if the performances weren’t well worth the trouble of getting there.
I went only to Die Walküre, and it was a knockout. Martin Graham has made no secret of his overriding ambition: to mount Wagner’s Ring cycle — the ambition that also animated John Christie when he founded Glyndebourne, but which was soon abandoned.
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