Penarth conductor Anthony Negus received the honour in the King’s Honours List for services to music.
Much of the recognition centred around his work at Longborough Festival Opera, where he has been Music Director since 2000.
Andrew Mosely, Chair of the Board of Trustees at Longborough Festival Opera, said: “On behalf of the trustees of Longborough Festival Opera, I warmly congratulate Anthony on receiving this richly deserved honour.”
Mr Negus has been widely praised for his interpretations of Wagner, conducting full Ring cycles at Longborough in 2002/4, 2013, and most recently in 2024.
He will conduct Tristan und Isolde at this year’s festival, and next year will lead Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg as part of Longborough’s 30th anniversary celebrations.
Emily Gottlieb, executive director of Longborough Festival Opera, said: “All of us at Longborough are thrilled for Anthony and this long-deserved recognition of his services to music and to the cultural life of the UK.
“His modesty, enthusiasm, curiosity and infectious passion for his craft is tangible, and we are all richer for working with him.”
Mr Negus will continue his association with the festival as conductor laureate from 2027.
His career has included work with major opera houses and orchestras around the world, including the English National Opera, Glyndebourne, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Melbourne Opera.
In 1983, at age 36, he conducted Welsh National Opera’s production of Parsifal after Sir Reginald Goodall fell ill.
Wolfgang Wagner, head of the Bayreuth Festival and Wagner’s grandson, attended and praised Mr Negus’s approach to the opera.
In 2017, he received the Goodall Award from The London Wagner Society.
The award recognised his “devotion to the works of Richard Wagner.”
