The company toured while the theatre was closed during the Second World War. At the end of the war it came back and was called Sadler's Wells Opera Company, and the theatre opened again with a performance of Benjamin Britten's "Peter Grimes". It was the first English opera since the time of Purcell to become internationally famous.
In 1968 Sadler's Wells Opera moved from Sadler's Wells Theatre to the London Coliseum. Six years later the company was renamed "English National Opera".
Since then the ENO has put on many great opera productions. For many years the general director was Peter Jonas, the artistic director was David Poutney and the conductor (musical director) was Mark Elder.
In 2004 many improvements were made to the building. While the building was going on the ENO performed in the Barbican Centre.
Although ENO performs all operas in English, in 2005 it introduced surtitles at the Coliseum. This makes it easier for the audience to understand the words being sung.
In 2007 the conductor Edward Gardner became music director of ENO.
Air show
An air show is an event at which aviators display their flying skills and the capabilities of their aircraft to spectators in aerobatics. Air shows without aerobatic displays, having only aircraft displayed parked on the ground, are called "static air shows".
Green belt
A green belt or greenbelt is a policy and land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges which have a linear character and may run through an urban area instead of around it. A green belt is basically an invisible line that goes around a certain area, stopping people from building there so that some of the wild and agricultural land can be saved.
Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine (also written as Florence + the Machine), is an English rock band that is a recording name of Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists who provide backing music for her voice. Musically, Florence and the Machine's sound is generally referred to as soul-inspired indie rock. Florence and the Machine's music has received praise across the music media, especially from the BBC. This is because the BBC played a large part in Florence and the Machine's rise to prominence by promoting her as part of BBC Introducing. This led to the band playing at a number of music festivals in 2008, including Glastonbury as well as Reading and Leeds and T in the Park. The band's debut album, "Lungs" was released on 6 July 2009. It held the number 2 position for its first five weeks in the charts, behind Michael Jackson. The album has now been in the top 40 UK charts for 22 consecutive weeks.
Florence Leontine Mary Welch (born 28 August 1986 in London) is the daughter of Evelyn and Nick Welch. Evelyn Welch is a Professor of Renaissance Studies and Academic Dean for Arts at Queen Mary, University of London and author and formerly a Studio 54 regular. Nick Welch works in advertising. Welch says she is prone to "falling into severe holes” that leave her crying on the floor. Welch has been diagnosed with dyslexia and dysmetria. Welch would like to have a career similar to PJ Harvey and Björk who are "constantly creating new exciting stuff". When she was 13, Welch found comfort in the music of Hole, Nirvana, Green Day, Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, The Velvet Underground and Celine Dion. As a teenager she was the frontwoman for Toxic Cockroaches and Ashok. Feeling she was in "the wrong band" she got out of a contract with Ashok by resigning.
Welch said that "The name Florence and the Machine started off as a private joke that got out of hand. I made music with my friend, who we called Isabella Machine to which I was Florence Robot. When I was about an hour away from my first gig, I still didn't have a name, so I thought "Okay, I'll be Florence Robot is a Machine", before realizing that name was so long it'd drive me mad". In 2006 Welch's performances in small London venues as "Florence Robot is a Machine" began to attract notice.
The Machine is Florence's backing band. This is currently made up of Robert Ackroyd (guitar), Christopher Lloyd Hayden (drums), Isabella Summers ('Isabella Machine') (keyboards) and Tom Monger (harp). Previously Devonte Hynes (Lightspeed Champion and Test Icicles) was also a member.
Florence and the Machine are managed by Mairead Nash. Nash is one half of the DJ outfit Queens of Noize.
Florence and the Machine were part of the 2009 Shockwaves NME Awards tour. Welch said that she planned a "pretty theatrical" performance.
The group played at the Concerts for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity event at the Royal Albert Hall in March 2009. Florence and The Machine also supported Blur for their 26 June comeback performance at the MEN Arena in Manchester, and supported Duran Duran in July 2009.
The group performed at the 2009 Glastonbury Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Electric Picnic in County Laois, Ireland and the T in the Park festival. On October 27 the group played its first official New York City show and appeared on the television programmes "Late Night With David Letterman" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!".
Welch has said that she would like to tour the United States. However, she is fearful of becoming homesick due to the length of time it would take to tour the country.
On New Year's Eve 2009, the group appeared on the pre-recorded New Year's Eve celebration show "Hootenanny". On the show, they performed "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" and "Dog Days Are Over". Welch then performed a cover of "My Baby Just Cares for Me" with Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.
Florence and the Machine have gained a large amount of support from "NME" magazine who included them in their annual NME Awards Tour for 2009. They supported White Lies, Friendly Fires and Glasvegas on the tour. "The Times" described her as "the most peculiar and most highly acclaimed female singer of the moment" and "the latest in a line of great English pop eccentrics". Allmusic described "Lungs" as "one of the most musically mature and emotionally mesmerizing albums of 2009".Spin Magazine gave "Lungs" four out of five possible stars and wrote, "You’ve gotta hand it to the girl: She always makes you feel something". The magazine named the album as the 8th best of 2009.
Welch appeared on the front cover of "The Guide" subsection to "The Guardian". She also collected the Critics' Choice Award at the BRIT Awards in February 2009. Florence and the Machine came third in the BBC's "Sound of 2009".<br> In 2009 she covered Beyoncé's song "Halo" on the BBC1 Live Lounge; host Jo Whiley stated that it was one of the best covers they have ever had in the Live Lounge. The BBC also used "You Got The Love" as the backing music to its Jenson Button Formula One 2009 season review video montage and it was used in the final episode of Gavin and Stacey.
Jacopo Peri
Jacopo Peri (born Rome, 20 August 1561; died Florence, 12 August 1633) was an Italian composer and singer. He composed the first opera ever written.
Peri was born in Rome, but studied in Florence. He had several church jobs, playing the organ and singing. He also worked at the court of the Medici family, playing instruments and composing incidental music for plays and madrigals.