Opera North: history and repertoire, seasons 2004– "Peter Grimes". The latter production, directed by Phyllida Lloyd, was garlanded with awards from "The South Bank Show", the Royal Philharmonic Society and the Theatre Management Association. During 2007-8, a mini-festival of operas inspired by William Shakespeare was presented by Opera North. It comprised Verdi's "Falstaff" and "Macbeth", Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette" and Bellini's "I Capuleti e i Montecchi". The latter saw the first appearance with the company by Sarah Connolly, who returned in 2010 for Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda". A second phase of "Transformation", completed in 2009, focused on restoring the former Assembly Rooms, which
Scottish Opera including the Barclays TMA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for "Macbeth" and "Der Rosenkavalier" (both in 1994) and for "Die Walküre" and "Siegfried" (both in 2002), as well as the South Bank Show Award for "Best Opera" for the "Ring Cycle" (2004) and a Herald Angel Award for "The Two Widows" at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2008. Scottish Opera has also staged many successful productions abroad, including "Albert Herring" in Florence, "Egisto (opera)" in Venice, tours in Germany, Austria, Portugal, France, Switzerland, Yugoslavia and Iceland and recent years including "Peter Grimes" and "Tristan und Isolde" in Lisbon; "Macbeth"