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
Opera North: history and repertoire, seasons 1978–79 to 1980–81 English National Opera North (ENON) was established in late 1977, with Lord Harewood as Managing Director and Graham Marchant as General Administrator. Its first performance (of Saint-Saëns's "Samson et Dalila") was given on 15 November 1978. The opera was conducted by the founding Music Director of the company, David Lloyd-Jones. In the inaugural 1978–79 season, 11 operas were performed. Six were new productions, four of them directed by Patrick Libby, ENON's Director of Productions. The remaining five productions comprised one from Scottish Opera (Colin Graham's "Peter Grimes") and four from ENO. Before the end of the season, the company toured