Lucia Elizabeth Vestris she showed off her fabulously perfect legs, launched her career as a scandalous beauty. From then on she remained an extraordinary favourite in opera, musical farces, and comedies until her retirement in 1854. At the King's Theatre she sang in the English premieres of many Rossini operas, sometimes conducted by the composer himself: "La gazza ladra" (as Pippo, 1821), "La donna del lago" (as Malcolm Groeme, 1823), "Ricciardo e Zoraide" (as Zomira, 1823), "Matilde di Shabran" (as Edoardo, 1823), "Zelmira" (as Emma, 1824), and "Semiramide" (as Arsace, 1824). She excelled in "breeches parts," and she also performed in Mozart operas,
Classical music of Birmingham Company - specialises in staging innovative performances in unusual venues (in 2005 it performed Monteverdi's "Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria" in a burnt-out ice rink in the Chinese Quarter). Its artistic director, Graham Vick, has also directed at La Scala, Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Royal Opera House in London. Visiting opera companies such as Opera North and Welsh National Opera perform regularly at the Hippodrome. Birmingham's other principal classical music venues include The National Indoor Arena (NIA), CBSO Centre, The Bradshaw Hall at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the Barber Concert Hall at the Barber Institute