However, for both aesthetic and financial reasons, by 1934, the Old Vic had become the home of the spoken drama, while Sadler's Wells housed both the opera and a ballet company, the latter co-founded by Baylis and Ninette de Valois in 1930. See, for example, "Sadler's Wells Opera – 'Peter Grimes'". Carmen Bizet. Alberge, Dalya. Musicians including Lise Davidsen, Stephen Hough, Víkingur Ólafsson, Rachel Podger and Ian Bostridge will perform from their homes; viewers will be encouraged to donate to the charity Help Musicians. Hope-Wallace, Philip. [93], Daniel inherited from Marks a company thriving artistically and financially. "Model conduct – Opera". Cross announced her intention to re-open Sadler's Wells theatre with Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten, with herself and Pears in the leading roles. A new production by Miller of Der Rosenkavalier was a critical and financial success, as was a staging of Massenet's Don Quixote, described by the critic Hugh Canning as "the kind of old-fashioned theatre magic which the hair-shirted Powerhouse regime despised". [66][n 7] Sir Charles Groves succeeded Mackerras as musical director from 1978 to 1979, but Groves was unwell and unhappy during his brief tenure. After the successful Iolanthe and The Mikado in 1962 and Patience in 1969, the last much revived in the UK, the U.S. and on the continent, a second production of The Mikado in 1986 starred the comedian Eric Idle in a black-and-white setting moved to a 1920s English seaside hotel. The most extreme case was a production of Don Giovanni directed by Calixto Bieito in 2001, despised by critics and public alike; Michael Kennedy described it as "a new nadir in vulgar abuse of a masterpiece,"[99] and other reviewers agreed with him. In 1960, the Carl Rosa Company was dissolved. The aim must be to create a new audience that does not see opera as a middle class trophy art form: an audience that Payne was beginning to attract to the Coliseum. [124] Despite these objections, surtitles were introduced from October 2005. [116], During the 2000s the company repeated the experiment, previously tried in 1932,[12] of staging oratorios and other choral works as operatic performances. "ENO music director quits after criticism". The gap between what Payne offered and what the public wanted was illustrated by letters in. Although now based at Covent Garden, de Valois' company continued to be called the Sadler's Wells Ballet until it received the title "The Royal Ballet" in 1957. Keen to improve the dramatic aspects of opera production, Tucker engaged eminent theatrical directors including Michel Saint-Denis, George Devine and Glen Byam Shaw worked on Sadler's Wells productions in the 1950s. [68] Starting in 1979, Mark Elder succeeded Groves in the post, and described Groves "immensely encouraging and supportive". "At home in St Martin's Lane". [n 14] The four operas were given individual runs, but were never played as a complete cycle. [144] In general protest at his view of the situation at ENO, Wigglesworth announced his resignation on 22 March 2016 from the ENO music directorship, effective at the end of the 2015–2016 season. [27] Peter Grimes opened in June 1945, to both public and critical acclaim;[28] its box-office takings matched or exceeded those for La bohème and Madame Butterfly, which the company was concurrently staging. The Girls of Room 28 . "Wagner – Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg". [81], Director Tim Albery and colleagues, The Times, 18 July 2002[96], Critic Alan Blyth, The Times, 19 July 2002[97], Martin Smith, a millionaire with a finance background, was appointed chairman of the ENO board in 2001.