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Renaissance garden in Pieskowa Skała, Poland

A kaiyu-shiki or strolling Japanese garden

Nicosia municipal gardens

The Sunken Garden of Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia

The back garden of the Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, India

Flower-bed with the date in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has traditionally been a more general one. Zoos, which display wild animals in simulated natural habitats, were formerly called zoological gardens.^[1][2] Western gardens are almost universally based on plants, with garden often signifying a shortened form of botanical garden.

The etymology of the word refers to enclosure: it is from Middle English gardin, from Anglo-French gardin, jardin, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German gard, gart, an enclosure or compound, as in Stuttgart. See Grad (Slavic settlement) for more complete etymology.^[3] The words yard, court, and Latin hortus (meaning "garden," hence horticulture and orchard), are cognates—all referring to an enclosed space.^[4]

The term "garden" in British English refers to a small enclosed area of land, usually adjoining a building.^[5] This would be referred to as a yard in American English.

Some traditional types of eastern gardens, such as Zen gardens, use plants such as parsley. Xeriscape gardens use local native plants that do not require irrigation or extensive use of other resources while still providing the benefits of a garden environment. Gardens may exhibit structural enhancements, sometimes called follies, including water features such as fountains, ponds (with or without fish), waterfalls or creeks, dry creek beds, statuary, arbors, trellises and more.

Some gardens are for ornamental purposes only, while some gardens also produce food crops, sometimes in separate areas, or sometimes intermixed with the ornamental plants. Food-producing gardens are distinguished from farms by their smaller scale, more labor-intensive methods, and their purpose (enjoyment of a hobby rather than produce for sale). Flower gardens combine plants of different heights, colors, textures, and fragrances to create interest and delight the senses.

Gardening is the activity of growing and maintaining the garden. This work is done by an amateur or professional gardener. A gardener might also work in a non-garden setting, such as a park, a roadside embankment, or other public space. Landscape architecture is a related professional activity with landscape architects tending to specialise in design for public and corporate clients.

Garden design[link]

Garden design is the creation of plans for the layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Gardens may be designed by garden owners themselves, or by professionals. Most professional garden designers are trained in principles of design and in horticulture, and have an expert knowledge and experience of using plants. Some professional garden designers are also landscape architects, a more formal level of training that usually requires an advanced degree and often a state license.

Elements of garden design include the layout of hard landscape, such as paths, rockeries, walls, water features, sitting areas and decking, as well as the plants themselves, with consideration for their horticultural requirements, their season-to-season appearance, lifespan, growth habit, size, speed of growth, and combinations with other plants and landscape features. Consideration is also given to the maintenance needs of the garden, including the time or funds available for regular maintenance, which can affect the choices of plants regarding speed of growth, spreading or self-seeding of the plants, whether annual or perennial, and bloom-time, and many other characteristics. Garden design can be roughly divided into two groups, formal and naturalistic gardens.^[6]

The most important consideration in any garden design is, how the garden will be used, followed closely by the desired stylistic genres, and the way the garden space will connect to the home or other structures in the surrounding areas. All of these considerations are subject to the limitations of the budget. Budget limitations can be addressed by a simpler garden style with fewer plants and less costly hardscape materials, seeds rather than sod for lawns, and plants that grow quickly; alternatively, garden owners may choose to create their garden over time, area by area.

Elements of a garden[link]

Garden at the centre of intersection in Shanghai.

Naturalistic design of a Chinese garden incorporated into the landscape, including a pavilion

The elements of a garden consist of the following:

Natural conditions and materials:

• Soil
• Rocks
• Light
• Wind
• Water from Precipitation or other source
• Air
  • Pollution
  • Proximity to ocean (salinity)
• Plant materials

Constructed elements:

• Garden beds
• Paths
• Pool, water garden, or other water elements such as drainage system
• Terrace, patio, deck
• Lighting
• Sculpture,
• Buildings such as sheds, gazebos, pergolas and follies

Uses for the garden space[link]

A garden can have aesthetic, functional, and recreational uses:

• Cooperation with nature
  • Plant cultivation
• Observation of nature
  • Bird and insectwatching
  • Reflection on the changing seasons
• Relaxation
  • Family dinners on the terrace
  • Children playing in the garden
  • Reading and relaxing in the hammock
  • Maintaining the flowerbeds
  • Pottering in the shed
  • Basking in warm sunshine
  • Escaping oppressive sunlight and heat
• Growing useful produce
  • Flowers to cut and bring inside for indoor beauty
  • Fresh herbs and vegetables for cooking

Types of gardens[link]

A typical Italian garden at Villa Garzoni, near Pistoia

Checkered garden in Tours, France

Zen garden, Ryōan-ji

French formal garden in the Loire Valley

Bristol Zoo, England

Castelo Branco, Portugal

Hualien, Taiwan

El Escorial, Spain

Gardens may feature a particular plant or plant type(s);

• Back garden
• Bog Garden
• Cactus garden
• Fernery
• Flower garden
• Front garden
• Herb garden
• Mary garden
• Orangery
• Orchard
• Potager
• Rose garden
• Shade garden
• Vegetable garden
• Vineyard
• White garden
• Wildflower garden
• Winter garden

Gardens may feature a particular style or aesthetic:

• Alpine or rock garden
• Bonsai or miniature garden
• Children's Garden
• Chinese garden
• Dutch garden
• English landscape garden
• Gardens of the French Renaissance
• French formal garden
• French landscape garden
• Italian garden
• Japanese garden
• Knot garden
• Korean garden
• Mughal garden
• Native garden
• Persian garden
• Roman gardens
• Spanish garden
• Terrarium
• Trial garden
• Tropical garden
• Water garden
• Wild garden
• Xeriscaping
• Zen garden

Types of garden:

• Botanical garden
• Butterfly Garden
• Butterfly zoo
• Chinampa
• Cold Frame Garden
• Community garden
• Container garden
• Cottage garden
• Cutting garden
• Forest garden
• Garden conservatory
• Green wall
• Greenhouse
• Hanging garden
• Hydroponic garden
• Market garden
• Rain garden
• Raised bed gardening
• Residential garden
• Roof garden
• Sacred garden
• Sensory garden
• Square foot garden
• Vertical garden
• Walled garden
• Windowbox
• Zoological garden

Watering gardens[link]

See rainwater, sprinkler system, drip irrigation, tap water, greywater, hand pump and watering can.

History[link]

In art and literature[link]

• The Garden of Eden
• Romance of the Rose
• Nathaniel Hawthorne's short-story "Rappaccini's Daughter"
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera La finta giardiniera
• Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden
• Elizabeth von Arnim's novels Elizabeth and Her German Garden and Solitary Summer
• John Steinbeck's short-story The Chrysanthemums
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Other similar spaces[link]

Other outdoor spaces that are similar to gardens include:

• A landscape is an outdoor space of a larger scale, natural or designed, usually unenclosed and considered from a distance.
• A park is a planned outdoor space, usually enclosed ('imparked') and of a larger size. Public parks are for public use.
• An arboretum is a planned outdoor space, usually large, for the display and study of trees.
• A farm or orchard is for the production of food stuff.
• A botanical garden is a type of garden where plants are grown both for scientific purposes and for the enjoyment and education of visitors.
• A zoological garden, or zoo for short, is a place where wild animals are cared for and exhibited to the public.

See also[link]

	Gardening portal
	Plants portal

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Garden

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Garden

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article garden.

Wikibooks' A Wikimanual of Gardening has more about this subject: gardening

• Garden Wiki
• Creative Green Spaces

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Monty Don
Monty Don in 2007
Born	(1955-07-08) 8 July 1955 (age 56) Berlin, Germany
Residence	Ivington, Herefordshire, UK
Nationality	British
Ethnicity	White British
Alma mater	Magdalene College, Cambridge
Occupation	Television presenter, gardener, writer
Years active	(1994-present)
Spouse	Sarah Don (1983-present)
Children	2 sons, 1 daughter
Parents	Denis Don (deceased) Janet (née Wyatt, deceased)

Montagu (Monty) Denis Wyatt Don (born 8 July 1955)^[1] is a British television presenter, writer and speaker on horticulture, best known for presenting the BBC television series Gardeners' World.

Early life[link]

Monty Don was born in Berlin, son of Denis Don, a career soldier posted in Germany and Janet (née Wyatt). Both parents died in the 1980s.^[2] Don has a twin sister, an elder brother David, and two other siblings. His twin suffered a broken neck and blindness in a car crash, aged 19.^[1]

Both his paternal grandmother and grandfather were Scottish; he is descended from the Keiller family of Dundee, inventors of chip marmalade in 1797.

Don was educated at three independent schools: Quidhampton School in Basingstoke, Hampshire, Bigshotte School in Wokingham, Berkshire, and at Malvern College in Malvern, Worcestershire, a college he hated. ^[3] He then attended a state comprehensive school, The Vyne School, in Hampshire. He failed his A levels and while studying for re-takes at night school, worked on a building site and a pig farm by day. During his childhood he had become an avid gardener and farmer.^[3] He determined to go to Cambridge out of “sheer bloody-mindedness”, attending Magdalene College,^[1][4][5] where he read English and met his future wife Sarah. ^[6]

Career[link]

In the 1980s, Don and his wife formed a successful company that made and sold costume jewellery under the name Monty Don Jewellery. The collapse of the company in the early 1990s prompted him to embark on a career in writing and broadcasting. He has written about the rise and collapse of their business in The Jewel Garden, an autobiographical book written with his wife. “We were lambs to the slaughter and we lost everything, [...] we lost our house, our business. We sold every stick of furniture we had at Leominster market,” he wrote. He was unemployed from 1991 to 1993. ^{[1] [3]}

Don's first TV work came as the presenter of a gardening segment on breakfast show This Morning. He featured as a guest presenter for the BBC's Holiday programme. He went on to present several Channel 4 land and gardening series: Don Roaming, Fork to Fork, Real Gardens and Lost Gardens, and wrote a regular weekly gardening column for The Observer between February 1994 and May 2006. Don had never received formal training as a gardener. He commented, "I was – am – an amateur gardener and a professional writer. My only authority came from a lifetime of gardening and a passion amounting to an obsession for my own garden."^[7] He is a keen proponent of organic gardening and the practice of organic techniques, to some extent, features in all of his published work. The organic approach is most prominent in his 2003 book The Complete Gardener.

Don was the main presenter on BBC Two's Gardeners' World from 2003 to 2008 succeeding Alan Titchmarsh. He was the first self-taught horticulturist presenter in the show's 36-year history, stepping down only after suffering a minor stroke. ^{[3] [8]}After viewing figures for Gardener's World fell^[9] below two million for the first time in 2009,^[10] in January 2010, changes were announced to the programme in an attempt to entice viewers back.^[11] In December 2010, it was announced that Don would be returning to the programme as lead presenter for the 2011 series, replacing Toby Buckland.^{[12] [13]} Reaction to the announcement was divided on the programme's blog.^[14] Since March 2011 he has been presenting the programme from his own garden in Herefordshire

Don featured in the BBC programme and book, Growing out of Trouble, in which several heroin addicts manage a 6-acre (24,000 m²) Herefordshire smallholding in an attempt at rehabilitation. ^[3] He also presented Around the World in 80 Gardens (BBC Two 27 January - 30 March 2008) and in December 2008, narrated a programme about the cork oak forests of Portugal, for the BBC's natural history series Natural World.^[15] He presented My Dream Farm, a series which helped people learn to become successful smallholders (Channel 4, January 2010) ^{[16] [17]} and Mastercrafts, a six-part series for BBC Two, which celebrated six traditional British crafts.^[18] He has twice been a panelist on the BBC's Question Time (February 2009 and March 2010) and his family history was the subject of the fourth programme in the seventh series of the BBC genealogy programme Who Do You Think You Are? (August 2010). In April 2011 Don presented Italian Gardens, a four part BBC2 series which was accompanied by the publication of a book.^[19][20]

In late 2008 Don became President of the Soil Association and is a Patron of Bees for Development Trust.^[21]

Personal life[link]

He and Sarah married in 1983 and have three children, Adam, Freya and Tom. The couple lived in Islington, North London while Don pursued postgraduate study at the London School of Economics, worked as a waiter at Joe Allen restaurant in Covent Garden and later as a dustman, and completed two unpublished novels. Meanwhile Sarah trained as a jeweller.

Don has written of his struggle with depression since the age of 25^[22] and Seasonal Affective Disorder.^[3] He describes in his memoir "great spans of muddy time" in which there is nothing but depression. He noted "'Earth heals me better than any medicine".^[3] He has had cognitive behavioural therapy and took Prozac before favouring a lightbox, now a recognised aid for Seasonal Affective Disorder sufferers. He had peritonitis in 2007 and a minor stroke in 2008. ^{[3] [8]}

He currently lives in Pembridge, Herefordshire, England, and has lived in Herefordshire for over 20 years.^[23]

Publications[link]

• 1990: The Prickotty Bush
• 1995: The Weekend Gardener
• 1997: The Sensuous Garden
• 1998: Gardening Mad
• 2003: The Complete Gardener
• 2003: From the Garden to the Table: Growing, Cooking, and Eating Your Own Food
• 2004: The Jewel Garden (Hodder & Stoughton), with Sarah Don
• 2005: Gardening From Berryfields
• 2006: Fork to Fork
• 2006: Growing out of Trouble
• 2006: My Roots: A Decade in the Garden
• 2008: Around the World in 80 Gardens
• 2009: The Ivington Diaries
• 2010: My Dream Farm
• 2011: Italian Gardens

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Monty Don website
• BBC pages
• Monty Don at the Internet Movie Database
• Who Do You Think You Are page
• The Monty Project
• Social Enterprise Ambassadors
• Monty Don's Final Observer Column
• Video Interview with Monty Don
• Around the World in 80 Gardens.
• Times Interview with Monty Don May 2007.

Dan Cruickshank
Dan Cruickshank signs an autograph at The Holiday & Travel Show 2009 at Birmingham's NEC.
Born	(1949-08-26) 26 August 1949 (age 62)
Residence	Spitalfields, London
Occupation	Art historian Television presenter Author

Dan Cruickshank (born 26 August 1949) is an art historian and BBC television presenter.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

As a young child he lived for some years in Poland. His father was a journalist based in Warsaw.

Professional career[link]

Cruickshank holds a BA in Art, Design and Architecture ^[1] and was formerly a Visiting Professor in the Department of Art at the University of Sheffield and a member of the London faculty of the University of Delaware. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Artists, a member of the Executive Committee of the Georgian Group and on the Architectural Panel of the National Trust, and is an Honorary Fellow of RIBA.^[1]

He has served as Historic Buildings Consultant for ADAM Architecture since 1999 and has been involved in the repair and restoration of many historical buildings including Spencer House in St James’s, Heveningham Hall in Suffolk and numerous early 18th century houses in Spitalfields and other parts of London.^[2]

His professional publications include London - the Art of Georgian Buildings, The National Trust and Irish Georgian Society Guide to the Georgian Buildings of Britain and Ireland and ‘’Life in the Georgian City’’. He edited the 20th edition of Sir Banister Fletcher’s History of Architecture and Timeless Architecture: a study of key buildings in architectural history and is a contributing editor to Architects’ Journal, The Architectural Review and Perspectives on Architecture.

Television work[link]

Cruickshank began his career with the BBC as consultant, writer and presenter on the architectural programmes One Foot in the Past and The House Detectives. He also contributed films to the Timewatch and Omnibus strands.^[3]

In 2001 he wrote and presented the series Invasion in which he examined attempts and plans to invade Britain and Ireland over the years by exploring coastal fortresses and defensive structures around the coast of the country to discover their military heritage.

Further series included Britain's Best Buildings examining architecturally - or culturally-significant buildings in Great Britain, Under Fire visiting museums and buildings in Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel to see how recent warfare has affected the country's historic artefacts, and What the Industrial Revolution Did for Us focusing on the scientific, technological and political changes of the 19th century.

In 2003, Cruickshank presented a documentary entitled Towering Ambitions: Dan Cruickshank at Ground Zero following the debate and discussion that led to the selection of Daniel Libeskind's design for the World Trade Center site in New York City; while in 2005 he presented a documentary on the Mitchell and Kenyon collection — rolls of nitrate film shot in the early 20th century, depicting everyday life in Britain, which were discovered in 1994 in Blackburn.

Perhaps his greatest success to date came with Around the World in 80 Treasures, charting Cruickshank's five-month trip around the world to visit eighty man-made artefacts or buildings that he has selected, in order to chart the history of mankind's civilisation. A BBC television series and book, first broadcast in 2005.

In 2006, Cruickshank presented Marvels of the Modern Age, a series focusing on the development of modernism in design, from Greek and Roman architecture, to Bauhaus and the present.

Dan Cruickshank's Adventures in Architecture, a 2008 series in which he travelled around the world visiting what he considered to be the world's most unusual and interesting buildings.

In 2010, he embarked on a 3 part series on the history of the railways in Britain for National Geographic TV channel, including visits to Chester to examine the events surrounding the Dee bridge disaster of 1847, and Manchester for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. The series is titles "Great Railway Adventures" and appeared on television in the spring of 2010.

Personal life[link]

Cruickshank lives in a Georgian house in Spitalfields, London, which he shares with his partner, the painter Marenka Gabeler, and daughter, Isabel, from a previous marriage.^[4]

Filmography[link]

• 1993 One Foot in the Past guest presenter
• 1997-2002 The House Detectives presenter
• 1997 Travels with Pevsner: Norfolk with Dan Cruickshank writer and presenter
• 2001 Timewatch writer and presenter
• 2001 Invasion writer and presenter
• 2002 Omnibus: Dan Cruickshank and the Lost Treasure of Kabul writer and presenter
• 2002 Britain's Best Buildings writer and presenter
• 2003 Under Fire writer and presenter
• 2003 Towering Ambitions: Dan Cruickshank at Ground Zero writer and presenter
• 2003 What the Industrial Revolution Did for Us writer and presenter
• 2005 Around the World in 80 Treasures writer and presenter
• 2005 The Lost World of Mitchell & Kenyon presenter
• 2005 Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank writer and presenter
• 2006 The Lost World of Friese-Greene
• 2006 Betjeman & Me presenter
• 2006 Marvels of the Modern Age writer and presenter
• 2006 The Lost World of Tibet presenter
• 2006 Britain's Best Buildings writer and presenter
• 2008 Dan Cruickshank's Adventures in Architecture writer and presenter
• 2009 Cruickshank On Kew The Garden That Changed The World writer and presenter
• 2009 The Art of Dying writer and presenter
• 2010 Great Railway Adventures writer and presenter
• 2010 Britain's Park Story writer and presenter
• 2011 The Country House Revealed writer and presenter
• 2012 Brick by Brick: Rebuilding Our Past presenter along with Charlie Luxton

Bibliography[link]

• Cruickshank, Dan, & Colin Amery (12 June 1975). The Rape of Britain. Elek (Paul) (Scientific Books) Ltd.. ISBN 978-0-236-31019-7. 
• Cruickshank, Dan (10 October 1985). National Trust and the Irish Georgian Society Guide to Georgian Buildings of Britain and Ireland. Weidenfeld Nicolson Illustrated (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-297-78610-8. 
• Cruickshank, Dan, & Neil Burton (1 March 1990). Life in the Georgian City. Viking Press (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-670-81266-0. 
• Cruickshank, Dan, Tony Rivers, Gillian Darley & Martin Pawley (1 January 1993). The Name of the Room: History of the British House and Home. BBC Books (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-563-36321-7. 
• Cruickshank, Dan (editor) (21 September 1996). Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture (20th edition). Architectural Press (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-7506-2267-7. 
• Cruickshank, Dan (editor) (15 October 2000). Architecture: The Critics' Choice. Aurum Press Ltd (hardcover). ISBN 978-1-85410-720-6. 
• Cruickshank, Dan (editor) (12 October 2001). Invasion: Defending Britain from Attack. Boxtree Ltd. (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-7522-2029-1. 
• Cruickshank, Dan (10 October 2002). The StoryBritain's Best Buildings. BBC Books (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-563-48823-1. 
• Cruickshank, Dan, & David Vincent (9 October 2003). Under Fire. BBC Books (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-563-48768-5. 
• Cruickshank, Dan (8 March 2004). The Royal Hospital Chelsea: The Place and the People. Third Millennium Publishing (hardcover). ISBN 978-1-903942-27-7. 
• Cruickshank, Dan, Nicola Jackson & Ricky Burdett (6 July 2004). Building the BBC: A Return to Form. Wordsearch Communications (paperback). ISBN 978-1-86000-221-2. 
• Cruickshank, Dan, & Steven Brindle (25 August 2005). Brunel: The Man Who Built the World. Weidenfeld & Nicolson (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-297-84408-2. 
• Cruickshank, Dan (17 February 2005). Around the World in Eighty Treasures. Weidenfeld & Nicolson (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-297-84399-3. 
• Cruickshank, Dan (3 April 2008). Adventures In Architecture. Weidenfeld & Nicolson (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-297-84444-0. 
• Cruickshank, Dan (24 November 2009). The Secret History of Georgian London: How the Wages of Sin Shaped the Capital. Random House (hardcover). ISBN 978-1-84794-537-2. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• Dan Cruickshank at the Internet Movie Database
• Cruickshank's comments on visiting Iraq, post-U.S. invasion (BBC)
• Cruickshank's article on visiting Jam minaret in Afghanistan (The Guardian)
• Britain's Best Buildings (BBC)
• What The Industrial Revolution Did For Us (Open University)
• The Lost World of Friese-Greene on the BBC
• Works by or about Dan Cruickshank in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Dan Cruickshank Book List and Interview
• Dan Cruickshank reflects on his student flat in Bloomsbury

Jon Hopkins (born 1979) is a London-based producer and musician who writes and performs his own melodic electronica and dance music. After starting his career performing keyboard for Imogen Heap, he's produced or contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Coldplay, David Holmes, and others. Hopkins composed the soundtrack for the 2010 film Monsters,^[2][3] which was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Score. His third solo album, Insides, reached #15 on the Dance/Electronic Album Chart in 2009,.^[4] His collaborations on Small Craft on a Milk Sea with Brian Eno and Leo Abrahams and Diamond Mine with King Creosote both reached #82 on the UK Albums Chart.^[5][6] In 2011 Diamond Mine was nominated for a Mercury Prize, which is annually awarded for best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland.^[7]

Early life[link]

Jon Hopkins was born in 1979 in Wimbledon in the South of London, where he was raised. He first became aware of electronic music after hearing early house music on the radio at the age of seven or eight, and also became an avid fan of Depeche Mode and the Pet Shop Boys.^[8] These records inspired an early fascination with synths.^[9]

At the age of 12 Hopkins began studying piano at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music in London, where he continued until age 17.^[10] The composers that were greatly influential to him whilst studying were Ravel and Stravinsky, and he eventually won a competition to perform a concert of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G with an orchestra.^[11] For a time Hopkins considered becoming a professional pianist, only to decide classical performance was too formal and unnerving to pursue full time.^[10]

As a teenager he also listened avidly to acid house, early hardcore, grunge,^[12] as well as electronica artists such as Acen, Seefeel, and Plaid.^[13] When Hopkins was 14 he got his first computer, an Amiga 500, and started programming midi material.^[14] By the age of 15 he had saved up enough money from winning piano competitions to buy a low-level professional Roland synth,^[9] and on this he began creating his first full-length electronic compositions.^[15]

Early career[link]

After finishing his final high school exams at age 17, Hopkins accompanied his friend Leo Abrahams to an audition for Imogen Heap's backing band. Hopkins decided to audition as well, and was hired to handle both keyboard and samples, while Abrahams was hired as guitarist.^[11][14] He toured with the new band for the entirety of 1998.^[10]

Just Music[link]

Opalescent

In 1999 Hopkins signed with boutique London label Just Music as a solo artist, and began recording his debut album Opalescent. At the time he was also working part-time as a studio session musician.^[10][15] Opalescent attracted positive press attention upon its release, and several tracks were licensed to Sex and the City.^[11]

The Guardian reviewed it as "Opalescent is a beautifully realized debut. Using synth oozes, phased and echoed guitars and pianos and chilled beats, his wonderful tunes drift from calm to eerie power like a restless sea. It will delight any lovers of beautiful music." DJ Magazine gave it 4/5 stars, and stated "Piano, guitar strings and slow beats blend like the clouds at sunset (or an opiate smoothy) filtering in and out like elegantly wasted beauty. Darker drums add a further depth."^[16]

Contact Note

Hopkins released his second album, Contact Note, on Just Music in 2004 while still working as a studio musician. The album slowly gained an underground following but failed to take off, and led Hopkins to become disillusioned with his solo career, and take a break from writing in order to learn how to become a producer.^[11]

Brian Eno[link]

By 2004 Leo Abrahams, a friend of Hopkins and former guitarist for Imogen Heap, had been collaborating for some time with ambient musician and producer Brian Eno. Abrahams played some of Hopkins' second record for Eno, and Eno invited him to join them for a jam session. On the first day of their collaboration they came up with some of the music for Eno's upcoming album Another Day on Earth,^[10] and Hopkins became a long-term collaborator.^[13][15]

Shortly afterwards Hopkins also produced King Creosote's album Bombshell, which initiated his relationship with the Fence Collective. He also co-wrote tracks with DJ and composer David Holmes for Holmes' Holy Pictures album, and remixed for James Yorkston.^[13]

Coldplay[link]

Production

In early 2007 Hopkins was invited by Brian Eno, who was producing Coldplay's upcoming album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, to join the band in the studio for a day.^[17] Hopkins ended up staying and contributing to the album for the next year, co-producing^[15] several tracks and playing organs, harmoniums, and other keyboard instruments on others. The intro to the track "Violet Hill" came from an improvisation with Hopkins and Davide Rossi, the album's string arranger. Throughout this time period Hopkins was periodically creating his own solo tracks, and his song "Light Through the Veins" was adapted to serve as the introduction to the album's first track "Life In Technicolor." "Light Through the Veins" was also picked by the band to serve as the backing for the track "The Escapist", which is hidden at the end of the album.^[17] Viva la Vida was released in 2008, and won Best Rock Album at the 2009 Grammy Awards and became the best selling album of 2008. Various people working upon the band's next album, Mylo Xyloto, have also mentioned that he is involved with the songwriting of the album.

Touring

After the album release Coldplay asked Hopkins to serve as the pre-show DJ and opening act for their 2008 World Tour.^[1][13] Hopkins toured with the band for six months through England, the United States, and Japan.^[18] He performed at venues as varied as Madison Square Garden^[14] and the London O2 Arena,^[17] often to crowds as large as 20,000 people.^[14]

Later career[link]

Hopkins also has co-writing or producing credits on albums by artists such as^[15] David Holmes^[1] and Dan Arborise.^[17] He is also known for remixing a variety of artists, including Wild Beasts, Nosaj Thing, Imogen Heap, Four Tet,^[13] and James Yorkston.^[13] He was also one of the few producers chosen by Radio 1's Rob Da Bank to remix film director David Lynch's first electronica release, "Good Day Today" / "I Know", which was released on Sunday Best Records.

In 2008 Hopkins was commissioned by choreographer Wayne McGregor to compose music for Entity, a production of McGregor's "Random Dance" group. Entity was performed live at Sadler's Wells in April 2008 to critical acclaim. A world tour followed throughout 2008 and 2009.^[13]

[edit] Insides (2009)

Hopkins signed to Domino Records in late 2008.^[6] Hopkins's third album, Insides, was released by Domino Records on May 5, 2009.^[1] It included the track "Light Through the Veins", which had previously been used on the Coldplay album. Some of the tracks had been written by Hopkins sporadically since his last release, while others were based on the music he had composed for the Entity production.^[13]

Hopkins developed an intense live show to support the release, resulting in club and festival performances across Europe and the United States. He secured supporting slots with The xx, Röyksopp, and Four Tet.^[13] Many of his live shows utilized background visuals featuring the animations of Vince Collins.^[10]

Reception

Insides charted at #15 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart.^[4][13] PopMatters listed the album as one of the top ten electronic albums of 2009.^[9]

According to reviews, the album "takes its cues from ambient electronica, but uses strings and piano, along with some very tasty beats and dubstep-influenced bass on some tracks."^[10] TinyMixTapes stated the album "strikes me as his single most aggressive release yet. His sense of timing, the clarity of his production, and the variety of effects he employs draw you into the story that each instrumental tells. Jon Hopkins is not a button-pushing man of presets; he is a bona fide composer and a trained pianist. Craftsmanship sets him apart, and allows Insides to be as incredibly moving as it is and always will be. It will easily be one of the best electronic albums of 2009."^[1]

Paul Clarke of the BBC wrote that "Hopkins [is] capable of producing music as epic, soaring and emotional as any power ballad in his own way. Take "Light Through The Veins" for example...a close relative of Ulrich Schnauss' "In All The Wrong Places", it's a majestic piece of widescreen shoegazing which grows ever more expansive throughout its entire ten minute duration...no amount of reflected glory could ever fully illuminate Insides' mysterious depths."^[19]

Pure Scenius[link]

In June 2009 Hopkins was invited by Brian Eno to play some solo shows at the Luminous Festival at the Sydney Opera House. A few weeks prior to leaving, Brian Eno asked Hopkins to join with himself, Underworld's Karl Hyde, Leo Abrahams, and the Sydney-based improv trio The Necks in the group "Just Scenius", the planned finale for the Luminous Festival.^[13] They then improvised music based on pre-planned themes, putting on three 1.5 hour shows in the Opera House with Hyde on vocals. Pure Scenius was repeated a year later in Brighton, when Eno was curating the Brighton Festival.^[14]

Also in 2009, Hopkins collaborated with Tunng on the EP Seven Gulps of Air, which was commissioned by designer Christopher Kelly for London Fashion Week.^[13] Seven Gulps of Air was listed as one of Drowned in Sound's singles of the year.^[20]

Film scores[link]

In 2009 Hopkins collaborated with Brian Eno and Leo Abrahams to score the Peter Jackson film The Lovely Bones.^[13] In early 2010 Hopkins composed the score for the short film Rob and Valentyna in Scotland directed by Eric Lynne, which won an honorable mention for the short film-making award at Sundance.^[21]

In 2010 Hopkins was commissioned to create the soundtrack for the British science fiction film Monsters, which was directed by Gareth Edwards.^[2] To create the score, Hopkins partly utilized string parts performed by arranger Davide Rossi and guitar by Leo Abrahams.^[22] The soundtrack album was released on November 29, 2010 on Domino Records.^[3] In 2011 the score was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Score.^[22]

Collaborations[link]

Small Craft on a Milk Sea (2010)

In 2010 Hopkins collaborated with Leo Abrahams and Brian Eno to create the album Small Craft on a Milk Sea. Released on Warp Records in late 2010,^[13] the album is based on a three-week session of improvisation wherein the artists recorded about six hours of material a day.^[9]

Diamond Mine (2011)

In 2011 Hopkins collaborated with Scottish musician King Creosote to create the album Diamond Mine, which featured lyrics and vocals by Creosote sung over musical backdrops arranged and recorded by Hopkins. The album was a culmination of about seven weeks of work spread over seven years of recording and collaboration,^[8] from whenever the two artists had the opportunity to get together. The album was released on March 28, 2011^[6] to positive acclaim,^[23] which included a glowing review from NPR. On July 19, 2011, Hopkins and Anderson were announced as nominees for the 2011 Barclaycard Mercury Prize, which is annually awarded for best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland.^[7]

Live performances[link]

Since 2009 Hopkins has performed shows at music festivals such as Moogfest,^[9] Mutek in Montreal,^[18] and Electric Zoo in New York,^[14][18][24] as well as several performances at influential LA/San Francisco club night Low End Theory. In 2008 and 2009 he supported Coldplay at venues including Madison Square Garden^[14] and the London O2 Arena,^[17] to crowds as large as 20,000 people.^[14][17] Between 2009 and 2011 he also toured with acts such as Four Tet, The xx, and Röyksopp.^[10][13]

Style[link]

According to reviews, "Hopkins's aesthetic is perpetually intriguing. He transcends genres, melding digital coldness with subtle, bucolic textures; veering from skewed elegance to strange, unsettling depths."^[12] "He makes powerfully emotive, instrumental music that consistently crosses genres, ranging from solo acoustic piano to explosive, bass-heavy electro."^[13] Also, he "meticulously constructs lush, downtempo arrangements, blending digital beats and soothing ambience."^[15]

Equipment[link]

As of September 2010 his studio setup relies on a Logic system,^[24] though all his previous releases were on Cubase VST, used in conjunction with an old version of SoundForge.^[11] He began using Logic when it became clear that his old system was not powerful enough to handle video for film soundtracks.^[24]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

Collaborative albums

Musical contributions

• 2005: Another Day on Earth by Brian Eno - keyboards
• 2006: Around in Circles by Dan Arborise - production, mixing
• 2006: De-Fence 10x10:02 EP
• 2007: Bombshell by King Creosote - production, mixing
• 2008: Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends by Coldplay - co-production, co-writing, keyboards
• 2008: The Holy Pictures by David Holmes

Compilations

• 2006: "Wire" on Electric Fence
• 2011: "Abandon Window" on For Nihon

Remixes

• 2002: "Breathe In" by Frou Frou
• 2003: "Deepest Blue" by Deepest Blue
• 2004: "Evergreen" by Clarkesville
• 2005: "Vice-Like Gist of It" by King Creosote
• 2006: "Spider" by Leo Abrahams (2006)
• 2007: "Woozy With Cider" by James Yorkston
• 2007: "Green Grows the Laurel" by The Memory Band
• 2009: "First Train Home" by Imogen Heap
• 2009: "Hey, Who Really Cares" by Headless Heroes (ft. Alela Diane)
• 2010: "Two Dancers" by Wild Beasts
• 2010: "Angel Echoes" by Four Tet
• 2010: "Us" by Nosaj Thing
• 2011: "I Know" by David Lynch
• 2011: "Panta Rei" by Agoria

References[link]