London Contemporary Orchestra

The London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO) is an ensemble of young musicians formed in 2008 whose stated aim is "to explore and promote new music to an increasingly wide audience". LCO staged its inaugural season at LSO St Luke's and has since performed at venues and festivals including the Roundhouse, Latitude Festival, The Old Vic Tunnels, Snape Maltings, Southbank Centre, Spitalfields Music and Royal Opera House. In 2010 the LCO was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards (Audience Development category).

2008 - present

Overview

Jonny Greenwood

Jonathan Richard Guy "Jonny" Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician and composer best known as the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the alternative rock band Radiohead. Noted for his aggressive playing style, which features heavy use of effects, melodic arpeggios - often played in unusual time signatures - and unique use of noises and feedbacks, especially after the OK Computer era, Greenwood is consistently named as one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

A multi-instrumentalist, Greenwood also plays instruments including the bass guitar, drums, viola, harmonica, and the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument. Along with the other members of Radiohead, he also works with electronic instruments and techniques such as programming, sampling and looping, and writes music software used by Radiohead.

Greenwood composed the soundtracks for the films Bodysong (2003), There Will Be Blood (2007), Norwegian Wood (2010), We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011), The Master (2012) and Inherent Vice (2014), and serves as composer-in-residence for the BBC Concert Orchestra. He is the younger brother of Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood.

London

London ⁱ/ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. It was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1.12-square-mile (2.9 km²) medieval boundaries and in 2011 had a resident population of 7,375, making it the smallest city in England. Since at least the 19th century, the term London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms Greater London, a region of England governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The conurbation also covers two English counties: the small district of the City of London and the county of Greater London. The latter constitutes the vast majority of London, though historically it was split between Middlesex (a now abolished county), Essex, Surrey, Kent and Hertfordshire.

There Will Be Blood

There Will Be Blood is a 2007 American epic drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano. The film was inspired by Upton Sinclair's novel Oil! It tells the story of a silver miner-turned-oilman (Day-Lewis) on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California's oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kevin J. O'Connor, Ciarán Hinds, and Dillon Freasier are also featured in the film

The film received significant critical praise upon release as well as numerous award nominations and victories. It premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Award for Best Director and a Special Artistic Contribution Award for Jonny Greenwood's score. It also appeared on many critics' "top ten" lists for the year, notably the American Film Institute, the National Society of Film Critics, the National Board of Review, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Day-Lewis won Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, NYFCC and IFTA Best Actor awards for his performance, cementing his position as one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning Best Actor for Day-Lewis and Best Cinematography for Robert Elswit.

Contemporary history

Contemporary history describes the period timeframe that is closely connected to the present day; it is a certain perspective of modern history. The term "contemporary history" has been in use at least since the early 19th century. In the widest context of this use, contemporary history is that of current events and the part of history still in living memory. Based on current human lifespan-averages, contemporary history would extend for a period of approximately 80 years. In a narrower sense "contemporary history" may refer to the history remembered by most (more than 50 percent) of human beings alive, extending to about a generation. As the median age of people living on Earth is 30 years as of the present (2016) this is currently often understood as meaning anything after about 1991 when the Cold War order collapsed and use of the Internet became widespread outside of academia, defense and big business; the beginning of the "long 21st century".

The present age possesses a distinct character of its own.