Concert: Handel - Abandonment Issues
Tonight, London Baroque Music Lovers again showed an unerring instinct for hitting a day I didn't have anything booked! So I went with them to a concert (& social) called Handel: Abandonment Issues, at the Foundling Museum. Tickets from Eventbrite, with a discount for people booking through the group!
Ah, walking distance again - just around the corner, really. Again I say, I am so going to miss living here.. Well, this is just across from the Brunswick Centre, so I took myself to GBK beforehand. Which was lovely, except my burger was so smeared with one thing and another, there was no way to eat it tidily except by knife and fork, which is what I did..
And so to the museum, where the usher invited me to have a look around before I went upstairs to the concert and bar. I met a couple of the others there, actually - and we moseyed off, browsing the exhibition: moving portrayals of foundling life, examples of the uniforms they had to wear, descriptions of their unvarying diet, and the conditions. I know worse things were happening in other places - Ireland being a prime example - but still, how times have changed! The painting of two children meeting the governors, aged 14 - the age at which they were considered grown-up enough to go out in the world - was quite moving: the girls destined for domestic service, the boys for apprenticeships, or military service..
And so to the bar, where we saw some beautiful plasterwork:
Drinks were had from the cheery staff - the whole atmosphere was jolly, and drinks could be taken all around the house. I meandered upstairs with mine, before the group gathered, where I stumbled across one of the singers rehearsing! A beautiful sound, as I perused the paintings..
We started late, but nobody minded, and it gave one of our group time to arrive, having been delayed. Some folks had dressed up for the occasion.. should have taken a photo of them when I had the chance! In due course, we filed into the portrait gallery for the concert:
Our programme trawled a bevy of his "greatest hits", as stated:
Simply gorgeous - but I have to say, the highlight for me was the female singer, Emily Christina Loftus, whose singing I found just transcendent. Anyway, without an interval, it was over in about 90 minutes - and all too soon. Never mind - we repaired to the bar of the Curzon Bloomsbury, which I've never used before when not going to the cinema! And had a lovely time chatting about anything and everything, our organiser dashing off to have a word whenever he spied musicians from tonight's show, making their way home.. Very good spending time with these folks, a lovely evening all around!
Tomorrow - the advantage of unemployment, I can go on weekday walks with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners! This one, he can't do on weekends anyway - it's The Labyrinth of the Law Courts Walking Tour, and - predictably - full up.
That evening, off with my Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) companion to Prom 9: Mariza Sings Fado, at the Albert Hall. We're eating beforehand at the Elgar Room, in the Albert Hall - a first for me, so should be interesting!
The weekend is all about walking. On Saturday, back with London Herstory Guided Walks, Mandy taking us on a walk entitled Bow Belles! A Guided Walk through Bow Quarter.
On Sunday, I'm with London History and Culture: Experience London/Britain/Europe, for In the Footsteps of the Tudors - Free In-Person Guided Walking Tour with Maggie. Another new group for me.
On Monday, it's likely to be film - but a couple of big releases were not yet rated when I wrote this preview last night. Failing those, what was coming up was Squaring the Circle, a documentary about Hipgnosis, which handled the artwork for many iconic albums.. Can't say I've ever heard of them, but it sure does have famous contributors! Showing in the Curzon Bloomsbury - so not a hardship.
But now that those major releases are rated.. it's looking like Oppenheimer, which has an abnormally high rating for a mainstream film! Directed and co-written by Christopher Nolan, it has Cillian Murphy in the title role, with Emily Blunt as his wife, Matt Damon as Leslie Groves, the general and engineer who oversaw the Manhattan Project, Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, the politician involved, Kenneth Branagh as Niels Bohr, who was part of the British mission to the Manhattan Project, having fled to Britain by that stage, Tom Conti as Einstein, Matthew Modine as Vannevar Bush, who initiated and initially led the Manhattan Project, Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock, who was having an affair with Oppenheimer, Rami Malek as David Hill, a physicist on the Manhattan Project, Casey Affleck as Boris Pash, the military intelligence officer who investigated leaks on the Manhattan Project, and also looked into Nazi Germany's atomic capability, and Gary Oldman as Truman! Crikey, were they all there to walk out of the film premiere recently..? Anyway, the trailer looks absolutely awesome. Also showing in the same cinema.
On Tuesday, booked with TAC to see The Pioneers in The Forge. Last I heard, it was closing down - I guess it's under new management.
On Wednesday, with UITCS for an opera at the Arcola, as part of Grimeborn - this is No for an Answer.
Next Thursday, it's also looking like film - what was coming up was a documentary, again in the Curzon Bloomsbury, called Iraq's Invisible Beauty. Ah, but.. Squaring the Circle doesn't seem to be on that day. And guess what? Barbie comes higher-rated than what I'd planned to see! Again, the trailer looks excellent - stars Margot Robbie, with Ryan Gosling as Ken. Lots and lots of pink. Showing in - you guessed it - Curzon Bloomsbury - at lots of times, which should work well with my removal to my new flat that day.
And then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again.
Comments
Post a Comment