My turkey comatose did me in till about 10:30am this morning, which is the latest I've slept in throughout my time in London. I went for a turkey trot in Regent's, and rushed back to my room just in time to shower, change, and run across the street with Cody to see the Royal Academy of Music's Symphonic Wind and Brass Ensemble perform a concert of Vaughan Williams along with a Holst thrown in there.
The ensemble, under the direction of Keith Bragg, performed Ralph Vaughan Williams Toccata Marziale and English Folk Song Suite which has always been a favorite of mine. Then they mixed it up with a Gustav Holst piece called Hammersmith. I have always been a fan of Holst ever since I performed his piece Dream City, but this Hammersmith piece brought about a new found appreciation for him. The piece is about London, specifically the area called Hammersmith. Holst wrote the piece while he was living there and studying at the Royal Academy. The gradual trudging along of the prelude represents the Thames, which Holst said, "goes on its own way unnoticed and unconcerned." The rapid movement of the scherzo, on the other hand, shows just how fast paced London can be. The concert was finished off with Vaughan William's Scherzo alla marcia.
After grabbing a late lunch at ISH, I had just enough time to get some schoolwork done before it was time to head down to the Natural History Museum for it's 'After hours' party. On the last Friday of every month, the London's NHM stays open late and opens it's main lobby to a classy drinks and o'dourves restaurant complete with jazz duo playing in the corner right next to the mastodon skeleton.
Since the food was all too expensive, Luke and I decided our money would be better spent checking out the Darwin exhibit and educating ourselves on his two year journey around the world and his research into the Theory of Evolution. I learned more about Darwin in two hours than I think I had space in my brain for, but a nifty little exhibit.
We left the museum walked past the ice-skaters and watched them stumble around and fall down a bit. Then we made our way to the Coliseum where once again Luke hooked me up with tickets to the opera. This time we saw Riders to the Sea, a Vaughan Williams opera. It was only 45 minutes long, which is why it started at 9:30. The artistic concept behind the show made it worth seeing, but it was definitely not my favorite of the three operas I saw at the English National Opera. My ranking is as follows:
- Aida
- Partenope
- Riders to the Sea
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