Saturday
We had to wake up at 6:00 in the morning today to catch a 7:30 train to St. Ives. The train ride was really long (6 hours), but when we got there, it was definitely worth it.
St. Ives
St. Ives is a small, seaside town, traditionally known as an artists' colony. The air was so clean, the sky was a gorgeous, deep shade of blue, and the weather was beautiful. It was so nice to be by the ocean for the weekend, though it was certainly too cold to go swimming!
We went to the art gallery (Tate St Ives) in the afternoon, which was pretty interesting, although it was small. After that, we went out to dinner at a pub on the waterfront, which was really delicious.
Sunday
Today, we woke up, went out to a local bakery, and got some scones. We went over to the waterfront and ate them with local jam and Cornish clotted cream. Cornish clotted cream is incredible. It must be terribly unhealthy, but it tastes so good!
After that, we walked around for a little bit, and hiked up into the hills. The entire place is so green and beautiful. It was sad to leave after such a short time, but we had to go.
We hopped back on the train, but then got off in Exeter to walk around and explore a little. We walked through the cathedral, which was very pretty, and then walked along the wall, which was very old and medieval.
Then, we went back to London.
Monday
Today was a fairly uninteresting day. I went and took care of a few errands during the day, including going to the library.
In the evening, I had a choir rehearsal, the second to last before the big concert. My voice was very tired after the rehearsal; it's a very difficult piece of music.
Tuesday
Today, we had Theatre class in the morning, during which time we acted out some scenes from a melodrama from the 1800's for the rest of the class, which was very dramatic and entertaining. After that, we went to the Handel Foundling Museum.
The Museum was on the location of where a house for babies and children who were found abandoned by their parents would be taken. There was a lot of art work in the museum, which was kind of strange, and only one room had anything to do with Handel. It was interesting to hear what life was like for these children, though.
After that, we went to a preconcert talk about Handel's Belshazzar, which is an oratorio. After a couple of hours, we went to the concert at St. James Hanover Square, by the London Handel Festival. It was an extremely long oratorio, with a choir and 5 or so soloists. 2 of the soloists were male altos, which was very interesting. Although the concert was very long, it was also very beautiful (if repetitive).
Wednesday
Today, we went down to the Apollo Theatre at 8:30 to queue for 10 pound front row tickets to Jerusalem, which we succeeded in getting. After that, we went to our final class for Fine Arts in London, where we all had to give presentations on various art related topics. My project was on Damien Hirst, a very controversial British artist who likes to display dead animals. He is also the richest artist in the world, which is cool I guess.
Anyhow, after that, we went to Jerusalem, a long play on the West End. It is about a Gypsy who lives in a trailer home in the woods in rural England, in a place where his family has lived for decades. The plot of the play circles around his impending eviction, and (without giving away the details too much) explores many difficult questions about how he is leading his life. Mark Rylance, who played the main character, was absolutely awesome in this role. It was a very intense, emotional performance, particularly in the final 20 minutes. Although I feel as though I should see it again to try to understand exactly what happened, I definitely think it is the best theatrical performance I have ever seen.
Thursday
Today, we had class all day, none of which is particularly worth noting.
In the evening, I went to a pre-concert rehearsal for the concert on Sunday. We were in a big church, and I could barely hear anything the conductor said.
Friday
Today, I went to work for my internship all day. I worked on getting things like the seating plan and budget for the concert ready, which was very hands on and useful. There were a lot of final details to take care of, and it took the whole day. In the evening, I had dinner, went out for gelato with Jon, Will, and Jackie, and then went to see "The Last Station", a film about Leo Tolstoy (supposedly). It was really more about Tolstoy's secretary and his wife, and about Tolstoy dying. It was entertaining, but not really what I was expecting going in.
Saturday
Today was the day of the big Barbican concert! I had to go in at 1:30 to start setting up for the concert, getting flowers and refreshments ready, and carrying things all around the building. We had a long rehearsal at about 4:00, and then I had a quick dinner I had packed earlier in the day, and then the concert started!
It was extremely hot on stage, with the lights on and a basically sold out crowd of almost 2000! We performed Beethoven's "Choral Fantasie" and "Der Glorreiche Augenblick", the latter of which hadn't been performed in London in over fifty years! The concert went really well, and it was an absolutely amazing experience. I performed on the same stage that Yo-Yo Ma had played only 3 nights before!
Sunday
Today, I was going to go out to Dim Sum with some friends, but after we got separated, my phone died, and I never was able to find them! I went out to a cheap Chinese buffet by myself instead, which was tasty, and I ate the most meat I had eaten in a long time, since it's so expensive at the supermarket. After that, I went to see the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. They performed Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto and "Symphonic Dances". They were very impressive, but didn't really blow me away.
After that, I went to the Barbican Centre for the day's second concert, this one by the London Symphony Orchestra. The piece was James MacMillan's (a contemporary Scottish composer) St. Matthew's Passion. I went to an unenlightening preperformance interview with him, but the performance itself was absolutely awesome. It was conducted by Sir Colin Davis, and the piece was reminiscent of "Carmina Burana" There were many beautiful choral parts, as well as epic and emotional instrumental parts. It was very interesting, and I thought it was a unique adaptation of the story.
