Greenwich International Early Music Festival
On our final weekend in London we had lucked into this festival of Renaissance and Baroque music. Before leaving Canada we purchased five sets of tickets, four for performances and one set to gain admission to the trade show. Thursday evening we attended two concerts. The first concert featured Phantasm, and was held at St. Alfege Church at 5:30 pm. It featured three viol players performing trios of mostly English music, with works by Byrd, Gibbons, Locke, and Purcell. The final piece was an excerpt from Art of the Fugue by Bach.
I hadn't had time for coffee, and I was tired from walking earlier today. I thought for certain that I would fall asleep as soon as the music began. Exactly the opposite happened. I became fully awake and managed to stay tuned to the music for the entire concert. It was a very good beginning to the festival.
Afterwards we had a quick dinner at a small Middle Eastern restaurant, then hurried off to concert #2. This one was held at an even more beautiful venue. The Old Chapel at the Old Royal Naval College is an amazing space, worth the price of admission just to see it. The concert here featured students from Trinity Laban Conservatory of Music, and was as professional and inspiring as they come. It featured some beautiful singing, a small orchestra, and a brass fanfare to open each half of the concert. We heard music by Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, and CPE Bach. Singing by Daisy Watford and Liberty Spears was especially noteworthy, and both ladies' voices seemed particularly suited to the wonderful surroundings. Hopefully we will hear more of their singing in the future!
Before the concert, Old Chapel, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
Closer look at the large painting by Benjamin West. Note the music stands on the balcony, from which we were treated to brass fanfares.
On Friday afternoon we returned to Greenwich after our final walking section of the London Loop for this journey. Our concert was back at St. Alfege Church. Before the concert we ate at the Greenwich Market, a small, very bustling market near the venue. We found an all-vegan Ethiopian food cart and had a very enjoyable meal. The concert tonight was called "Dowland Among Friends", featuring a number of singers led by Emma Kirkby, and accompanied by two lute players. It was a very moving concert, and we got to talk with one of the singers next day at the trade show. At first I didn't think that the lutes would work so well in a large church, especially with my crappy right ear. However, things were just fine and the lutes sounded wonderful.
We ate Friday evening at Greenwich Market, at a vegan food cart.
Caroline, our bestie from London, met us after the concert. We went to a nearby pub and chatted for several hours, hearing a lot about her recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. She went mostly to see ancient temples. The pub was the Spanish Galleon, which is tied to Shepherd Neame. They actually had some very good ales!
The Cutty Sark is beautifully lit at night. Greenwich, London.
On Saturday we spent a leisurely morning in our hotel room. We went out for breakfast to nearby Smooth Bean Cafe, enjoying some of the best souped up oatmeal and coffee ever. However, just to give an idea of how expensive London can be with our next-to-useless dollar, two bowls of enhanced oatmeal (dried fruit and soymilk) and two coffees with small tip cost $26. We only did this twice, because it was so good! Most of our breakfasts for two were around $6, eaten on the go.
Looking west from our room, #1017.
Looking northwest from our hotel room. Croydon Town Hall can be seen, along with Duppas Hill Park.
We returned to Greenwich Market for lunch (same cart!), eating it in the market pub garden. The Coach and Horses (and the market) were very busy on a Saturday at noon hour, but they had some good ales. After lunch we went to the Early Music trade show for the afternoon. Deb had hoped to try out a harp there, but it had been sold and removed earlier. She tried an Ardival harp instead, made in Scotland.
We also attended a short concert here, a solo lute performance by Richard MacKenzie. He performed solo works by many composers, including Dowland. It was quite a magical concert, and the final event at the trade show. That night we returned to the Spanish Galleon for dinner, sharing an order of their veg sausages, which were pretty incredible. The grand finale concert was performed by Red Priest. It featured Piers Adams, the world's foremost virtuoso recorder player, and three other outstanding musicians, performing an all-Handel concert. It has to be one of the highlights of our life! The concert was completely amazing from start to finish, and seemed to flash by all-too fast.
If possible, we would love to return next year for the festival. It added immensely to our 13th trip to London. Though the walking this time was really quite outstanding, it is likely that the music festival will be remembered even more!
A Day Out in Brighton
Our London travel cards expired at midnight Saturday, so we chose Sunday as our day away from London. Last April we had visited Peterborough; this time we were off to Brighton for the first time. Caroline accompanied us, as she hadn't visited in many years. We boarded and joined her at East Croydon Station. It is about a 50-minute journey south. The train was busy until Gatwick, when it cleared out nicely.
It was a windy, grey and very damp and chilly day on arrival, though no different than what we were expecting. Exiting the station, the main road leads directly down to the sea, about half a mile away.
Upon arrival in Brighton we exited the station and headed down the main street towards the sea.
Our first main stop was St. Paul's Church. Mass was just ending as we arrived. We got to hear the outstanding young organist perform a postlude, then looked around the Victorian-era church. It had some noteworthy stained glass. It also had a brochure for the recently-ended Brighton Early Music Festival, which we took. It looks even better than the one in Greenwich!
Interior of St. Paul's, Brighton
Detail of large window, also seen above.
Afterwards, it was a very brief, extremely windy visit to the beach. The wind was so strong that sometimes we could not walk forward! Still, it was rather exciting! It was our first coastal visit in England.
Twas especially windy for a long-haired maiden, whose hair colour matched that of the beach itself. She had to be a mermaid!
I couldn't go too near, for fear of soaking my camera in the spray.
We had lunch at Loving Hut, a vegan restaurant, and walked the narrow streets to visit many small, independent shops. Brighton is a very happening place, well-suited to vegetarians, and it is also noted for being very lesbian and gay-friendly.
At Caroline's insistence we visited the Royal Pavilion, and we are glad we did. This is a pretty special place, restored to perfection! While the exterior appears Mogul, the interior is influenced by Asian art, especially Chinese. Dragons are a main theme throughout the pavilion. It is on a fantastic scale, and must be seen to be believed. Photography was not allowed inside, though there are plenty of photos on google images.
Royal Pavilion at dusk, Brighton
Deb is walking towards me, with Caroline behind her. Royal Pavilion.
Once back in East Croydon it was packing night. Our flight left Monday, though we had time in the morning for more fantastic organic oatmeal and coffee. I got a bottle of 21-year old Glenfiddich at duty free, and we enjoyed two airport pubs until departure time.
It was a long but smooth flight back to Toronto, and a much shorter one onward to Windsor. We arrived home just after 1 am Tuesday, having to teach music lessons later that day! Again the jet lag program worked like a charm, so we had no problems adjusting. We hope we can return to London again next year, though other travel plans are also underway.
The final page of this blog update will discuss the many pubs visited (for Jennifer and Amanda).
To be continued....
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