A Night At The Opera...

Well, technically it was a night out for the choir at Bluewater's Showcase Cinema. However, the "film" we went to see was actually a live satellite broadcast of the New York Met Opera's performance of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda.

Leutgeb had suggested and then organised the trip. Annie Elizabeth volunteered to act as driver for anyone who wished to leave the car at home (like me!). His Hermeneuticalness led the hissing (for Elizabeth and Cecil) and the applause (for Mary Stuart) and, later on, Zephyrinus charmed one of the waitresses at Café Rouge with his knowledge of Hungarian (I think it was Hungarian, but he speaks so many languages it's hard to tell...)

It was a wonderful performance. It was my first experience of the bel canto style, and I found it very powerful. I did wonder what it must have been like for the two sopranos when they were belting out their lines cheek-to-cheek! I was also rather amused to note that a contentious line in the opera (which Italian censors at the time had found objectionable - I think it was the bit where Mary calls Elizabeth a "vile bastard") was sung, but not subtitled. You can read the New York Times' review here.

During the interval (I did point out that it was a live broadcast) there were interviews with the main characters, which provided a fascinating insight into the roles. Joshua Hopkins (Cecil) tried to defend his character's behaviour, saying that he just wanted what was best for England. That cut no ice with us - he was definitely the villain of the piece.

Fantastic sets, wonderful costumes, brilliant acting and superb music. I can't wait for the next choir outing!

Ooberfuse's World Youth Day Song...

About a month ago, I blogged about Ooberfuse and the fact that they wanted volunteers to go to North Greenwich Tube Station to dance for their official music video for Rio 2013.

I've been watching out for the result, and the video is promised soon... but the song itself is rather catchy, so I'm putting it up early...

Well, you can't really dance to Gregorian chant, and Haugen, Inwood & co. just don't cut the mustard in the catchy tunes department...

Even More Busy...

Still very busy at work. But being a Science teacher has a few perks... such as the opportunity to gross out the children. I will be doing this one (for real) with my Year 8s - they're about 12-13 years old - which should prove entertaining...