This England: A Day of Music and Art

We're  headed back to England for a bit here on Marmelade Gypsy, sharing some of the things we experienced last October in London. One of Rick's goals in London was to go to as many classical concerts as possible. A second thing, one on his bucket list for years, was to attend a concert at Wigmore Hall, a concert hall that opened in 1901 and is known for its excellent acoustics. During its history, it has hosted many of the greatest musicians in the world. It is also known for promoting new talent and for its learning programs, which work to engage those who might otherwise not have opportunities to explore classical music.

So, after a wonderful breakfast at our hotel, we took off, first stopping in Oxford Street so Rick could take a peek inside the guitar store . . . 

. . . and I could take a peek inside Selfridges and Marks and Spencer (M&S). Selfridges had their Christmas shop open and it was pretty amazing -- you saw that in the last England post! But here's a happy Snoopy in several variations!

Then it was off to the concert. Rick bought tickets for the 2 p.m. show at the box office. The lobby was elegant with its arches, beautiful wood staircase and lovely natural light.

Our next destination was a nearby park to enjoy the sandwiches we had bought for lunch. 

Someone else was enjoying it, too!

 

 It was back to the theatre for the concert. The auditorium itself is beautiful. The proscenium arch was one of the loveliest I had seen.

Here's a bit of detail from the area above the stage. 

The faux velvet seats had their numbers embroidered on them in gold. I'd never seen that before.  

We saw a group called the Kyan Quartet -- all very young musicians (I'm betting the oldest wasn't more than 21) from several countries and students at the Royal Academy of Music. They were terrific, as good as any chamber group I've heard with far more experienced musical veterans.

After the performance, we were walking about and saw the Steinway store. Rick decided he wanted to take a look. Loads of pianos. The nice sales guy asked if we'd like to play them. In deference to their ears and our pride, we opted not to, but enjoyed a nice conversation with him. (Somehow, "Chopsticks" on a Steinway seems terribly wrong.)

Where's the art in this post, you might ask? Our friend at Steinway suggested that since we were so near, we take in the Wallace Collection, a magnificent collection of paintings and decorative art, so off we went.

That site deserves a post of its own! Stay tuned.

Travel Tips:

• London is filled with classical music concerts (and probably many others, but that was Rick's focus) and many are free (donation requested) or surprisingly inexpensive. For our lovely afternoon at Wigmore Hall, we payed five pounds, which with the exchange rate was approximately $6.75 U.S. (Obviously, many concerts, particularly those with well-known musicians, are much more expensive).  Check the websites and the box office. I bet there weren't more than 100 people in the theatre on that afternoon -- which was a shame. (You can find other concerts in churches, but more on that in a future post.)
• Why pay for a pricey lunch when you can pick up good sandwiches and enjoy them in a lovely park? If you have a good day (and even our day was a little drizzly off and on), you can't beat the quiet of a park. (It was hard to believe this park was only a block or two off of busy Oxford Street, it was so quiet.) Pick up sandwiches at a food hall (we got ours at M&S) or an even less expensive Pret a Manger (Pret) -- they are all over London.
• Check out weird things! Not that the Steinway store was weird, but around home I'd never think of venturing in one and it was quite interesting to learn about the pianos and view their gallery of artists who used the Steinway. Plus, we got a good tip about the Wallace Collection from them.

(See the menu tab England 2024 for more on our trip!)