Looking out at the pouring grey rain this morning it is hard to believe that less than a week ago I was walking along Mullaghmore beach in the west of Ireland with my cousin Des* and his wife – and listening to a harpist playing in the sunny streets of Sligo. He is not playing, my cousin assures me, an Irish harp – not soft enough – but I’m afraid I do not know what sort of a harp it is.
Later that afternoon we repaired to Hargadon Bros in O’Connell Street (built in 1864 and scarcely changed since) for a fine burger and a bit of fiddle playing.
Eagle eye readers will notice that one of the fiddle players is East Asian, such is the diversity of modern Ireland. You will also see that one of the two men with their back to me is playing a penny whistle, the other a tiny ‘squeeze box’. And… that there is not a glass of Guinness to be seen on the table – just cups of tea. (In another sign of the times and changing tastes in drinking, we all drank 0% Guinness – partly as moral support for our driver – but also because it was very good.)
* My cousin Des has a very rare inherited sight condition which has caused him to lose 95% of his sight. I have written about him before on Michelle’s blog but he will be a regular contributor as of a few weeks time – talking about his experiences, both good and bad, of living with very restricted vision – and how sighted people can be most useful to those who cannot see so well.
And so to the prie-dieu
I got back from Ireland just in time to get to St Lukes to hear Emily, Clemmie and Victoria, the Voice Trio, perform Hildegard Transfigured: a mediaeval trance for the 21st century.
Hildegard’s intense visions, her lux vivens or ‘living light’, thought by some scholars to have been the aura precursors to migraines, have inspired not only her own works but those of contemporary composers such as Marcus Davidson, Laura Moody, Stevie Wishart and Emily Levy. In this concert their songs, many of which were written specifically for the Voice Trio, are interwoven with Hildegard’s. Her visions also inspired visual artist Innerstrings to create an ever changing psychedelic light backdrop against which the trio’s stunningly beautiful and perfectly blended voices floated out across St Lukes’.
To read more about Hildegard and the concept, see the Voice site here – or to get a flavour, listen here on You Tube.
Meanwhile….
Just a couple of tickets left for the delightful The Portrait Players (voice, theorbo and viol da gamba) tomorrow evening – go here for tickets – or pay on the door when you get here. 6.30pm at 33 Hampstead Lane.
And then do not forget our Sunday lunchtime jazz concert at the Highgate Society. Only a few tickets left for that one too – so book up now or, again, pay on the door when you get there. 12 noon at 10a South Grove.
For other future happenings in at Hampstead Lane and elsewhere – see our Upcoming Events page.
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